Potential Upgrade - Recommendations?

[Deshman]

Right well it's post-christmas and there are deals a plenty so it's upgrade time.

My current CPU/RAM/mobo are around 4-6 years old so it's time they became a server and died slowly

I have some ideas in my head, pretty sound but I want to know what would you recommend and why? The upgrade will not be performed again for a while but the performance must be high and future upgradability must also be high.

You have £400 to play with, what do you buy?

Current spec:

Skt939 AMD4000+ @ 2.95Ghz - Watercooled

2GB (4x512MB) Value CL2.5 ram

Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI Mobo

OCZ 700W PSU

768MB BFG 8800GTX OC Edition - Watercooled

HDDs:

1 x RaptorX

2 x 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 RAID0

2 x 320GB Maxtor 7V Series RAID0

Cooling is performed by a half Thermaltake half custom Watercooling and does not have to be upgraded for AM2 or 775 sockets. Cost must include necessary watercooling improvements. A copy of Vista in the cost would also be appreciated

Edit: I just found 2GB DDR2 800Mhz OCZ Platinum 4-4-4-15 I didn't know I had, worth adding or best selling on for more cash?

 

[Luigi]

A q6600 and an asus maximus formula. then some Ballistix pc5300 ram, as much as you can, i got myn at 1111mhz 2.2v (stock) so they're easily worth the money.

 

[Hatman]

PC2 6400 is perfect atm. Hardly no performance boost for going over.

Aside from that a quad core and say an X38 would be awesome. As for which X38 well you decide but they all rock IMO

Aside from that the rest of the things you have listed are perfect, those are things you already have, right?

 

[Luigi]

what? im saying my cheap 5300 ram can do 1111mhz stock volts, so why does he need anything more?

 

[Hatman]

Because he already has the pc2-6400.

Besides, just because yours does it,doesn't mean that his will if he buys some and the ram he has atm might be able to do it anyway.

 

[Luigi]

i appreciate that, but compared to others myn arent actually that great so i expect he would. I didnt realise he had the ram, he must've edited after i read.

So, i would go for x38, q6600, another 2gb and blast away

 

[Rastalovich]

Yeah, max the memory, bust in with a Q6600, and ur favorite flavor of ip35/x38 and ur good to go.

I`d hazard a guess that ur 939 cpu would sell very easily too.

 

[Deshman]

You can buy my 939 brand new for £20 these days so I'm probably best just making myself a file server

The trouble is gentlemen, I've heard rumours on the internets that Intel are changing their socket at the end of the year so can you guarantee me that there's more life in 775 than AM2+?

I didnt realise he had the ram, he must've edited after i read.

Sorry but I edited 6 hours before you replied

 

[Luigi]

haha, no probs, i wasnt aware intel were changing the socket? i know theres 1600mhz fsb coming...

 

[Hatman]

Indeed I thought the 8core Nehalem or w/e it was would need a 1k+ pin socket? Might have been the one after that mind yo I cannot remember.

 

[Deshman]

Yeah this is what I'm hearing. I don't really want to buy a new mobo/cpu/ram only to have to upgrade the lot again in a year if I wanted to get up to date.

 

[Rastalovich]

You can buy my 939 brand new for £20 these days so I'm probably best just making myself a file server

The trouble is gentlemen, I've heard rumours on the internets that Intel are changing their socket at the end of the year so can you guarantee me that there's more life in 775 than AM2+?

Sorry but I edited 6 hours before you replied

Bah it`s single core is it ?

AM2+ would be an interesting call.

Can`t understand why Intel would want in excess of 1000 pins. Redundancy what it is.

 

[Ham]

Theres spose to be 2 versions of nibblehime or w/e its called.

1k+ pins with IMC and 700ish one without.

How much truth there was in that rumour i dk.

 

[Deshman]

Bah it`s single core is it ?

AM2+ would be an interesting call.

Can`t understand why Intel would want in excess of 1000 pins. Redundancy what it is.

Yeah single core, hence my want to upgrade asap. I was thinking AM2+ might be an interesting route, holds potential for when AMD fix the Phenoms and release the Black editions.

 

[Pat123]

Personally, ide go for a cheaper C2D and an next gen CPU ready board. Then wait for the next gen CPU's, the Q6600's replacement.

 

[FarFarAway]

Personally, ide go for a cheaper C2D and an next gen CPU ready board. Then wait for the next gen CPU's, the Q6600's replacement.

yep agreed

 

[Deshman]

Yeah was considering that also but it's still useless in a year's time.

 

[Pat123]

But then so will any components you buy.. theres NOway to 'future proof' pc hardware.. buying a next gen ready intel board, is my best advice, as they offer the best performance. im sure they will continue to use 775 for a while yet..

And the next gen quad core cpu's will rock..

AM2+ will be useless in a year or so aswell.. w/e you buy.. its only gonna lst you a couple of years.. tops

 

[Luigi]

it sux, but its the truth

 

[Deshman]

I realise this but from the apparent roadmaps I'm seeing there's more life in AM2+ than 775. It's a shame the processor companies don't actually release the damn dates on their website for people to confirm.

I really would like to play Crysis on my own pc and not one I'd built for another purpose but could it be worth hanging on a few months?