Build now or wait?

[QMax]

Hi OCC, everyone here helped me with my last build in '08, it still works great, but I have the money to build a new tower and sell this old one to a friend for $750. I'd like to know if I should wait until newer technology or build now, I'm still on DDR2 ram and not in the newer series of GPUs. Main task is gaming, some music recording.

 

Current Build

 

ANTEC - Nine Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case

Enermax - 600W EG701AX-VE SFMA Noisetaker II Power Supply

Intel - Core™2 Quad Processor Q6600 2.4GHz w/ 2x4MB Cache

-Arctic Cooling - Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler for P4/775

Gigabyte - GA-P35-DS4 w/ DualDDR2 1066, 7.1+2 Audio, Gigabit Lan, PCI-E x16 Crossfire

OCZ - 4GB PC2-6400 Vista Performance Platinum Dual Channel DDR2 Kit (2 x 2GB)

eVGA - e-GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDTV-Out

2x Western Digital - 320GB Caviar SE16 7200rpm SATA II w/ 16MB Cache

Samsung - SyncMaster 2053BW 20in Widescreen LCD w/ DVI, 2ms, DC 8000:1, Black

Microsoft - Windows Vista Home Premium x64 (64-bit) DVD w/ SP1, OEM

 

Possible new build

 

ThermalTake - V5 Black Edition Gaming Case

AMD - Phenom™ II X4 970 Black Edition 3.5GHz w/ 8MB Cache

Asus - M4A88T-M/USB3 w/ Radeon HD 4250, DualDDR3 1333, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, Hybrid CrossFireX, HDMI

Corsair - XMS3 8GB DDR3 1333MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit (4 x 2GB)

Asus - ENGTX570 GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDMI

Creative Labs - Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1, OEM

SEAGATE - 500GB Barracuda 7200.12 SATA II w/ 16MB Cache

Seagate - 1TB Barracuda 7200.12 SATA II w/ 32MB Cache

Microsoft - Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (64-bit) DVD - OEM

 

I would be keeping the monitor (1680x1050) and all my other peripherals. New build would be apprx $1200.00, so if I sell the old tower thats only $500 for this upgrade.

 

Do it or wait for next technology? Also any input on the new parts, switch up to 1600MHz ram/mobo? Should I move up to Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2GHz w/ 9MB Cache?

Edited January 11, 2011 by QMax

[Boinker]

Wait and get a sandy bridge system If you want. the I5-2400k or the I7-2600K with a gigabyte Mobo and decent ram If there is a money issue. In my opinion the Phenom II is growing to be old tech sense Intel Just released there new sandy bridge Chips and they are reasonably priced too boot.

 

Honest to god I would go with something other then a thermaltake case. Coolermaster makes a better case at about the same price IMHO.

 

Other then the processor of choice I like the set-up. Get it as soon as you sell the old set-up But I would try to get more then 500 out of it if you can.

 

Edit: if you go with AMD definatly the six core Thuban, and if you can definatly run the higher clocked memory. And what kind of power supply are you going to use BTW?

Edited January 11, 2011 by boinker

[Puck]

I would save your money and just get a new monitor and graphics card first.

 

I have no idea how you are gaming with such a small, low res monitor!

 

Just a decent 1920x1200 monitor and almost any current gen GPU would be a massive upgrade over what you have now.

[flareback]

wait.

[El_Capitan]

build.

[potatochobit]

buy a graphic card if you want, do not buy a mobo and processor

[QMax]

wait.

 

 

build.

 

Haha, slightly conflicting opinions here.

 

Power supply wasn't sure, but thinking 650W would be enough.

 

I agree the upgrade to GPU and OC (maybe) the CPU + buy new monitor would be all I need really. Would the DDR3 make a noticable difference in gaming? Honestly I never even max out my ram usage as is.

 

Edit: For new monitor + GPU, suggestions on monitor (available in Canada)

 

For GPU, GTX570 seems much better price/performace than GTX580 atm so I think I'm set on that. Also any ideas on size of 570 compared to 9800GTX+, I have little extra room for the GPU in this case, which is why I had picked that Thermaltake because its slightly larger. For power supply I would think my 600W is still sufficient, yea?

