Tell me your opinion on this upgrade please

H

Hazard

Posts: 33   +0
Ok, so im going to be ' upgrading ' my 2007 PC build.
I am going to be using this build mostly for gaming, DOW 2, Starcraft 2,Portal etc etc.
These are the changes i am going to make;
-CPU=Intel Q6600 > Intel Core i3 http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/mobo-cpu/cpu/intel/intel-core-i3-540-3-06ghz-cpu-socket-1156-retail.html
-MB=Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L > Asus P6X58D-E http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/mobo-cpu/motherboards/intel/asus-p6x58d-e-s1366-pci2-ddr3-sata3-raid-atx-motherboard.html
-RAM= 2 GB > 6 GB 3 piece kit. http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/memory/mem-pc/6gb-3x2gb-ddr3-corsair-xms3-1600-lifetime-warranty.html

PS. MY current specs;
PSU: Corsair TX 850W
CPU: QuadCore Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 1600 MHz
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L
Mem: 2046 MB ( 2GB )
Video: Nvidia Geforce GTX 260
HDD: 298 GB HDD
Sound: Realtek ALC888/1200 HD
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate ( x86 )

PPS yes i know i will upgrade to 64bit.

UPDATE!;
ok so i decided that im going to go with;
a) a core i5 760 http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/mobo-cpu/intel-core-i5-760-quad-core-2-8ghz-socket-1156-cpu-retail.html
b) a Asus P7P55 LX P55 http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/mobo-cpu/motherboards/asus-p7p55-lx-p55-s1156-ddr3-raid-atx-motherboard.html
c) and 4gb corsair ram http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/memory/mem-pc/4gb-2x2gb-corsair-twinx-xms3-1333-pc3-10600.html
 
An i3 CPU is either socket LGA 1155 (Sandy Bridge) or LGA 1156 (Clarkdale). The motherboard you have selected is LGA 1366 which supports only Intel i7 CPUs.

What's your budget for the upgrade?
 
My opinion:

What Ritwik7 said, the CPU is incompatible with your motherboard - as it uses the wrong socket. And if you're going to game, you might want to avoid the Core i3 altogether.

In other words: chose a different CPU.

As for RAM: if your going to upgrade, take into consideration that the newer motherboard does in fact support up tp 24GbB of RAM --> best possible "full-performance"-solution: 6x4GbB=24GbB.

If you want to save money in the long run - provided you want to upgrade the computer, consider buying 4GbB-RAM's instead. The RAM-"characteristics" are perfect, they may just be a little small...

Otherwise everything's a go!
 
My opinion is that you need a serious revision.
I'd list one but I'm busy :)() and Ritwik7 or dividebyzero will come along and post one anyway.
 
Well i was hoping not to spend much as my budget is about €400/$559. Yeah i chose the parts pretty quick, i'm surprised at how i didn't notice the socket. I can't spend much :/ i'm not expecting it to run crysis 2 but to at least serve me a good year or a couple of months. That much ram i think is... pointless??? i don't know thats why i asked. Thanks allot for your replys :) I know i seem to be lazy but it's just with school and all i REALLY REALLY wish i had time to carefully plan it out. Thanks again.
 
You really need 4GBs of RAM with the 64 bit OS, otherwise there's almost no point of installing it. 4GBs is plenty for most uses. At this point in time, there's almost no justification for installing a 32 bit OS. So there you go, 4 gigs of RAM it is.

To clarify the earlier confusion, any "X58" based board, (socket LGA1366), only works with "Core i7 >>"9"xx series CPUs.
 
The talk is that many modern games are multi-threaded, and can take advantage of even 6 core CPUs. Other than that, the Core i3 is a fine CPU, gotz one meself. They're supposed to be overclocking wonders, although I haven't tried it myself.

Moving on, as you may or may not know a "P55" chipset doesn't support the integrated graphics of an i3 or i5 CPU. You would need to use "H55" boards for that.

The board you've chosen has only one PCI-E x16 lane. This means that any SLI or Crossfire graphics solutions are out. You need to buy one graphics card to play all your games.

Whether this is enough, is dependent upon how fanatical you think you'll become at any point in the future, and how much money you have to put into a single card.

Here again, gaming is not my forte, the i3's graphics work fine for me, in conjunction with an H55 board.

