Upgrade my semi-outdated gaming rig - proc, power supply and g-card

[remedy]

Hello, I am looking to upgrade my somewhat out-of-date graphics card, and processor. And my power supply only if necessary. My current rig is as stands:

Mobo: Gigabyte EP35-DS3L
Graphics: XFX nVidia 8800GT 512mb
Processor: Intel e2180 OCed from 2.00GHz to 2.60GHz
Power Supply: Corsair VX 450 Watt
RAM: 4gb DDR2
Case: NZXT Tempest

I'm looking to spend preferrably less than $250 ish, $350 is power supply is needed. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

[RichM499]

The main bottleneck in your case is going to be your processor. I suggest getting yourself an e8400 or q6600, as they tend to overclock to around 3.5ghz on air pretty easily.

I would recommend upgrading to something like a Radeon 5770 (around 100 dollars) for a nice boost in graphics performance at a decent price.


If you go with a radeon 5770, and E8400, you won't need a new power supply and you'll get a nice boost in performance.

 

[aliasaid]

to make the upgrade worth-while, you'll need to invest a good chunk or else you won't even notice the upgrade. Here are a couple of parts that total $355 with free shipping on both; and you'll see a nice boost of performance. Your powersupply is good enough to power your rig, you won't need a new one.


Newegg.com - Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

 

[remedy]

*Edit* Sorry aliasaid, didn't see your post. That looks nice too. That processorlooks really nice. I'll think about some of this.

Nice, that looks good. Do you think that upgrading to another dual core is a waste of money? Was just wondering if I should get a quad core, which unfortunately would bump the price up quite a bit. But I really like the 5770, it looks awesome (not physically but the specs haha). I'll do some more research and run it by you.

What if instead of the Q9400 I got the Q8300.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115207

 

[RichM499]

Yes definitely the 5770 is much more powerful than your 8800. The 8800GTX is around 40% slower in benchmarks than the 5770. You will notice an immediate boost in speed just from this upgrade alone. You MIGHT want to upgrade to a quad core, it's really up to you, but in my opinion Raw MHZ is the most important factor unless you just happen to have some program that takes full advantage of all 4 cores, which isn't commonplace. (correct me if I'm wrong about the 4 core thing)

 

[remedy]

I think you're correct about all 4 cores being used, but I play games that really push your machine to the limit (Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Modern Warfare 2, Grand Theft Auto IV). So I'm not sure if a quad would really be used in those or if the e8400 would be sufficient for me to pretty much run those games on nearly maxed.

 

[RichM499]

Well you expressed concerns about your power supply, so untill you upgrade the PSU I would recommend against the Quad Core as it's going to require quite a bit more power to run correctly, ESPECIALLY if you overclock it. The e8400 on the other hand, should work just fine and you'll still be able to overclock it a bit.

 

[Slaymate]

Right now not that many games will utilize all 4 cores of a cpu. But that is starting to change, if your planning on using this PC for more than another year I would definitely buy a Quad Core.

 

[remedy]

Well I do plan on using this rig for more than a year. But I look at your rig SlayMate, and notice how insane it is lol, so I am not suprised that you would tell me I need a Quad Core
I think that I'd be just fine with the e8400. If I get a few more confirmation posts I may just go ahead and order this tonight!

Ok, what if I get a Q8300 quad? It seems very reasonable.

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor - Processors - Desktops

 

[S0ULphIRE]

If you're going quad, then I'd go with a Q6600 or a Q9XXX
tbh the Q8300 isn't really worth it. Smaller cache, doesn't overclock so well, etc.