Upgrading

[Stuart Palmer]

Hello, I hope I'm posting in the right place.

Due to a variety of outside issues affecting my wallet, I haven't built a new machine for a few years and my machine is starting to show its age.

Current spec is:

Gigabyte EP45-UD3LR (Socket 775) motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 CPU

4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 RAM

AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series GPU

This machine has run at a steady and constant 3.6 GHz, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since it was built, although the GPU was a 9800 GX2, which recently gave up the ghost, hence the anachronistic addition of the HD 7900.

This machine was, itself, a replacement for an AMD 4800 X2 based machine which ( I think ) had a 8800 GTX.

I have realised the machine has reached the autumn years of its life and am thinking it should be retired.

My rather long- winded question is this:

Assuming I can scavenge the GPU from my current machine, is there a CPU/ MOBO combination out there that will offer a similar jump in performance to that experienced when the current machine was new?

The technology has moved on and I find the new nomenclature a little difficult to decipher in terms of which sockets I should be looking at buying.

I will be buying a second GPU to add to the machine, so crossfire support will be required, as will sufficient space to add a wifi card.

The case I have is an ANTEC P182.

I would really appreciate some guidance.

Thank you in advance

 

[TheStu]

This really should go to General Hardware, but I imagine that their first questions will be about your budget, and what resolution you game at. Also, which 7900 series card specifically do you have. What OS are you running? What games do you play?

All that said, the first 2 things you should do is drop in some more RAM, up it to at least 8 GB, and then get an SSD.

 

[Stuart Palmer]

Hello Stu,

Thank you for the very fast reply.

The OS is XP.

I know, I know.

The card is an ATI Radeon 7950 HD 900MHz 3GB PCI-Express 3.0 HDMI TOP OC which staggered me with the size of the thing.

I bought it because it appeared to offer a good 'bang for my buck'.

I currently use two 1920 x 1200 monitors, preferring to see a little more vertical space rather than feel like I am looking through a letterbox.

Again, these are around three and a half years old and I will probably upgrade them at some point in the not too distant future.

Budget wise, I don't really know what I should be spending. I have SOME money, let's put it that way!

I should add that it is really the demise of the 9800 GX2 that has prompted this new avenue of thought. Looking at the games I see in front of me I have Crysis, STALKER, Call of Juarez, Company of Heroes.....as I said, I have not paid the machine a lot of attention in the last couple of years due to outside influences, nor have I played games as much as I would have done when the machine was new.

Are you suggesting the current MOBO and CPU are still up to the job, despite being ( I think ) nearly four years old?

Thank you again

 

[rgallant]

get a ipad per this guy
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2262599

 

[Stuart Palmer]

I'm nearly 43 years old.

My days of hip passed circa 1988.

And I'd no more buy an Apple product than chew off my own leg.

 

[TheStu]

Hello Stu,

Thank you for the very fast reply.

The OS is XP.

I know, I know.

The card is an ATI Radeon 7950 HD 900MHz 3GB PCI-Express 3.0 HDMI TOP OC which staggered me with the size of the thing.

I bought it because it appeared to offer a good 'bang for my buck'.

I currently use two 1920 x 1200 monitors, preferring to see a little more vertical space rather than feel like I am looking through a letterbox.

Again, these are around three and a half years old and I will probably upgrade them at some point in the not too distant future.

Budget wise, I don't really know what I should be spending. I have SOME money, let's put it that way!

I should add that it is really the demise of the 9800 GX2 that has prompted this new avenue of thought. Looking at the games I see in front of me I have Crysis, STALKER, Call of Juarez, Company of Heroes.....as I said, I have not paid the machine a lot of attention in the last couple of years due to outside influences, nor have I played games as much as I would have done when the machine was new.

Are you suggesting the current MOBO and CPU are still up to the job, despite being ( I think ) nearly four years old?

Thank you again

You have a decent quad core in there, and a pretty good GPU. The RAM is a throwaway investment. If you aren't running a 64bit OS, then you shouldn't get more RAM. But, if you have a 64bit OS, then up the RAM and get the SSD. The SSD can be re-used down the road anyway.

Honestly, you could replace the mobo and cpu and ram for not too much outlay, maybe $400 I think, but I haven't really looked in a while. But I think that you are doing ok, particularly if you aren't playing too many games lately anyway.

 

[Stuart Palmer]

Thank you Stu,

I appreciate your input.

For the interest, however, if I were to upgrade the mobo and cpu, what, if anything, would give me the leap that I experienced when I upgraded from the Athlon to the Q9450?

I'd also say that I would actively be looking at adding a second card to the machine to run in crossfire and would like to be able to gain the benefit of PCi E 3.

I would also be installing a new OS, obviously, but I hadn't thought about an SSD.

The current machine has a WD raptor as the boot drive, would the SSD make a significant difference and are they as long- lived?

Sorry to keep asking questions, four years ago I'd have not needed to do so, but I'm completely out the loop.

Thank you

 

[Stuart Palmer]

Anyone able to help?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

CPU: 2500k, 3750k or 2600k, 3770k if you need hyperthreading
Mobo: any flavor z77 board

 

[Stuart Palmer]

Thank you, that answered me!