I've been wanting a new computer for a really long time, and I'm getting anxious. I'll be getting one quite soon. But now, when I look around, I see that the setup I have ready isn't worth it right now.
Motherboard- Newegg.com - EVGA E758-TR 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
PCU Heatsink- Newegg.com - XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks
Now, I do need the computer to last at least a couple years. But the more I research, the more I think it's worth just getting a lesser computer now, and just upgrading to a ATI 5xxx series or an nVidia 3xx series and maybe an i9 processor. I do plan on gaming...a lot. Crysis, Far Cry 2, GTA4; the more demanding games, as well as future ones. I can't wait any longer to get a new one, whether it's this setup or a lesser one. Should I change anything up in preparation for a new series video card or just get this and don't look back? The i9 processors will be pretty pricey, at 6 cores, won't they? The only way I'm going to get this is if I get a loan (which is why it's been put off for so long), because I can't seem to keep enough money in my pocket to get it all at once unless I HAVE to pay for it (that'll be some good motivation :p), so I may not even be able to get a new series card when they first come out.
I'd say get the rig in about three months time. That way you can set-up to either series by the time they're out. The only thing that path doesn't allow is the i9. Then again, no-one really knows how big of an improvement you're likely to get with one. An i7 is still as good as, if not better than, a QX9770 though.
Nah, I can't wait 3 more months. I've been stuck with this almost useless computer for nearly 6 years, and it wasn't made for gaming anyways. I can barely run WoW on the lowest possible settings at the lowest res with 20 fps average. So maybe I should get the same setup, but perhaps with a single 4890 and try to sell it when the new series comes out? I'm open to any ideas (besides waiting, I can't do that anymore :p).
Yeah, that'll work fine. :)
Have you considered doing a minor $50-$75 GPU/RAM upgrade to give your PC a bit of kick to keep going until you can do a full-scale upgrade? I'm not sure how resource-intensive WOW is, but it's pretty old.
It's not very intense on your computer, since like you said, it's so old. But right now, I'm on a 1.8GHz single processor, 714MB of RAM, and a GeForce 6200. It's not even PCIe. I had to choose between this and a PCIe one (I forget which) for around the same price, and I had to get this one because my computer is too old and doesn't have a PCIe slot. And I can't upgrade RAM, as it's just DDR. A while back, I searched for it everywhere and finally found a 1GB stick in Arizona online. I ordered it, and when it got here, it screwed up my computer, and I had to do a system restore. I had to send it back for a refund. Ever since, my computer hasn't worked properly. :uhm:
A BIOS flash should fix that RAM problem. Find the battery on your motherboard - should be a circular flat thing - pull it out, and leave it out for about ten minutes. Stick it back in, and it should work ok. You'll want to write down your more important BIOS settings though before you do that.
From what I understand, WoW is pretty CPU-intensive, though I don't know if it supports more than one core. At any rate, a 3.6GHz i7 will shit all over your Pentium/Celeron, whatever.
Haha, yeah. Any part of that new computer could produce better performance than I get out of this computer, whether it has the other components or not =p. Thanks for the tip about the RAM, but I already sent it back when it nearly killed my computer, and since I want to upgrade soon, I don't think it's worth buying a new stick for such a short time. I'm pretty sure WoW only supports two cores, whether you have more or not. But WoW isn't the only game I plan on playing. I've always been a console gamer, so I want to finally experience the best graphics at good performance. I hate how consoles lag so profusely when there's tons of particles.
Well a quad core is really good because even if a game only supports two cores, you can be doing other stuff with the other two. Whether that be something active, or just off-loading Vista's idle processes. It also means you can leave all of Vista's bells and whistles running and not loose any performance.
The BIOS flash was mainly because you said your computer hadn't been working properly since. ;) (Though I don't know what the problem is, so I don't know if a BIOS flash will actually work.)
Ah, I thought you suggested the BIOS flash to make the RAM work properly. My mistake. I burned Windows 7 RC to a disk, so hopefully I won't have to buy Vista for just a few months of use until 7 officially comes out (I think mid-late October). But yeah, that's still the basic premise of having more cores for games that don't need it :).
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