Edited January 11, 2011 by QMax

[TheHippi]

I'd say get a noctua d14 or similar cooler so you can put a good overclock on the q6600, a new videocard, maybe a new monitor, maybe a new PSU and hard drives depending on what videocard you get. A 600W will run a q6600/gtx-570 setup if you're trying to save money, but I'd probably want at least a good single 12V rail 650W, preferably a 750.

 

And if you want to upgrade your case, you should pick something that would be an actual upgrade, not just a slight improvement. A v5 is just a bit bigger than a antec 900 and not really worth it in my opinion, especially since they're kind of similar looking.

[IVIYTH0S]

I would save your money and just get a new monitor and graphics card first.

 

I have no idea how you are gaming with such a small, low res monitor!

 

Just a decent 1920x1200 monitor and almost any current gen GPU would be a massive upgrade over what you have now.

but this fellow did not finish his sentence!

 

That GPU should be a 4870x2, which'll run a 24" monitor quite well like mine does

 

a 970 will be a sidegrade, see what kinda OC you can get outta the Q6600, some of them did decent.

[viperk1]

I'm in exactly the same boat as you are.

Current comp is from 2008 but I'm choosing to wait until sandy bridge has aged a little bit and then build (probably in 2H of this year)

 

[Alexandre]

Haha, slightly conflicting opinions here.

 

Power supply wasn't sure, but thinking 650W would be enough.

 

I agree the upgrade to GPU and OC (maybe) the CPU + buy new monitor would be all I need really. Would the DDR3 make a noticable difference in gaming? Honestly I never even max out my ram usage as is.

 

Edit: For new monitor + GPU, suggestions on monitor (available in Canada)

 

For GPU, GTX570 seems much better price/performace than GTX580 atm so I think I'm set on that. Also any ideas on size of 570 compared to 9800GTX+, I have little extra room for the GPU in this case, which is why I had picked that Thermaltake because its slightly larger. For power supply I would think my 600W is still sufficient, yea?

This PSU Calculator gave a recommended PSU wattage of 513W with your components.

While PSU calculators have been known to overestimate on wattage it still seems like a 600 watt PSU may be a bit too small.

The 600W will run your system but it will run it at its limits. This means that it wont be very efficient (draws more power from the socket than it uses), will get hot and hence be noisy (fan speed will be at max RPM) and will not allow you to upgrade your system in the future.

I would probably suggest you go for a decent and reliable 750 - 850 watt PSU for better efficiency, lower fan noise and plenty of head room to expand your hardware in the future.

 

PSUs are most efficient when run under 40-60% load - a 750W would be around 66% load and an 850W would be 58% load so either will do fine but an 850W would be ideal.

 

Check out OCC's Recommend Power Supply List if you want a list of reliable and trustworthy PSUs (with reviews).

[QMax]

This PSU Calculator gave a recommended PSU wattage of 513W with your components.

While PSU calculators have been known to overestimate on wattage it still seems like a 600 watt PSU may be a bit too small.

The 600W will run your system but it will run it at its limits. This means that it wont be very efficient (draws more power from the socket than it uses), will get hot and hence be noisy (fan speed will be at max RPM) and will not allow you to upgrade your system in the future.

I would probably suggest you go for a decent and reliable 750 - 850 watt PSU for better efficiency, lower fan noise and plenty of head room to expand your hardware in the future.

 

PSUs are most efficient when run under 40-60% load - a 750W would be around 66% load and an 850W would be 58% load so either will do fine but an 850W would be ideal.

 

Check out OCC's Recommend Power Supply List if you want a list of reliable and trustworthy PSUs (with reviews).

 

With that said, if I need to upgrade GPU, Monitor, and PSU I think at this time I will just wait and make a new build in 6months or so when Sandy Bridge comes down in price (hopefully)