What to buy?!

2009-07-24 03:53:42

#1

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|7146|Devon, England

Ok, with i37 coming up, I want some upgrades to my PC.

Current specs:

E4400 @ 3.0GHz (w/ F7P)
Gigabyte DS4 SLI
9600GT
4GB OCZ Platinum
460W Zalman PSU
(All in a nice, organised Coolermaster HAF case)

What I want to upgrade is my CPU and GPU.

I want an E8400/E8500 CPU as it's the legend that is, but I'm stuck on GPU choice.

My budget is around £250, preferably no higher. It's all I can get for some quick upgrades. Unfortunately things keep getting in the way of my ultimate upgrade (read: Getting a car and insuring it ).

So, with the CPU going at around £130 on most UK sites, it leave about £120 for a GPU.

Now, that says to me GTX 260 or 4870 1GB. The 4870 can be bought here from as little as £104. I have a GPU cooler on my current 9600GT that I'll happy switch over, so I guess I can just get a cheap card with a shit cooler.

The GTX 260 appeals to me because I've always had NVIDIA (Apart from my first store bought PC (God I hate 9550's)), so it's just fanboyism. I haven't checked benchmarks on these cards in a while, though, so which performs better? Is the £20 difference worth it?

Of course, I'm willing to go ATI, but what would you all feel is best to go with?

The CPU I choose will be determined on which site I get the GPU from.

Site's I shop at are:

www.scan.co.uk
www.overclockers.co.uk
www.ebuyer.co.uk
www.dinopc.co.uk

So what should I do? Are there any other cards I should look into?

Cheers.

Last edited by FFLink (2009-07-24 03:55:02)

2009-07-24 04:07:35

#2

rammunition: Fully Loaded; +143|6317

for £30 more you can get a 4890

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu … =GX-103-PC

when overclocked can be as good, if not better than the gtx285

2009-07-24 04:11:58

#3

KuSTaV: noice; +947|6967|Gold Coast

I'd get the 260, only because I have one and it runs perfectly fine. I dont think you'd even find any difference, so I guess you could go with whatever you feel.
Shitty advice, but just to satisfy that fanboy in you, Id get it.

noice

https://static.bf2s.com/files/user/26774/awsmsanta.png

2009-07-24 04:13:44

#4

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|7146|Devon, England

rammunition wrote:
for £30 more you can get a 4890

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu … =GX-103-PC

when overclocked can be as good, if not better than the gtx285

Interesting...

2009-07-24 04:19:09

#5

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|7037|SE London

FFLink wrote:
rammunition wrote:
for £30 more you can get a 4890

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu … =GX-103-PC

when overclocked can be as good, if not better than the gtx285
Interesting...

£30 is also roughly the 2nd hand value of your 9600GT.......

2009-07-24 04:20:01

#6

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6869|Finland

rammunition wrote:
for £30 more you can get a 4890

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu … =GX-103-PC

when overclocked can be as good, if not better than the gtx285

He can also get GTX 275 which has better stock cooler and same performance. for almost same price. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu … ubcat=1410

What cooler do you have on the graphics card now?

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2009-07-24 04:22:35

#7

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|7146|Devon, England

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
rammunition wrote:
for £30 more you can get a 4890

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu … =GX-103-PC

when overclocked can be as good, if not better than the gtx285
He can also get GTX 275 which has better stock cooler and same performance. for almost same price. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu … ubcat=1410

What cooler do you have on the graphics card now?

Arctic Cooling... Something fucking big, I forgot the name, I'll find out.

Accelero S1 with the dual fan attachments.

Last edited by FFLink (2009-07-24 04:23:21)

2009-07-24 04:24:59

#8

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6869|Finland

If you put that on HD 4890, you need PWM heatsink, ram heatsinks and a fan. Also are you sure its one of the revisions compatible with HD4870/HD4890?

If you want to keep warranty and avoid hassle and probably end up cheaper, the GTX 275 will be just great.

e.edit after your edit

Last edited by GC_PaNzerFIN (2009-07-24 04:25:48)

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2009-07-24 04:29:45

#9

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|7146|Devon, England

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
If you put that on HD 4890, you need PWM heatsink, ram heatsinks and a fan. Also are you sure its one of the revisions compatible with HD4870/HD4890?

