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Topic: Time to upgrade (?)

Plan B
foolproof

Joined: 11 Jan 2001
Posts: 7927

Posted: 09-15-2010 09:29 AM

I'm looking to upgrade my Q6600, MSI P6N sli v2, GTS250 512MB, 2GB mem, XP system.

It still runs most stuff ok-ish, but on 1920x1200 it's starting to show its age (3,5 years).

What I'm looking at:

case: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro M850 850 Watt
proc: Intel Core I5 760 2.80 GHz
cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
mobo: GigaByte GA-P55-USB3
mem: Kingston HyperX Dual Channel 4 GB, PC3-10666, 1333 MHz
vid: GigaByte GeForce GTX 480 1536 MB
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB, 7200 Rpm, 32 MB, S-ATA II/300
DVD: Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE S-ATA
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, OEM

EUR 1303
GBP 1089
USD 1692
CAD 1738

Is this a good deal now?
Should some components be replaced by superior ones at roughly the same price?
Or should I just wait it out some more until prices go down (will they?)

For ducthoz:
It's Salland's John Dillinger system, geared towards Mafia 2, FWIW.

Anyone have experiences with Salland?

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obsidian
I'm the dude!

Joined: 04 Feb 2002
Posts: 12393

Posted: 09-15-2010 11:25 AM

For electronics, prices always go down. So the question isn't about when is the best time to buy, it's how much money do you actually want to spend right now and where can you get the most "bang for your buck".

TBH, your computer isn't that far behind, I think my brother is also running a Q6600, since then he's just upgraded the OS and video card. You could just upgrade the memory and video card and it'll still be good for most games for a couple of years.

Those specs look good. You probably don't need any special cooling if you buy the retail box of the i5, they come with pretty decent coolers already. 4GB RAM is okayish, more certainly doesn't hurt.

$1738 CAD seems REALLY expensive, but that could be because you're a Euro bitch. My year old (at the time) bleeding edge i7 with 12GB RAM and GTX280 only came out to $1600 (sans case + HDD).

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^misantropia^
Mentor

Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 3958

Posted: 09-16-2010 01:41 AM

19% VAT does us in. Often the price in USD is exactly the price in EUR. That is, a gadget that costs $499 in the US, costs €499 here.

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Plan B
foolproof

Joined: 11 Jan 2001
Posts: 7927

Posted: 09-16-2010 09:14 AM

obsidian wrote:
...TBH, your computer isn't that far behind, I think my brother is also running a Q6600, since then he's just upgraded the OS and video card. You could just upgrade the memory and video card and it'll still be good for most games for a couple of years.

Yeah, you're probably right. Not what I wanted to hear, because when that upgrade itch starts, you really want to scratch, you know, hehe.
I'm just an eye candy whore, and I hate to have to turn settings down on newer stuff.

But if there were some golden rule where if [new rig 3dmark points] / [old rig 3dmark points] > 1.5 it's worth the upgrade, I'm not even sure I'd make that.
Although that vid card is a fucking beast.

And yeah, price is relatively high. Goddamned euro tax thing, as misantropia pointed out.
I considered shipping from the states, but I'd just get nervous about warranty and stuff.

There's some other stuff bothering me about the current rig, like frequently having to sort out overheating problems, noisiness, and wanting to finally move on from XP, so I'm not going to upgrade seperate parts, but deal with shit in one fell swoop.

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts. Going to bide my time to see prices go down a bit.

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obsidian
I'm the dude!

Joined: 04 Feb 2002
Posts: 12393

Posted: 09-16-2010 09:32 AM

Well, if the computer isn't really working reliably or to your liking, then that does possibly warrant a new computer.

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U4EA
i liek boobies

Joined: 26 Nov 2000
Posts: 11930

Posted: 09-16-2010 04:07 PM

Haha yea, I'm pretty much holding out for Rage at this point. Want to have a decent PC when it's released.

