What to upgrade?

[Azhrei]

I have a friend with a pc who is looking to upgrade soon, but I'm not sure which needs updating first. His system is as follows -

i7 920
6GB DDR3
GeForce 460

Would it be worth upgrading his i7 to one of the newer processors? My immediate thought is to upgrade the graphics card, but on the other hand his i7 is sitting on a Socket 1366 board and he has no upgrade paths there, so at some point he will have to get a new board and processor. Would this be the time to do so? Any suggestions on what to upgrade to?

As for the card, I would also appreciate suggestions to an upgrade here. It doesn't matter if he stays with the nVidia or goes with AMD. One final thing to say is that he doesn't want to spend much - maybe just a little over €200. I would appreciate suggestions for both. Thanks guys

 

[DRDNA]

I feel the i7 920 is still a very good chip. I think if anything go with a upgraded GPU.
then down the road they could if they want upgrade to the 6 core 1366 chip.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

The problem is how much of an upgrade is this?

1155 is soon to be replaced. The last iteration of the chips to officially use 1155 is the currently available Ivy Bridge series.

2011 is a bad joke. Between vast issues with the motherboards, very high expense, and a much delayed upgrade path (Ivy Bridge enthusiast isn't supposed to drop until quarter three of 2013) it's not for gamers.


On the other hand, a 460 is an easy upgrade. There's great options on both the Nvidea and AMD side.

If it were my money, I'd:
1) Overclock the 920, it still has some life left in it.
2) Upgrade the video card. It'll be great now, and better with an upgraded CPU in the future.
3) Check the RAM. If you've got 12 GB now, then there's little reason to upgrade. If you're cruising in at 3 GB then there's upgrade room there.


Edit:
Before anyone comments, I'm the owner of a 2011 computer. The motherboard has already been replaced twice, and overclocking it is like performing brain surgery with a flamethrower. The updates to BIOS cripple any attempts at overclocking. I am not happy. Whether this is just my mobo, or not, I cannot tell you.

 

[Azhrei]

Nono, this isn't for me, it's a friend whose pc specifications I have listed above. I'd appreciate some suggestions for both cpu's and gpu's, then he and I will go over it and decide from there. Thanks for your replies though!

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

And you are located where?

You need to give us an idea of where you are, and where you'd buy the hardware from, in order for us to give you any real specifics.

 

[Azhrei]

There's no problem of where to buy, I have a number of good online stores to buy from. But, to satisfy your curiousity, I'm in Ireland. I typically buy from Pixmania, Komplett, Dabs and Amazon. I do tend to shop around to get the right prices, so there's no need for you to go looking. I will do a fairly exhaustive search as always.

As for overclocking the 920, that's not an option. All of our components are handed down to friends and so nothing we have is overclocked - the respective lifetimes are important.

 

[Soup]

I'd wait until Haswell for CPU upgrade(if even that?); that 920 is still a great chip.

Upgrade the GPU or move over to an SSD.

 

[TRWOV]

Just overclock the CPU and upgrade the graphics card.

I'd wait at least another year before thinking about replacing a Nehalem. Also, the 920 has about the same performance as the Q9560, which is the top Core 2 Quad, still a superb CPU.

 

[assaulter_99]

For just $200, what can he really expect? This budget will most likely only pay for another GPU, which in his case, is the weak link! My thoughts? Sell the 460 and put the money on top of that $200 and get another GPU.

What I don't quite really get sometimes is why do some folks feel the need to get rid of what is sometimes still great hardware just because there is no path to upgrade. Is it an ego thing? I do understand in some cases you want to keep all options open in the future but the manufacturers surely know this and they will rarely give you such a luxury. By the time (sometimes and a big if) you get a chip that might tempt you on an old socket, it will be 3 sockets behind!

Not a rant, but tell him to keep his 920. It is no slouch!

 

[Soup]

sell the 460 and put the money on top of that $200 and get another gpu.

+1

 

[cdawall]

Pick up a second 460 and move on with life. If you are super freaked out about overclocking you could flash a pair of 460 to superclock specs and move on with life.

 

[3870x2]

Just overclock the CPU and upgrade the graphics card.

I'd wait at least another year before thinking about replacing a Nehalem. Also, the 920 has about the same performance as the Q9560, which is the top Core 2 Quad, still a superb CPU.

That is if you discount the QX series, and I was pretty sure that 920 was a pretty good cut above the 9650. (I think it was the 9650 you were talking about anyway)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/xfx-gf-gtx285-gtx295_11.html
From what I see it is absolutely faster than the QX9650.

 

[Azhrei]

Just overclock the CPU and upgrade the graphics card.

I'd wait at least another year before thinking about replacing a Nehalem. Also, the 920 has about the same performance as the Q9560, which is the top Core 2 Quad, still a superb CPU.

No overclocking.

For just $200, what can he really expect?

€200. There's a difference.

What I don't quite really get sometimes is why do some folks feel the need to get rid of what is sometimes still great hardware just because there is no path to upgrade. Is it an ego thing?

I built the pc for him three years ago and he wants to use his money to upgrade his computer. That's all. There's no ego involved, he doesn't have the most powerful pc out of our group.

Pick up a second 460 and move on with life. If you are super freaked out about overclocking you could flash a pair of 460 to superclock specs and move on with life.

He doesn't want to go with a dual gpu configuration. I do all the tech support for the group and he is not interested in dealing with things like this - he doesn't want to have to learn about which games support Crossfire or SLI and vice versa. And no overclocking - not due to my being afraid of it, but because every component we have will go down to a friend, and overclocking reduces component lifetime.

At this point I'm just looking for suggestions for a gpu upgrade with a budget of around €200. He can be flexible though.

 

[cdawall]

He doesn't want to go with a dual gpu configuration. I do all the tech support for the group and he is not interested in dealing with things like this - he doesn't want to have to learn about which games support Crossfire or SLI and vice versa. And no overclocking - not due to my being afraid of it, but because every component we have will go down to a friend, and overclocking reduces component lifetime.

Everything supports SLi to a degree. It is not like crossfire in that way. As for overclocking that's a crock of shit, but you can believe what you want. All I know is EVGA sells the "superclocked" series of cards that carry the same lifetime warranty as the not overclocked cards. Same goes for XFX and a couple of other brands. No one is telling you to hook up LN2 and crank the volts. I have yet to see something at stock voltage die from an overclock. I still use a ti4200@340/600 (huge overclock) to this day in a s754 unit.

 

[brandonwh64]

I would only upgrade the video card and PSU to be ready for the newer intel sockets later on.

 

[TRWOV]

I don't know what can €200 get you but the best bang for the buck cards right now are the 7870 and 660Ti. I'd look into them first.

 

[PopcornMachine]

I don't know what can €200 get you but the best bang for the buck cards right now are the 7870 and 660Ti. I'd look into them first.

I agree. With this budget, best thing is to upgrade GPU. These are a lot more powerful and use less power. Don't have worry about a new PSU.

 

[Azhrei]

Cheers guys, I appreciate it

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I'd wait until Haswell for CPU upgrade(if even that?); that 920 is still a great chip.

Upgrade the GPU or move over to an SSD.

This.

GPU or SSD. or Both haha. A GTX670 would be a nice upgrade I would think. Get a 660ti if you can't afford the 670.