New cpu or mobo and ram? or just cpu

[Steve-007UK]

Hi all i need you help, so i got myself a new ati HD5750 and i love it, currently running it over 2x 17inch screens, thing is my cpu is old and tho it overclocks well im not sure if i should upgrade it.

If i do upgrade i don't realy want to have to change my motherboard, my ram mobo and GPU are the newest parts in the pc, oh and the PSU.

I also want to upgrade my PSU aswell, it will need to power 2x ATI HD5750's as i plan on getting another in the near futere.

here are some pics of cpu/gpu/temp info.

sorry for the size of the pic im using 2 screens and not used to adding them to forums lol.

 

[Dent1]

Hi all i need you help, so i got myself a new ati HD5750 and i love it, currently running it over 2x 17inch screens, thing is my cpu is old and tho it overclocks well im not sure if i should upgrade it.

If i do upgrade i don't realy want to have to change my motherboard, my ram mobo and GPU are the newest parts in the pc, oh and the PSU.

I also want to upgrade my PSU aswell, it will need to power 2x ATI HD5750's as i plan on getting another in the near futere.

here are some pics of cpu/gpu/temp info.
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9418/anygood.jpg

sorry for the size of the pic im using 2 screens and not used to adding them to forums lol.

A single 5750 is like borderline midrange so your E6550 should be fine, just overclock the CPU further, I do not see why you couldnt get near 3.5-4GHz range on that CPU.

As far as getting a second 5750 for crossfire your E6550 will bottleneck it slightly, it probably isnt worth spending any more money on socket 775, it will be cheaper to buy a Athlon II/Phenom II X4 CPU and a AM2+ motherboard and reuse your memory opposed to buying a high end Q9xxx-series Quadcore.

 

[Arrakis9]

if i were you i would look for a 45nm dual with more cache and just do some heavy overclocking to hold you over untill you can afford to migrate to a ddr3 setup. you should be able to find something for sale used for $100 or less.

 

[Steve-007UK]

Cheers Arrakis+9 that sounds like a better idea, ill start having a look on ebay and stuff.

sorry for this double post/topic i dident realise till just, if its poss could a mod merge this with my other please.

 

[twilyth]

I don't know what is most important to you. Gaming I'm guessing. But here are a couple things to think about.

1. DDR2-800 memory is getting a little long in the tooth. That's still what I'm running - either that or 1066 depending on the rig. You really want to move in the direction of DDR3, but that's just my humble non-gaming opinion. Something like DDR3-1600 should give you a big boost in performance with CAS latency of 8 or 9. It's still not cheap, but the performance boost might be worth it.

2. But that means a new mobo. The good news is that you can get 775 m/b's with 2 pci exp 2.0 x16 slots for under $100 and still use your 6550. According to the specs, yours has one x16 and one x8. I don't know if that matters since it says they support xfire and conform to PCI 2.

3. The point about the load with xfire running might be an issue as another poster mentioned but IDK. Even though that socket has been around for a few years, companies are still making the boards so people must still be buying them. And as long as you plan to go with Intel chips, the odds are good that a new CPU will mean a new board anyway. So if you can do what you want with the 6550, it might be the right choice.

 

[Steve-007UK]

I have a small room so use the pc for everything, mainly music and gaming tho, I have thought about going back to AMD but i wanted to update a few things at a time untill i can realy update the hole system.

My current ram is DDR2 1066mhz stuff but i have never been able to get it to run at 1066mhz lol, tryed diffrent makes of ram to and no go, i think it still has something to do with the cpu i have because i can push the ram higher when cpu is overclcoked, but after about 970mhz the pc just locks up and reboots.

Apart from the few odd things with ram the pc works damn good as it is, i have mu cpu @3200mhz atm but usualy keep it @2800mhz never had probs in the 6 months i have been running windows 7, almost all my games run how i wanted them to even tho i have to use a silly resolution because im using 2 screen as one lol.

i supose i could just buy a new mobo then the week after save some cash then the week after that get some DDR3, and so on save and buy bit by bit.

 

[Fourstaff]

Upgrade your processor, then wait for next gen.

 

[twilyth]

I always make compromises when it comes to hardware. I'm just not enough of a purist to worry about having things exactly right. But I try to make good compromises rather than the kind that are just expedient.

I think keeping the cpu but reluctantly going for another m/b is a smart compromise because you'll be able to get RAM that will still have respectable performance a couple years from now. It also gives you the latest and greatest bus interface and that could/might/hopefully will make it easier to implement xfire if you go in that direction.

I don't know what UK prices will be like, but here, the boards at newegg are almost all under $100 - Core 2 Quad/Duo / Pentium Dual-Core / Celeron, D....

The DDR3's for quad channel set with 8 gig is at least $280, but you'll still be able to use them down the road.