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Plan B
foolproof

Joined: 11 Jan 2001
Posts: 7927

Posted: 09-17-2010 07:29 AM

Good point about waiting for Rage, although I believe that won't be released for another year
Don't think I'll wait that long.

And yeash, this trend of not having antialiasing fucking sucks.
It's mainly Unreal engine based games and console ports, but still.
I messed around with forcing AA through control panel, but that rarely gives satisfactory results

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Plan B
foolproof

Joined: 11 Jan 2001
Posts: 7927

Posted: 03-23-2011 11:41 AM

OK, sorry for necromancing, but getting a nice tax return and now I got my eye on this =>

case: Cooler Master HAF X Black
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro M Gold 800 Watt, 20+24 Pins
Processor: Intel Core I5 2500 3.33 GHz, Boxed
MOBO: Asus P8P67
RAM: Kingston HyperX Dual Channel 4 GB, PC3-12800, 1600 MHz, 9, Non-ECC, Kit Of 2
VID: Gainward GeForce GTX 580 1536 MB
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 Extended Capacities 25nm 60 GB, S-ATA II / 300, 250 MB's, 285 MB's, 2,5 Inch
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB, 7200 Rpm, 32 MB, Bulk

Comes with W7 home premium.

Sells for:

EUR 1446
GBP 1258
USD 2044
CAD 2009

Thoughts?

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Foo
Timed Out

Joined: 02 Aug 2000
Posts: 37914

Posted: 03-23-2011 08:52 PM

I would suggest sticking with the Q6600 and mobo, and bumping up all the components around them. That quad-core CPU is still solid.

RAM up to 4 or 8Gb, Graphics card to a 580 or such, Copy of OEM home premium, an SSD for the OS = Going to fucking fly.

If you're gonna upgrade the processor, should probably go for an i7 to make the jump worthwhile.

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Plan B
foolproof

Joined: 11 Jan 2001
Posts: 7927

Posted: 03-24-2011 11:22 AM

Yeah, the q6600 acting shitty is the main reason for me to not do what foo is suggesting.
Don't get me wrong, the q6600 is a good machine that has served me well the last 4 years.
It's just that it suddenly started overheating a year ago, and I have to reapply thermic paste every 3 months or so.
And then it's perfectly ok again. I'm really puzzled about what's happening there.

I've always ran it on the stock 4 x 2.4 speeds.
Tried overclocking in the beginning, because I heard it was so easy with the q6600.
But apparently there were 2 lines produced: one that allowed significant overclocking, and one that did nothing of the sort.
I, of course, had the latter; unstable even when overclocking just a fraction.

No, I'm going to go with a crisp new system, and use this one as my media center.

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Foo
Timed Out

Joined: 02 Aug 2000
Posts: 37914

Posted: 03-24-2011 02:01 PM

Fair dos. Shame you got a bum CPU ;(

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Captain Mazda
Finno-Persian Legend

Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Posts: 16097

Posted: 03-24-2011 05:27 PM

Plan B wrote:
Yeah, the q6600 acting shitty is the main reason for me to not do what foo is suggesting.
Don't get me wrong, the q6600 is a good machine that has served me well the last 4 years.
It's just that it suddenly started overheating a year ago, and I have to reapply thermic paste every 3 months or so.
And then it's perfectly ok again. I'm really puzzled about what's happening there.

I've always ran it on the stock 4 x 2.4 speeds.
Tried overclocking in the beginning, because I heard it was so easy with the q6600.
But apparently there were 2 lines produced: one that allowed significant overclocking, and one that did nothing of the sort.
I, of course, had the latter; unstable even when overclocking just a fraction.

No, I'm going to go with a crisp new system, and use this one as my media center.

Yeah you probably got the B3 stepping. My Q6600 was G0 and overclocked perfectly.

But seriously, get an i7. They're well worth it and you won't have to worry about your CPU bottlenecking a powerhouse card like the 480/580.

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SoM
Your Other Daddy

Joined: 03 Dec 1999
Posts: 19987

Posted: 03-25-2011 09:18 AM

get the 590 if you have a grand burning a whole in yer pocket

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