Sign up for a new account or log in here:
also @ TechSpot: Apple claims Samsung violates Siri patents with Google Now
Home › News › Weekend Open Forum
Weekend Open Forum: Your next hardware upgrade will be...?
Intel remained unchallenged in the high-end processor segment with its Bloomfield Core i7 lineup and further cemented its position by launching the mainstream Core i5/i7 Lynnfield parts. Motherboard makers had a serious range of quality and reasonably priced products on offer, DDR3 memory prices came down a bit and, well, you get the picture. Things don't seem to be slowing down in 2010, either, now that Intel has launched its 32nm Clarkdale processors featuring built-in graphics and Nvidia looks ready to finally go against AMD’s ATI Radeon HD 5000 series with Fermi.
There won’t be any shortage of games to throw at these cards, that's for sure. With all these great advances, at some point many of you will consider updating your rig to keep up with the latest technologies. In this edition of our Weekend Open Forum we want to know what your next upgrade will be. Perhaps a new graphics card to play games in their full visual glory? An SSD to speed up your OS? Or maybe build an entire system based on a new platform for good measure?
User Comments: 76
Got something to say? Post a comment-
As a graduating 3D Artist and Overclock enthusiast I am looking into a killer system like: i7 930 (or one of the lower priced hexacores if they are cheap enough), ASUS P6T WS, 12GB of DDR3 1333Mhz, 5850, Lianli Case A10-B, Prolimatech Megahalems Heatsink, WD Black 1TB for now and at least 100GB of SSD when they get cheaper, and Corsair HX Series 850W.
Gotta a really good CPU and RAM for rendering so that's where my money is going, and definitely overclocking the CPU to at least 3.6Ghz but knowing the Prolimatech, I'll probably get it to 3.8 =)
-
I'm not sure when is going to be my next hardware upgrade, but the gtx 295 looks so fine
-
my next upgrade will be 6 core core i7,fermi 480,8gb ram,2TB hard disk after 3 years :P.Hope they will be cheap after 2/3 yrs and i can afford them.hehe.
-
what about a new computer with new hardware... so there's no need for upgrade...
-
My current rig is almost 1 year old, and the component I feel most needs upgrading is the CPU. I bought it with 8GB of RAM, upgraded disk space to 1TB, bought a new graphics card then won an even better one here, so I feel covered on these fronts. The Phenom II 710 is decent, but there are better things on the market (and unlocking the 4th core didn't work). If AMD comes out with an AM2+ compatible 6 core low cost CPU in the next year, there's a chance I'll upgrade to it. Actually, a new PSU will do me some good, but a good start would be to fix the current one.
But really my current itch is more towards a small casual platform for web browsing, e-book reading and such, a low cost low weight slate or UMPC. There's a lot of stuff promised for this year, so I'm waiting to see what will happen in this area. That'd take precedent over upgrading my PC.
-
Recipe7 said:
I will buy building a new computer from scratch soon, so I guess it's a complete upgrade. The most important hardware that I am willing to spend top dollar for is the SSD. No more than 60gb, and not less than 225 read and write.
-
core i5 ftw, my e7300 is beginning to show its age and I want to be ready for starcraft 2 in ultra settings.
-
I'll be getting a house and a car.
-
I'll be getting a house and a car.
That's a good plan, I mean without a house you can't keep a computer
-
Definitely my GPU. I'm hoping to upgrade to a 5870 some time soon.
-
I have need of a NAS for storing all my home media, I have a 7 month old baby and new camera that also takes HD video, so that also requires alot of storage. I have been wanting to have a central storage device for a while but not enough cash to buy. Looking at a QNAP maybe the new 459 model with 4 x 2TB drives, should be enough for at least a few years.
I also want to get a new laptop, my 2 main pcs are only 1.5 years old so wont be upgrading them for a while. but my laptop is about 5 years old. I like a laptop with size and grunt, so an i7 with 8GB RAM and a 17inch 1920 x 1200 screen would be great, my home pcs have 8GB RAM due to the number of virtual machines I use for developing and running various things. SSD's would be good too but the price is not likely to drop any time soon, I think it will be another 4 or five years at the current rate. It is still over $1000 for a reasonable sized drive at the moment.
Last on the shopping list is a 30 inch monitor, but I figured I would be waiting for a while as I haven't heard of any new announcements for new models and the current crop of 30 inches are getting a bit long in the tooth. I am a developer and use alot of screen space and virtual machines for builds (thus 8GB RAM for laptop)
-
Asus USB 3.0 PCIe card and a Blacx USB 3.0 hard drive dock.
Next is a sub $500 Hexcore intel chip. When ever that happens.
(Finally got twice as fast as mine.}
jmc
9450Q can OC to 3.6 when needed
4 gig ram
Ati 4870 1Gig
3 1T samsung Hds(7200 rpm)
-
I recently replaced all single core desktops with more powerful AMD quad-core desktop with 8GB of RAM larger and faster HDD as well. So much bargain hunter during these bad times but in all I've replaced 3x and pickup 2x AMD dual-core laptops and 2x Intel atom netbooks for such bargain. As for I-Series Quad I'll take a pass on that for the next 5 years until next processor will take cover and thus making current quad-core technology cheaper to purchase.