If you want to keep warranty and avoid hassle and probably end up cheaper, the GTX 275 will be just great.

Not sure what the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation..?) is, but it has little RAM heatsinks, and two fans attached.

It attaches to a 4870, so would it go on a 4890?

The 275 is really pushing my budget, but if it's worth it, I'll go for that.

2009-07-24 04:32:11

#10

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6869|Finland

FFLink wrote:
GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
If you put that on HD 4890, you need PWM heatsink, ram heatsinks and a fan. Also are you sure its one of the revisions compatible with HD4870/HD4890?

If you want to keep warranty and avoid hassle and probably end up cheaper, the GTX 275 will be just great.
Not sure what the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation..?) is, but it has little RAM heatsinks, and two fans attached.

It attaches to a 4870, so would it go on a 4890?

The 275 is really pushing my budget, but if it's worth it, I'll go for that.

So you can remove and reapply the ram heatsinks (or not isntalled?), you need to get this red heatsink shown in this pic (available from zalman for couple €) http://www.techpowerup.com/img/09-06-19/29a.jpg if you want to change the stock cooler. That will effectively terminate the warranty as well.

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2009-07-24 04:35:31

#11

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|7146|Devon, England

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
FFLink wrote:
GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
If you put that on HD 4890, you need PWM heatsink, ram heatsinks and a fan. Also are you sure its one of the revisions compatible with HD4870/HD4890?

If you want to keep warranty and avoid hassle and probably end up cheaper, the GTX 275 will be just great.
Not sure what the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation..?) is, but it has little RAM heatsinks, and two fans attached.

It attaches to a 4870, so would it go on a 4890?

The 275 is really pushing my budget, but if it's worth it, I'll go for that.
So you can remove and reapply the ram heatsinks (or not isntalled?), you need to get this red heatsink shown in this pic (available from zalman for couple €) http://www.techpowerup.com/img/09-06-19/29a.jpg if you want to change the stock cooler. That will effectively terminate the warranty as well.

So it would be cheaper to go with the 275.

Ok, cheers.

Just another question, if this all goes tits up and I can only get one component, what would you say go for? CPU or GPU?

2009-07-24 04:37:20

#12

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6869|Finland

gpu

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2009-07-24 04:43:38

#13

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|7146|Devon, England

Any particular reason? I would have thought my CPU would be limiting me somehow. It's frickin' old.

I kind of hate my processor. Idles at 44C (I think, it has a completely unknown TJMax, so I guess at 100C) and I can't push it higher than 3.0GHz on this MoBo.

2009-07-24 04:45:07

#14

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6869|Finland

FFLink wrote:
Any particular reason? I would have thought my CPU would be limiting me somehow. It's frickin' old.

I kind of hate my processor. Idles at 44C (I think, it has a completely unknown TJMax, so I guess at 100C) and I can't push it higher than 3.0GHz on this MoBo.

there isn't THAT much difference clock to clock from E4400 to E8400. Also games tend to be more GPU bound these days.

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2009-07-24 04:47:03

#15

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|7146|Devon, England

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
FFLink wrote:
Any particular reason? I would have thought my CPU would be limiting me somehow. It's frickin' old.

I kind of hate my processor. Idles at 44C (I think, it has a completely unknown TJMax, so I guess at 100C) and I can't push it higher than 3.0GHz on this MoBo.
there isn't THAT much difference clock to clock from E4400 to E8400. Also games tend to be more GPU bound these days.

Cool, cheers

2009-07-24 04:54:22

#16

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|7146|Devon, England

Sorry, another question, is the E8500 good to go for?

Is the E7600 better? I can get an E7600 for £115 and an E8500 for £139. What would be the best to go for? Much difference between the two?

2009-07-24 05:15:32

#17

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6869|Finland

FFLink wrote:
Sorry, another question, is the E8500 good to go for?

Is the E7600 better? I can get an E7600 for £115 and an E8500 for £139. What would be the best to go for? Much difference between the two?

Get E8400. Better than E7600 and almost identical to E8500, you can OC it little yourself

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

BF2S Forums What to buy?!

rammunition wrote:

FFLink wrote:

rammunition wrote:

rammunition wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

rammunition wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

FFLink wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

FFLink wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

FFLink wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

FFLink wrote:

FFLink wrote:

Board footer