Revamp Gaming Computer

[Nazgul]

I was wondering, which parts would you upgrade first? And at what point would you build a whole new build?

It could be what you would upgrade right now, what you have done etc.

 

[Sean W.]

very general question. but the best things to upgrade, assuming you have a decent mother board that will allow modern parts, would be components that have processing power, IE, CPU, GPU and RAM.

 

[Slaymate]

In order to give you good advice we really need to know what hardware you have already.

At what point would you build a whole new build?

That really depends upon what your PC is and what games you want to play.

 

[Nazgul]

Mobo - Intel X38 Abit
Gfx 4890 1 gig
cpu - 6600 Quad-core 2.4
HD - 320 GB 7200 RPM seagate
Ram - 4 gb 800 ddr2
PSU - 700 W OCZ

 

[patonb]

Can your mobo do 45nm quads? hmmm, says you can..... Universal abit > CPU Support List

The only "upgrade" Would be the cpu, but to get a new "i" series, you'd need a new mobo, cpu and ram.

Have you tried overclocking your q6600? you can bump it up to 3.0Ghz easy, and higher with some mild effort. But you'll need a cooler.

 

[Nazgul]

If you had a 200 dollar budget what would upgrade too?

 

[Slaymate]

I would buy a good aftermarket heatsink and overclock the cpu for everything I could get out of it. It's not worth buying a new cpu for your motherboard. And Abit is not longer in the motherboard business so it's unlikely that you'll even have support for the newest cpu's that are available for the LGA 775 socket. But if you get a good overclock you have close to or just as much power as a new cpu anyways.

Does your mobo support Crossfire (does it have 2 pci-e slots)? You could buy a 2nd 4890. Or you could buy a new DX11 video card.

 

[patonb]

Slay, it acually supports all the newest 775 quads.... but are they worth the money, with the decently priced 1156 chips.

 

[Slaymate]

I still think a good heatsink would be the best bang for the buck. And they sell an optional LGA1366 bracket if you do upgrade the whole PC a little later.

Newegg.com - Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120 mm Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler W/TX-2