-
dividebyzero said:Can anyone tell me about putting an Nvidia card in an AMD system? Does it work well? Are there problems with that? Or should I just stick with an ATI card?
This is the same question you asked yesterday?
http://www.techspot.com/vb/post866537-22.html
that was answered by ET3D?
http://www.techspot.com/vb/post866556-25.html
Did you not like ET3D's answer? or maybe the answer was bewildering to you in it's complexity ?
Didn't see that response. Or I wouldn't have asked again.
-
Just got a new PC, well actually my brothers Quad Q6600.
Don't really gave much money so most probably just get a newer graphics card and new 22" HD monitor.
-
Maybe a new motherboard. Have an Alienware and pretty much have replaced everything inside but the motherboard and PSU.
-
Fragrant Coit said:
I'm holding out to see how the latest NVidia Video Cards stack up against ATI.
My Q6600 system will have to last me a bit longer unless my Lotto numbers come up.
-
The most important thing is launching of W7..............
-
My machine is a dell with an AM2+ socket. This highest i can go is an X2 6000 at 3Ghz. Should run me about 56$. Maybe a decent sub 50$ Nvidia graphics card while I'm at it. Keep it simple and mainstream for now.
-
as of now, the only upgrade i need is a SSD and a extra 5850 so i can crossfire. i'm pretty happy with my system. built it like 6 months back.
my system : Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.33ghz
GA-EX58-Extreme Motherboard
ATI Radeon 5850 (hoping to add another one soon)
Kingmax DDR3 6GB / 1600mhz
80GB + 1TB HDD (the 80gb hdd is the one i want to change to a SSD)
and yeh that's pretty much it. recently bought myself a Samsung SyncMaster 2433 (24"
so i'm pretty happy right now. -
If SSD prices come down sufficiently in 2010, that'll be my next upgrade. Otherwise, my computer's fine as it is right now. I don't need the latest and greatest tech to work in Excel and browse the web.
-
My next upgrade will be a gaming notebook, I think... Been eying that little Alienware number, I think it could fit the bill for my on-the-road gaming needs for the coming year. Looks like I'll be spending more time on the road than at home, so having distractions is key (help keep me out of trouble). Now I just have to figure out how to convince the company that just because it's a gaming notebook, that doesn't mean it's not for business... heh
I'm also looking at a complete new build of a gaming rig at home. I think I've hit the wall as far as the whole upgrade vs. do it all new payback ratio. Even though I'm currently an ATi fan, I'm holding off for a bit to see what nVidia can bring to the table. Mostly because there just isn't any good news out of the AMD/ATi camp as far as decent competition for PhysX in gaming. I was really hoping their open physics engine initiative would pick up steam, but I haven't heard a peep out of that camp since it was mentioned by them initially. Many of the gaming rigs I've built for others have had an nVidia chipset with embedded GPU, which runs PhysX just fine while the dedicated GPU busts out the pixel crushing. Curious to see what the new 400 series stuff form nVidia will provide, before I start planning my screamin gamer rig.
-
About a year ago I built myself a decent gaming computer, but I am wishing I had put 4 gigs of ram in instead of 2, so that will be the next thing I upgrade on that. Also, would like to get myself a nice flat screen monitor for it, but defiantly the next big thing I buy is going to be a 37"-40" HD flat screen TV to go with my nice shiny PS3. PS3 just doesn't look right on a POS walmart special TV......
But before I can drop any money on new tech goodies, I have finish getting this house buying thing ironed out. :P
-
I got my work to buy me an SSD for a development machine, and once you taste its speed it is very difficult to go back. So i think an SSD is top on my list to get.
-
compdata said:
I got my work to buy me an SSD for a development machine, and once you taste its speed it is very difficult to go back. So i think an SSD is top on my list to get.
Hmm, SSD vs. Newer GPU... Both offering significant performance increases for certain things. It's hard for me to decide. I mean, I don't game as much as I used to because my GPU's feeling a little dated. So I mostly surf and listen to music. Which makes SSD a bit overkill, but that's the very definition of a gaming computer. But having quicker boots will breath new life into this old computer and get me to use it more frequently.
Intel Core 2 Duo (6850)
Gigabyte GA-X38T-DQ
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS
OCZ 4 GB DDR 3 1600 RAM (4 x 1GB)
WD Raptor 150 x 2
WD 1TB x1
ATI PCI-E TV Tuner
PC P&C 750 Watt PSU
22" Samsung
Windows 7
Most Popular
| Trending | Featured |
-
GeForce GTX 780 Review: The Titan Descendant
-
OCZ Vertex 450 Review: Vector-like Performance For Less
-
Xbox One: Entertainment hub first, gaming console second - but can it disrupt TV?
-
Microsoft officially announces Xbox One: here's what we know so far
-
Apple claims Samsung violates Siri patents with Google Now
Featured on Cases
Subscribe to TechSpot
Get free exclusive content, learn about new features and breaking tech news.