Help on upgrading a computer

[Supertegwyn]

Don't know if this should be posted here but here it goes:

Hello all, my computer is getting rather old and I was thinking about upgrading it. I was thinking about a GTX 580 to replace my graphics card, a 600W power supply and perhaps a i7 processor. I am unsure however if they are necessary upgrades, or even if I my motherboard will support it. Help?

My specs:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Memory: 4.00 GB
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45T-UD3P
Power: 430W

 

[distortedreality]

You'll need a new mobo for an i7.

600w PSU should be enough, but I was always tend to go bigger so I have room for expansion. Either way, make sure it's a trusted brand.

You'll also need to get new memory (am assuming you're on DDR2), but DDR3 mem is cheap as chips these days.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

More important than the watts on your PSU. You want to make sure you have enough amps on the 12v rail to support your GPU. The poster above me mentioned some other things I noticed as well. Don't skimp on the motherboard, either!
I have a GTX 580 also, they are awesome.

 

[tracer_au]

Like the posters before me have said you will probably need a motherboard upgrade but what struck me was your statement "I am unsure however if they are necessary upgrades".

Necessary for what may i ask? A lot to do with upgrading a computer relies heavily of what you plan to do with it.

 

[back pain]

Went from A Q6600 to an i7 a few months ago, you definitely need a new motherboard if you plan on doing the same thing. Might as well get 8 gigs of new memory while your at it, stuff is ridiculousness cheep now.

 

[Supertegwyn]

Like the posters before me have said you will probably need a motherboard upgrade but what struck me was your statement "I am unsure however if they are necessary upgrades".

Necessary for what may i ask? A lot to do with upgrading a computer relies heavily of what you plan to do with it.

I want to be able to play modern games at high settings. What I meant by that is "Is there any point upgrading the processor etc."

 

[tracer_au]

Like the posters before me have said you will probably need a motherboard upgrade but what struck me was your statement "I am unsure however if they are necessary upgrades".

Necessary for what may i ask? A lot to do with upgrading a computer relies heavily of what you plan to do with it.

I want to be able to play modern games at high settings. What I meant by that is "Is there any point upgrading the processor etc."

Well then the answer is yes if your rig isn't performing to level you want. The trick in most cases is figuring out where the bottleneck is. Looking at your setup its a little hard for me to tell but it all looks relatively balanced so if you are looking to upgrade then yeah i think the new processor and graphics card might do the trick.

 

[Rack]

You've definitely got a bottleneck on your card, but I'm not sure what your PSU would support. If it were me I'd get a 6870, a new cooler for your CPU and overclock it a little. You'll probably need a new PSU for that as well I'd imagine. That should do you on high but not Ultra for a while. Alternatively I'd look into getting a whole new rig, the i5 2500k and a 560ti 69502gb or 570 all sound good, with more powerful stuff pushing into dubious price/performance territory if you don't NEED the best tech available.

 

[Supertegwyn]

More important than the watts on your PSU. You want to make sure you have enough amps on the 12v rail to support your GPU. The poster above me mentioned some other things I noticed as well. Don't skimp on the motherboard, either!
I have a GTX 580 also, they are awesome.

12v rail? What is this witchcraft? I am fairly technologically idiotic, so those words mean nothing to me.

One other thing: What are the minimum ports on a motherboard I need for i7/580? And should I wait for Ivy Bridge or just get Sandy Bridge? On that matter, should I wait for Nvidia to release their 600 series or just splurge on a 500 now?

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011 PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131702 MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587 GPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277 RAM x2
That is what I have in my right now and its pretty damn beastly. Of course, you are looking at a pretty hefty price tag. That PSU is still good though.

 

[Supertegwyn]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011 PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131702 MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587 GPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277 RAM x2
That is what I have in my right now and its pretty damn beastly. Of course, you are looking at a pretty hefty price tag. That PSU is still good though.