At some point you'll be pitched an AMD based system, which will offer, "price versus performance". 3..., 2...1...........
 
captaincranky said:
The talk is that many modern games are multi-threaded, and can take advantage of even 6 core CPUs. Other than that, the Core i3 is a fine CPU, gotz one meself. They're supposed to be overclocking wonders, although I haven't tried it myself.

Moving on, as you may or may not know a "P55" chipset doesn't support the integrated graphics of an i3 or i5 CPU. You would need to use "H55" boards for that.

The board you've chosen has only one PCI-E x16 lane. This means that any SLI or Crossfire graphics solutions are out. You need to buy one graphics card to play all your games.

Whether this is enough, is dependent upon how fanatical you think you'll become at any point in the future, and how much money you have to put into a single card.

Here again, gaming is not my forte, the i3's graphics work fine for me, in conjunction with an H55 board.

At some point you'll be pitched an AMD based system, which will offer, "price versus performance". 3..., 2...1...........
Click to expand...

Have you seen the last reply i made? :) i showed a link of an H55 board.So correct me if im mistaken, what your telling me is that i can have The chipset ( i3 ) and my graphics card ( a gtx 260 ) work hand in hand, sharing the work load? TBH im not a fan of AMD, id rather have quality than price. Sorry i know i'm complicated.
 
That'd be more simple-minded than complicated. There is nothing wrong with AMD's quality; they've had very few mishaps, the last one I can remember was a couple years ago with the Phenom's TLB bug.
Yes you might be pitched an AMD build if you decide to mention a budget sometime.
 
hellokitty[hk] said:
That'd be more simple-minded than complicated. There is nothing wrong with AMD's quality; they've had very few mishaps, the last one I can remember was a couple years ago with the Phenom's TLB bug.
Yes you might be pitched an AMD build if you decide to mention a budget sometime.
Click to expand...

I can understand what you saying. But for some reason theres something about AMD i don't like. How come you bring it up? :)

I was checking around and wondered if this seems to be a good build.
Mobo: http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/mobo-cpu/motherboards/asus-p7h55-m-s1156-pcie2-ddr3-sata3-usb3-motherboard.html Eventually i will buy a powerful graphics card, defeating the need of SLI
RAM:http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/memory/mem-pc/4gb-2x2gb-corsair-twinx-xms3-1333-pc3-10600.html
CPU: The core i3

any thoughts please? :) ty
 
Yes, I did see that when I revisited your link, Forgive me, I don't know where I came up with "P55". In fact, I was just heading back to edit that post.

Moving on, you can (in some cases) run a separate graphics card and integrated graphics simultaneously. In reality, there's very little point to it. Your GT 260 will outperform the i3's graphics exponentially in the gaming arena. However, onboard video, (in the case of H55), has more connectivity options, VGA, DVI, HDMI plus "Display Port". (For whatever that's worth).

H55 boards are,(IMHO) a better buy in the low price range. If you buy P55 you might save 10 bucks, (or pounds), but should a video card fail, or you want to pull the card before you sell a computer, the integrated graphics are there for you with H55

P55 boards, should only be considered in the high price range, and then only with multiple PCI-E x 16 lanes, for either of the multiple video card uses I specified earlier.
 
captaincranky said:
Yes, I did see that when I revisited your link, Forgive me, I don't know where I came up with "P55". In fact, I was just heading back to edit that post.

Moving on, you can (in some cases) run a separate graphics card and integrated graphics simultaneously. In reality, there's very little point to it. Your GT 260 will outperform the i3's graphics exponentially in the gaming arena. However, onboard video, (in the case of H55), has more connectivity options, VGA, DVI, HDMI plus "Display Port". (For whatever that's worth).

H55 boards are,(IMHO) a better buy in the low price range. If you buy P55 you might save 10 bucks, (or pounds), but should a video card fail, or you want to pull the card before you sell a computer, the integrated graphics are there for you with H55

P55 boards, should only be considered in the high price range, and then only with multiple PCI-E x 16 lanes, for either of the multiple video card uses I specified earlier.
Click to expand...

:) thanks, see my recent post showing a new list and tell me what you think. This way im still upgrading to make a difference and be SLIGHTLY ''futureproof'' and at the same time save some money!! ( i went from €403 to €279! ) Saving the extra money for a BEAST graphics card :)
 
Take some time to wade through this CPU comparison article; http://techreport.com/articles.x/18448 You'll see that a Core i3 540 pretty much blows away a Q6600 in 90+ percent of the tests. Yeah I know, that article is a "beast" to ingest.

