Help with upgrade dilemma.

[blablablacksheep]

First off hello

Ok so heres the dilemma. hopefully you will read it, thanks

I believe it is time to upgrade my pc, my current spec is as follows.
(im uk by the way)

E8400(watercooled cpu loop with D-Tek cpu block) 3.0(can be pushed to 4.0)775 motherboard ASUS P5E i think..
4870 512mb sapphire
4GB ram
vista 64bit hom premium
650w power corsair.

Question/dilemma is this.

I was going to upgrade just my graphics card to either a 6870 or a 560ti, but been told my CPU is far too weak now to start running games and will bottle neck my system.

This means new CPU, which means..new motherboard....+ ram....

I have checked online and it will cost about £477 for new mobo/ram/graphics....

unsure if il need new PSU though for 560/6870?

Also found out my D-Tek cpu block wont fit the new silly 1155 motherboards so have no idea what i going to do, as i really dont see point in buying new cpu block given mine is working perfect and great.

Help advice really needed and much welcome.:thumbsup:

 

[DaveSimmons]

I was going to upgrade just my graphics card to either a 6870 or a 560ti, but been told my CPU is far too weak now to start running games and will bottle neck my system.

I disagree with them. I run a 560 ti with an E8400 at stock and it was a nice jump in performance over the 4870-512 I had before.

Yes, your E8400 will not push the 560 ti to its limit, but you will see improved resolutions, frame rates and eye candy now, and it will still be a good card when you can afford the Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer CPU/MB/RAM upgrade later.

Your PSU should be fine for either a 560 ti or 6950.

 

[lifeblood]

Upgrade your GPU and when you can afford it then upgrade the rest. Will you get as much of a boost from the GPU as you would with a newer CPU? No, but you will still get a boost. Then when you upgrade the rest you'll get another boost.

 

[happy medium]

Your e8400 @ 4.0 will be fine for dual core games and playable with quad core games.
I would do the gpu upgrade.

 

[blablablacksheep]

thanks for the speedy replies.

Its interesting how everyone seems to have a different view depending on forums you useD:

I have been reading reviews and think i might buy MSI radeon HD 6870 OC HAWK 1.24gb over the 560ti as the reviews been very good for the card and mainly noise/temps.

Other upgrades wise,mainly the cpu issue, i wondering would it be possible to mount the 6870 on my 775 motherboard?(im sure it is but want to check)

If so i might install the 6870 see how it performs with my e8400 on 3.0 ghz playing BF3 then if it utter dire i might upgrade the CPU/motherboard ect.

though if you think it best to do everything at once please say so.(or know where to find such stuff cheapest)

 

[happy medium]

I would give BF3 a try with the e8400 @ 4.0 first.

 

[blablablacksheep]

been told that il need a new CPU for sure as BF3 wont run on any core duos at all well at best low even with a 6870 graphics card:\

I also found out my lovely watercooled CPU block dont fit the new 1155 motherboard :'(

So unless i can find a kit to make my D-Tek fit a 1155/1156 motherboard i going to have to spend another £50 on a new one.......i just hope my tubes are 1/2" and not tighter otherwise il have to cutt them to get the CPU block off the tubeD:

on the bright side if it all goes to plan i guess my computer will be kick arse with a 6870 and I5 watercooled:thumbsup::thumbsdown:?

p.s you recon i could get any money for my old motherboard Asus PE5 and 4870/D-Tek cpu block+DDR2 ramx4 gb??

 

[sangyup81]

in some forums people assume you have all the money in the world but here at anandtech, we're a lot more practical

1.) Upgrade the card
2.) Overclock the CPU
3.) Upgrade CPU when Ivy Bridge or Haswell comes out assuming AMD Bulldozer is as disappointing as people expect

 

[blablablacksheep]

in some forums people assume you have all the money in the world but here at anandtech, we're a lot more practical

1.) Upgrade the card
2.) Overclock the CPU
3.) Upgrade CPU when Ivy Bridge or Haswell comes out assuming AMD Bulldozer is as disappointing as people expect

do like the practical aproach

sorry idiot question, been out of the geek loop for a bit, what is Ivy bridge/Haswell? these the new intel Cpus?

 

[sangyup81]

The current Intel chip is the Sandy Bridge sold as i3, i5, i7-2xxx. They also come as the Pentium B940 and there's supposed to be a Celeron version. These run on Socket 1155 (not 1156!) Ivy Bridge will be the die shrink version of Sandy Bridge also running on Socket 1155. Haswell will come after Ivy Bridge and should be an improved architecture and will probably run on a new socket

Expect Ivy Bridge either end of this year or beginning of next. Haswell should be yet another year in addition.

 

[TemjinGold]

Out of curiosity, which games are you trying to play? Depending on the games, upgrading your cpu to a Q9550 might be the better move.

 

[Termie]

OP - I don't think anyone's mentioned it, but your PSU should be fine for the cards you're considering.

On the other hand, I'm not convinced that buying 560Ti or even a 6870 is a great idea unless you're definitely upgrading to a quad-core in the next year.

The biggest jump you'll get on your current system is going from the 512MB on your 4870 to a 1GB card. At that point, the bottleneck will shift to your dual-core CPU. Even a GTX460 1GB would be bottlenecked on your system for BF3 (based on my experience with BC2), so a 560Ti definitely would. I don't mind the 6870 recommendation as much because it's cheaper (and more efficient) than a 560Ti. In fact, in the States it's only about $10 more than a 6850.

Also, you might find you don't need watercooling for the new Intel CPUs - so perhaps try aircooling before investing in upgrading your water cooling system.

 

[Denithor]

Look at it this way - if you upgrade the whole system, you'll definitely be upgrading your GPU. So upgrade that part first and check out the games with it on the old CPU and see how it goes. If it's not acceptable, then you upgrade the rest of your parts.

And yes, a 650W Corsair PSU is more than adequate for even today's hungriest GPUs.