They look good, but I live in Australia and Newegg only ships to America. I'll check it out though.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Ok well I would wait for the holidays to see what AMD has in store GPU wise but I see AMD cards having problems with games more than Nvidia so that could also factor in. Honestly I would check the news for major manufacturer like intel and AMD for CPUs. I'm going to go ahead and post this link too since it should be somewhat useful.
http://guru3d.com/
Also I don't know if tiger direct ships to Austrailia but I would definitely check there since they have sales all the time on different stuff. I saw 8gb DDR3 ram on sale for 15$ for like 2 weeks. So here's the link for that too.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/
Also I notice there's no mention of a case. If you have one then alright but I'm not sure what your budget is or the size of the pre existing one so I'll go ahead and recommend you the Corsaid Obsidian 650D.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7134880&CatId=1509
Forgot to mention Corsair is basically a safe bet for any of the parts they sell. Cases, RAM, PSUs, CPU coolers, even their SSDs aren't that bad.
One more thing (this is the last one I swear) I wouldn't recommend SLI/Crossfire just yet since there's still plenty of games that have problems with it so if you have to choose between 2 mid ends that are total stronger than the high end I would go with the high end instead.
Well good luck to you.

 

[Supertegwyn]

I have made up four different PC configurations and I was wondering which one was the best in terms of price and power. If you have alternate configs please share:

System One:
Case: Corsair 650D
Case Fans: Standard Case Fans
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68 V
Processor: Intel Core i7 2700K
System Cooling: Standard Cooling
Bay Devices: AeroCool Touch 2000
Power Supply: 1 Kilowatt Corsair PSU
Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 590 3GB
Memory: 8GB Corsair Dominator
Hard Drive: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green
Optical Drive: CD/DVD Burner
Audio: 8-channel HD Surround Sound Support
Networking: Onboard Network Port
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Packaging: Crate Armour
Warranty: 1 Year Replacement and 45 Day Free Shipping Warranty
Price: $2496
Shipping: $138

System Two:
Case: Corsair Obsidian 800D
Case Fans: Standard Case Fans
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58
Processor: Intel Core i7 950
System Cooling: Standard Cooling
Bay Devices: AeroCool Touch 2000
Power Supply: 1050 Watt Corsair HX1050
Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 590 3GB
Memory: 6GB Corsair XMS DDR3
Hard Drive: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green
Optical Drive: CD/DVD Burner
Audio: 8-channel HD Surround Sound Support
Networking: Onboard Network Port
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Packaging: Crate Armour
Warranty: 1 Year Replacement and 45 Day Free Shipping Warranty
Price: $2555
Shipping: $165

System Three:
Case: NZXT Vulcan
Case Fans: Standard Case Fans
Motherboard: Asus P8H61-I
Processor: Intel Core i3 2100
System Cooling: Standard Cooling
Bay Devices: None
Power Supply: 500 Watt Corsair CX500
Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 550 Ti 1GB
Memory: 8GB Corsair Dominator
Hard Drive: 320Gb HD
Optical Drive: CD/DVD Burner
Audio: 8-channel HD Surround Sound Support
Networking: Onboard Network Port
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Packaging: Crate Armour
Warranty: 1 Year Replacement and 45 Day Free Shipping Warranty
Price: $1082
Shipping: Under $165

System Four:
Case: NZXT Vulcan
Case Fans: Standard Case Fans
Motherboard: Asus P8P67-M
Processor: Intel Core i7 2700K
System Cooling: Standard Cooling
Bay Devices: None
Power Supply: 1050 Watt Corsair HX1050
Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 570 1280MB
Memory: 8GB Corsair Dominator
Hard Drive: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green
Optical Drive: CD/DVD Burner
Audio: 8-channel HD Surround Sound Support
Networking: Onboard Network Port
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Packaging: Crate Armour
Warranty: 1 Year Replacement and 45 Day Free Shipping Warranty
Price: $1082
Shipping: $165