I don't know how much you'll get banged up for with your VAT, but over here, a Core i3-550 can be had @ "Microcenter" for $100.00 USD on a carry out basis. I mention this because I'm pissed that the 530 was the same price when I bought mine. Oh well, time marches on.

As far as you new choices go, they'll be fine. The Corsair memory you've chosen is the correct speed to work either with or without, the integrated graphics.

As I understand it, some of the new Intel, "Sandy Bridge" CPUs will also work with LGA1155. Something worth investigating, (or not), who knows.
 
captaincranky said:
Take some time to wade through this CPU comparison article; http://techreport.com/articles.x/18448 You'll see that a Core i3 540 pretty much blows away a Q6600 in 90+ percent of the tests. Yeah I know, that article is a "beast" to ingest.

As far as you new choices go, they'll be fine. The Corsair memory you've chosen is the correct speed to work either with or without, the integrated graphics.

As I understand it, some of the new Intel, "Sandy Bridge" CPUs will also work with LGA1155. Something worth investigating, (or not), who knows.
Click to expand...

Thanks you've been of great help!!! amazing to say the least!! Well it looks like ill be buying those then! :) thanks again

TO ALL i'm still open for suggestions/opinions.
 
With the LGA 1156 motherboard that you listed, you'll only be able to run the Clarkdale CPUs. Not the latest i3s (Sandy Bridge).
 
If you really plan on (later down the road) upgrading to a high-end gfx card that can "defeat the need of SLI", then even an i5 760 will probably bottleneck that card. Something to keep in mind whenever it is you plan on making such an upgrade.
 
Hazard said:
UPDATE!;
ok so i decided that im going to go with;
a) a core i5 760 http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/mobo-cpu/intel-core-i5-760-quad-core-2-8ghz-socket-1156-cpu-retail.html
b) a Asus P7P55 LX P55 http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/mobo-cpu/motherboards/asus-p7p55-lx-p55-s1156-ddr3-raid-atx-motherboard.html
c) and 4gb corsair ram http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/index.php/components/memory/mem-pc/4gb-2x2gb-corsair-twinx-xms3-1333-pc3-10600.html
Click to expand...

Glad you switched from the i3. I doubt it would have been an upgrade from a Q6600 at all. In fact I held off until the Sandy Bridge iCore range came out before I upgraded from Q6600 (running at 3Ghz overclocked) as the first i7 cores weren't a massive upgrade for me.
 
Arris said:
Glad you switched from the i3. I doubt it would have been an upgrade from a Q6600 at all. In fact I held off until the Sandy Bridge iCore range came out before I upgraded from Q6600 (running at 3Ghz overclocked) as the first i7 cores weren't a massive upgrade for me.
Click to expand...

ah thanks i wasn't sure if i should have :) but i think these for me are pretty future proof... as soon as they start showing their age ill overclock them and get better cooling systems. Really? i think its the RAM and GPU that effect a computer the most ( games wise and even multi tasking wise ).
 
Hazard said:
ah thanks i wasn't sure if i should have :) but i think these for me are pretty future proof... as soon as they start showing their age ill overclock them and get better cooling systems. Really? i think its the RAM and GPU that effect a computer the most ( games wise and even multi tasking wise ).
Click to expand...

One of the things you'll see mentioned in discussions is "cpu bottleneck". With my Q6600 and an Radeon 5850 1GB I saw a bottleneck. Putting the same card into my new system with an i7 2600k running at 4.6Ghz saw an increase in performance from the 5850. To use the car engine analogy, the car engine can only perform at it's maximum when it is supplied with enough fuel. If you reduce the amount of fuel being fed to the engine it cannot achieve this maximum performance. Therefore it's important to have a powerful enough CPU to fuel the GPU for games.
 
Arris said:
One of the things you'll see mentioned in discussions is "cpu bottleneck". With my Q6600 and an Radeon 5850 1GB I saw a bottleneck. Putting the same card into my new system with an i7 2600k running at 4.6Ghz saw an increase in performance from the 5850. To use the car engine analogy, the car engine can only perform at it's maximum when it is supplied with enough fuel. If you reduce the amount of fuel being fed to the engine it cannot achieve this maximum performance. Therefore it's important to have a powerful enough CPU to fuel the GPU for games.
Click to expand...

i know what a bottleneck is :) if it comes to that ill overclock... besides i'm expecting this cpu, mobo and ram to last me at least a year/year and a half befor my next 'update'. It should be enough to keep up with less than 2 years worth of technology,
 
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