IDK. I guess what it really depends on is how much of a difference those chips would make and I'm not qualified to say. If you bump the thread a couple times next week you should be able to get some more savvy input.

 

[Dent1]

twilyth,

The UK market is terrible for DDR2, at the moment DDR2 prices cost more than DDR3, the OP could literally put his 4GBs of DDR2 on Ebay for £69.99 "buy it now" and it would be gone like hot cakes. £10 ontop of the profit can buy high end G.Skills, Crucial Balistix, OCZ or Kingston DDR3 @ 4GB 1600Mhz!

Socket 775 motherboard prices are through the roof here too, socket 775 costs the same as AM3.

 

[Steve-007UK]

yup DDR2 is bad here in the uk i payed around £40 when i first got this stuff and now the same stuff cost twice as much now.

 

[twilyth]

Dent: I don't want to jack the man's thread, but out of curiosity, do you think the UK might be on more of an 'early adopter' flight path than the US, because that's . . . IDK, odd I guess.

I remember back in the 90's I was looking for some DIPP (dual inline pin package) memory chips for an IBM XT (don't ask)

I don't remember the specifics, but they were a lot more expensive than whatever was current.

I have an Asus P5E (???) m/b and for yukes I checked the prices on ebay - going for $100 or more as of maybe 9 months ago.

The thing is that there seems to be a sweet spot at say 4-5 generations out where the stuff goes up in value. If you don't grab the chance, a few months or a year later you could be left with scrap.

 

[Dent1]

Indeed, with Ebay people love the old hardware, for example I was watching the E5200 on Ebay a few weeks ago and they were going for about £60 used, these CPUs used to be about £45-55 new a few years back, which would of meant that somebody would of got a nice 3 years of usage out of it and made a tidy profit! its like having a component for 3 years for FREE.

The Q6600 is going for about £100 used on Ebay, they used to be about £130-140 new, so thats like enjoying a high end CPU (at the time) for 4 years for £40 or £10 per year. lol

But Certainly Animal007 is in that unique situation right now where DDR2, socket 775 and Core 2 prices are high, the could easily get near £200 for his stuff as a bundle and get a practically free AMD flatform upgrade based on a Athlon II X3/X4 or a near free Phenom II X4/X6 platform, both platforms with DDR3 @ 1600Mhz.

 

[Tatty_Two]

For my 2 penneth, i would go for an E8400 (6MB L2 cache) or if cash was short, a 2nd hand E7300/7400 (3MB L2 cache). Both will overclock well on a P45, each should give you in excess of 4gig.

 

[Steve-007UK]

yeah been looking at that cpu for a while now, i think ill get one in 2 weeks hopefully.

week after ill get a new PSU.

maybe this.

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=PSX-750WBE

 

[Dent1]

yeah been looking at that cpu for a while now, i think ill get one in 2 weeks hopefully.

week after ill get a new PSU.

maybe this.

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=PSX-750WBE

That PSU is decent but its a little overpriced and its absolutely overkill and hard to justify the cost. I would restrict the PSU budget to around £50-70 which could still get you a high end PSU whilst leaving about £40-30 available for funding another component.


Antec Basiq Power 550W £53
Antec EarthWatts 650W PSU £64
OCZ Z Series 650W PSU £72
XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular £70
OCZ Stealth XStream 700W PSU £76
OCZ 700W Mod XStream Pro PSU £76

Antec Basiq Power 550W PSU - 6x SATA 2x PCI-E 20+4...
Antec EarthWatts 650W PSU - 80Plus Certified 12cm ...
OCZ Z Series 650W PSU - 80plus Silver, 12cm Fan, 4...
XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular PSU - 13....
OCZ 700W Mod XStream Pro PSU - 2x PCI-E 6x SATA - ...
OCZ Stealth XStream 700W PSU - 120mm Fan, 4x 12V R...

 

[Steve-007UK]

It's overkill for a reason, im sick of buying new PSU every 6 months due to some other upgrade so if i get a good powerfull one now job sorted game over no need to buy another for ages, inless it goes pop.

Also money is not an issue as such just takes a few weeks to save for each part, the joys of not having kids.

Hmm that XFX 650watt PSU looks ok,l dident notice it lastnight, hopefull it will be the same price next week, if it is ill get sis to order one on friday. the new cpu can wait an extra week as i would rather have a good strong PSU first.

 

[Dent1]

It's overkill for a reason, im sick of buying new PSU every 6 months due to some other upgrade so if i get a good powerfull one now job sorted game over no need to buy another for ages, inless it goes pop.

Also money is not an issue as such just takes a few weeks to save for each part, the joys of not having kids.

