Thread: Thinking about upgrading

So I've been thinking about this for awhile now and haven't really had the money for it, but I think I've got enough of my college funds stored away right now to look at upgrading my PC. My single core AMD processor is not cutting it anymore, especially trying to run Adobe CS 3 on Vista. I can't really multitask as much as I'd like otherwise stuff starts slowing down or just stopping altogether.

I'm looking to upgrade at least my mobo, cpu, and RAM as they are all fairly old (can't remember when I got them, they are a few years old to say the least)

I'm still debating on the CPU as I'm not sure which will be better in the long run. Right now I'm thinking the E6850 as it should be enough to meet my needs and should run games well for awhile. I think the quad would be overkill right now as I think the dual core would be more than enough right now. The Q6600 is a little bit cheaper right now though, but not by much.

As for mobo I was think of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131225 as it will be enough for what I need right now and allows room for expansion if I need it. I've also had good experiences with ASUS products, so that was plus to me.

For RAM I'm looking at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231122 but I've never heard of G.Skill so I have no clue if they are good or not. I want at least a good 4gigs though either way.

I'm looking at something that'll cost around $500, but I might be able to spend more if I need something extra or something that's a better deal.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to do this yet or not, I'll have to see how some other school related expenses turn out, but I think I have enough to get what I want.

In case you're wondering, I need the mobo to have at least 1 IDE slot, and 3+ SATA slots to go with my other hardware.

Gskill is fine, put some inthe son's pc and it works perfectly.

As for this 500 dollars is that just mobo/cpu/ram?

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 -- $239.99
ASUS P5N-E -- $114.99
Mushkin 4GB DDR2-800 -- $88.99
443.97 grand total.

You could always step down the CPU a bit, say to this; Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe - $169.99 which drops the price to 373.99 and is still plenty of power.

Your 7950 is probably still pushing plenty of pixels, but your also due for a video card upgrade sometime this year too.

I forget that is an older 3D Mark 06 Score and info. I need to run it again I suppose but I think it was just a trial version...

Anyways I'm good in the video card department as I got one as a birthday gift last year I believe it was:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133193.

Sad though, card isn't even a year old and it's a "deactivated item" on Newegg.

Good thing I'm just looking right now though as the processor you listed is currently out of stock Murry.

And yes, that's just for the mobo/cpu/ram, unless I end up needing something more like a new case or some cooling as I just have 4 case fans at the moment, but it seems to be working fine the way it is now. I don't think I'll need a new case, but we'll see.

My current case is one of these: http://www.coolerguys.com/achilles.html except I've switched out the power supply for a 650W one.

Ooo, that card is nice, youll be fine with that for awhile.

And the egg gets stuff in all the time, I would expect that chip to be back in stock before they ship on monday if you keep an eye on it.
I would look for the 8x00 intels the extra 2mb cache is pretty nice

With either what you posted or what I put up youll be in fine shape throwing around pixels with the best of them.

We're suppose to be going to NY sometime in May to visit the Met, but right now the cost is unknown which is why I'm trying to get an estimate for both the trip and my upgrade before I do anything. Assuming we can get the prices he first gave us, I'm thinking I'll be good to go ahead and make the purchase.

I'll wait until Monday though and ask him about the trip in class to get some more details.

Thanks for the help though guys.  :9

I was just browsing Newegg again and saw this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128059

Looks to be a pretty good board for a cheaper price to me, only thing I'm concern about though is the SB is right near where my video card will extend to and I'm not sure if that would be a problem or not.

I have had excellent experience with gigabyte boards.

Well I'm pretty sure I'm going to purchase the parts listed here:

E8400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128059
Gskill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800

The thing is though, Newegg still doesn't have the processor in stock and I've looked around and there are a lot of places that say they have it but they are really out of stock. The only place I have been able to find the processor is where it'll cost somewhere close to $300 or it'll be coming from Canada and I'm not sure if I should purchase from there or not.

The site in Canada that has the processor in stock (or so they say): http://www.frontierpc.com/ProductDet...ctID=950026250

Anyone know if Intel is having problems with this processor or if it's just in real high demand at the moment?

I was hoping to be able to purchase everything and rebuild for Spring break (I start on the 17th), but I might have to wait if I can't find the processor or I'll end up going with the E6850.

do the 'auto-notify' thing and buy it the minute you get an email.