$400-500 upgrade

[baron5]

Hey everyone, Long time no posing
Just a brief question, my friend has an older build which consists of an old MSI p43 mobo and a q6600/HD4870. He wants to upgrade CPU,MOBO,RAM given my limited research on the newer sandy bridge cpu's and amd's current standings, i have recommend he goes with a couple of options.

i3 2300
GB p67-ud3(r/p) / asus p8p67
4GB cl7/8 ram
Its hard for me to rec something like this because although the 2300 performs extremely well for what he needs there will be no overclocking on it, basically, and a 2500k is out of budget.
A i5 from the 1156 socket would be better, but he will be outdated socket wise, seems its hard win.
The other option was possibly a phenom II x6 or even x4 which i know overclock well and although will probably only rival a 2300 in terms of gaming, should out perform it in applications, which is mainly what he will be using it for, as he now has a ps3 for gaming.
which will paired with a 880g or even 890gx ud3H and similar 4GB ram

Opinions please, whats the best go?

 

[Yami]

Go the i3 route, assuming it's roughly the same price. I say that because if he goes with the AMD route, next time he upgrades he'll have to get a new board, but if he gets the 1155 i3 then next time he upgrades he'll be able to get a 1155 i5 or i7, and not have to pay for a new motherboard.

And it's true as you say, the PII x4 (or x6) and the i3 will offer surprisingly similar performance, though obviously the PII x6 will be better in multi-threaded stuff.

 

[baron5]

Yeah thanks for confirming that for me, it seems dual or single high speed cores still influence much more for now anyway.

 

[4P_Bulldozer]

If you can get a significantly faster Processor within your Budget (or wait for the one you want to get cheaper) then get a Processor before the Socket's life runs out and Processors become rare and more expensive again.

You can buy more RAM many years latter as those Sockets expire very slowly. If your Processor Socket is new and a faster Processor is expensive then spend some cash on RAM or if your a Gamer then CF/SLI your Card or upgrade the Vid and get a Processor when they come down in Price.

Processor is #1 (unless it is not much of a speed increase (yet) or too expensive (now)).
Next is RAM (but you don't need that too badly). Buy RAM when it is cheap, like now.
Last is a Graphics Card (unless your a Gamer, then it is second) since future Cards will still fit in your PCI Slots (and you will hear about it if PCI is being eliminated, unlikely).

The longer you wait to buy a Video Card the faster and cheaper they will be and they are the slowest to not fit into the Slot; but if you are going to CF/SLI it then don't wait too long.

 

[Yami]

Last is a Graphics Card (unless your a Gamer, then it is second) since future Cards will still fit in your PCI Slots (and you will hear about it if PCI is being eliminated, unlikely).

Just thought I'd point out, it saves a lot of confusion if you make sure to use the right acronym - GPUs currently use PCI-E slots, not PCI. They haven't used PCI slots since the 90s (they were used before AGP slots).