Hmm that XFX 650watt PSU looks ok,l dident notice it lastnight, hopefull it will be the same price next week, if it is ill get sis to order one on friday. the new cpu can wait an extra week as i would rather have a good strong PSU first.

Why are you buying PSUs every six months, PSUs are one of the few components which can genuinely go 4-5 years without replacement. To be frank I do not think you even need a new PSU, its its been working fine without problems why replace it now?

The Antec Basiq Power 550W is only £54, that is all you need for the next 3 years or so. Put the money on components that will actually improve performance!

 

[Steve-007UK]

Why are you buying PSUs every six months, PSUs are one of the few components which can genuinely go 4-5 years without replacement. To be frank I do not think you even need a new PSU, its its been working fine without problems why replace it now?

The Antec Basiq Power 550W is only £54, that is all you need for the next 3 years or so. Put the money on components that will actually improve performance!

Because i always bought crap PSU's that dident have much power but did ok for my needs at the time, but i find the more i push things with overclocking and adding more fans and stuff the PSU tends to give up.

Work is picking up so ill be buying a lot of new stuff soon im just deciding what i want, but i do know i will need a good PSU and i would rather it have the power there already.

First time its happened but this is why i want a good PSU.

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly. power lost to my hardrive, how do i know? cause i heard it power back up.

 

[Dent1]

Because i always bought crap PSU's that dident have much power but did ok for my needs at the time, but i find the more i push things with overclocking and adding more fans and stuff the PSU tends to give up.

Work is picking up so ill be buying a lot of new stuff soon im just deciding what i want, but i do know i will need a good PSU and i would rather it have the power there already.

First time its happened but this is why i want a good PSU.

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly. power lost to my hardrive, how do i know? cause i heard it power back up.

Its very unlikely to be a power supply issue, the chances are your PSU would either turn off (not restart) if there was a power sufficiency or it would just blow! More than likely your PC restarted due to an overclock which you thought was stable but wasn’t this happens to me if I have not got enough voltage in my CPU it will restart randomly and will generate a error similar to the one you describe at the first desktop upon restarting.

I'm not going to lie EZCool is known for dodgy PSUs, they tend to shock customers into buying with fancy gold shiny equipment and "MEGA 750WATT" or something stupid but in reality its probably can not delivery 350Watts. I would buy a "normal" PSU between 500-650watts, but from a respectable brand that can deliver exactly what is advertised. BTW if you are upgrading the chances are your new components will consume less power than your current components so if your PSU seemingly delivers now it should be fine once you upgrade.

 

[Steve-007UK]

Has nothing to do with my overclock this PSU is just shit lol, and the pc diden't restart it blue screened due to my main hardrive losing power, it was myself who reset the pc and this is when i hear my hardrive power backup, it does not do this when i normaly restart. been building pc's over 10 years i know my pc inside out in how it works and what it don't like.

At the end of the day i just want a beast of a PSU and im sorry if you can't understand that.

Im not buying one to benefit this pc, im upgrading soon as i can, and i'm going to spend a lot on parts, i am going back to AMD so will go AM3 mobo, DDR3, Top end 6 core AMD phenom cpu. Then another HD5750 untill the new range come out.

 

[lyndonguitar]

New PSU is okay. maybe not needed right now.

RAM is fine, but if you need 1066 for overclocking purposes, do it.(you must know how to properly overclock and set the nearest frequency of the RAM to the FSB. nahh do some research. its a long story if you don't know)

CPU - You can get cheap Core 2 Quads.

Mobo - No need.
if you change Mobo, you will have to change also the RAM and the CPU(ofcourse you will buy the new ddr3 rams and LGA1366 sockets mobos), which is not needed right now because im guessing you're not an enthusiast or out of budget?

Equals = Nice decent rig.

EDIT: i see that you have money and you want to upgrade to the "new"

Go for it. buy a New Mobo, CPU, and RAM. best choice.

 

[Steve-007UK]

yeah i know how to overclock and set bios, my ram is also 1066mhz but has never ran at that speed on this mobo and no one can work out why, i still say its the cpu causing it. cpu is 2333mhz default i set ram so when i overclock to 2800mhz ram is in sync at 800mhz 1/1 ratio.

After all the comments i have decided to keep this pc as a spare and slowly build up a nice AMD system. MY HD5750 will go on new pc and ill stick a crappy hd2400 in here just so it has graphics.

Here is a list of what im thinking of going for. please don't post links to cheaper stuff as i will serch for myself later, its just i goto this shop ill be posting links to.

CPU - http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=CPA-AP21055T

mobo - http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=MBG-790FXTAUD5 not an asus fan atm so dont even recommend them please as i will not buy them.

Ram - http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=MEC-D3-4096A16

 

[Arrakis9]

looks like you've built yourself a winner there, animal