[tipsycoma]

I'm going to ask anyone out there who is knowledgeable to please take the time to give me some advice on my gaming rig I want to build/upgrade. I bought a dell inspiron desktop already assembled about 6 months ago. It came with an e7400 intel processor, and along the way I bought a radeon 4850 and a new case. Well, now this decision to buy a prebuilt computer haunts me and I feel ignorant because I now know how to build my own rig. So I made up my mind to do so. I was planning on ditching my intel e7400 and going AMD, i.e. buying this combo http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.212203
Consequentially I was going to buy another 4850 and crossfire those until the new 5000 series comes out and I get some more money I can spend. Along the way I'd have to buy a brand new PSU. So all in all, I am going to be spending at least 500 dollars. I want to ask though, can anyone think of a better alternative? Should I keep the e7400 and hope it won't bottleneck down the line, or should I go for a good AMD combo like that one and basically rebuild the whole thing? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ImmortalKenny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tipsycoma I'm going to ask anyone out there who is knowledgeable to please take the time to give me some advice on my gaming rig I want to build/upgrade. I bought a dell inspiron desktop already assembled about 6 months ago. It came with an e7400 intel processor, and along the way I bought a radeon 4850 and a new case. Well, now this decision to buy a prebuilt computer haunts me and I feel ignorant because I now know how to build my own rig. So I made up my mind to do so. I was planning on ditching my intel e7400 and going AMD, i.e. buying this combo http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.212203 Consequentially I was going to buy another 4850 and crossfire those until the new 5000 series comes out and I get some more money I can spend. Along the way I'd have to buy a brand new PSU. So all in all, I am going to be spending at least 500 dollars. I want to ask though, can anyone think of a better alternative? Should I keep the e7400 and hope it won't bottleneck down the line, or should I go for a good AMD combo like that one and basically rebuild the whole thing? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Your E7400 is plenty powerful for probably another year, then it would be time to upgrade. As of now with your current setup, I don't see the need to go AMD.

4850's in Crossfire is pretty powerful, and will also last a while.

As far as a PSU, I would go with anything from Corsair.

 

[Chucklez]

I hear that motherboard is imposible to crossfire on because the PCI's are far apart.

I would go with this. Although it may be more its worth it IMO.

And you will see much better performance with the 955! Its a awsome CPU

 

[TheJack]

Well to switch the processor you have to change the motherboard as well. That means you'll be spending extra money and you'll still be using the same Dell case. I doubt you can SLI with the current board you have now, so when you go AMD you can get a SLI board.

You can upgrade your mobo, cpu, ram, and add another card for under 400 if that's the route you want to go.

The Phenom II X3 720 is a really good gaming processor ( I just bought one and am pleased with it, it idles at 21-22C with Dark Knight)

You can get the Gigabyte UD4P mobo for 129.99 I think...it will fit your needs

And the RAM is easy to pick as well as your card...you may want to wait on the card though. If it were me, I'd just get a newer car as it would be more cost effective towards performance rather than buying an older card.

 

[jeremygj]

the am3 x4 955 black edition quad cpu 3.2ghz +Jetway am3 790gx only $249
on newegg

 

[tipsycoma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ImmortalKenny Your E7400 is plenty powerful for probably another year, then it would be time to upgrade. As of now with your current setup, I don't see the need to go AMD. 4850's in Crossfire is pretty powerful, and will also last a while. As far as a PSU, I would go with anything from Corsair.

See the problem with that is the fact that in order to upgrade to a worthy CPU, I'd probably have to switch sockets as well, so a new motherboard would be necessary. And I need a motherboard now so I can do crossfire. My conflict here is that if I buy an LGA775 mobo that does crossfire, I am going to upgrade to an LGA 1366 or an AM3 board. That old board will be a waste. Ive been thinking that I'm better off just going with a board and a CPU that will last me years to come and won't bottleneck when the 5000 series comes out. I'm pretty sure with the new high end cards that come out, the e7400 will boggle down performance.

 

[ImmortalKenny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tipsycoma See the problem with that is the fact that in order to upgrade to a worthy CPU, I'd probably have to switch sockets as well, so a new motherboard would be necessary. And I need a motherboard now so I can do crossfire. My conflict here is that if I buy an LGA775 mobo that does crossfire, I am going to upgrade to an LGA 1366 or an AM3 board. That old board will be a waste. Ive been thinking that I'm better off just going with a board and a CPU that will last me years to come and won't bottleneck when the 5000 series comes out. I'm pretty sure with the new high end cards that come out, the e7400 will boggle down performance.

You do have a point. Chucklez posted a link to a very cheap and amazing CPU/Mobo combo on Newegg that I think you should check out.

 

[VCheeZ]

Go with the 955. The AM3 will last you quite a while. I am not too sure on that mobo you selected...but there are other combo deals. (I went with the 955+Asus M4A79T Deluxe...$315 combo deal)

 

[tipsycoma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeremygj the am3 x4 955 black edition quad cpu 3.2ghz +Jetway am3 790gx only $249 on newegg

I had a Jetway board before. I suggest no one ever buy one. Mine died in two weeks. -__-

I could save a lot of money if I went for a mobo that took DDR2 ram since I already have 6 GB of it. But any CF mobo that takes DDR2 auto arranges it's PCIe lanes to x8, which will bottleneck performance in the long run.

 

[tipsycoma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chucklez I hear that motherboard is imposible to crossfire on because the PCI's are far apart. I would go with this. Although it may be more its worth it IMO. And you will see much better performance with the 955! Its a awsome CPU

Yea here's the combo that includes that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.212202

315 bucks including the DDR3, the PSU, and the 4850 is going to be an expense though.

 

[jimibgood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chucklez I hear that motherboard is imposible to crossfire on because the PCI's are far apart. I would go with this. Although it may be more its worth it IMO. And you will see much better performance with the 955! Its a awsome CPU

The bridge that comes with ATI will be too short but they make longer ones. I really do not see a problem going cross fire with this mobo... They put the battery in a crappy spot though and it looks like it may be a 16x and a 8x mobo.

Stay with your system but you may need to upgrade PSU.. Like mentioned, the E7400 is a good processor.