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[Teatime]

Ignoring the dozens of other similar threads covering this topic I prompt you for knowledge, insight and advice.

I want to upgrade my PC during the next few months. Main item will be a new CPU , depending on that perhaps a new mainboard and - again, perhaps - new RAM.
Also a new graphic card would probably be in order.

Current specs:
Intel Core2Duo E6600 (2.4 GHz)
ASUS P5B (Chipset P965)
4 GB DDR2 RAM
NVidia GeForce 8800GT
OS: Currently XP, but upgrading to Win7, most likely 64bit.

I assume currently the best route would be a Intel Core2Quad, right? Core i7 or the upcoming i5 is probably not worth investing in.
My board supports Core2Quad. Still, I'm open for an upgrade if a new chipset would offer some improvements (I would appreciate recommendations in regard of the chipset, not necessarily a specific mobo).
Is DDR3 worth investing in?

Graphic card: Which does currently offer the best bang for the buck in the range of € 150-250? (Plz note that I'd prefer a reasonably silent card). Any new series coming out in the next couple of months which would be worth waiting for?

Step forward and let yourself be heard...

[Zarf]

The Core i5's will be pretty good - motherboards are much better priced than i7, and the chips themselves are almost as fast .. in fact with their more aggressive "turbo mode" that automatically overclocks when you're running single or dual threaded apps (like most games) they can actually be faster.

ATi has a new batch of cards out on the 10th September, They'll be DirectX11 and are expected to be much faster than what's currently out.

Currently the best bang for buck cards in your price range are the 4870 or 4890.

[Finaldeath]

Heh, that's almost my PC to a T (hoho), and I will be investing in a new box to run Windows 7 properly when I have some time to research it (and the OS is, well, out).

Can we get a thread about new DirectX 11 cards when they're out? I'll be looking at them specifically for some future-proofing.

[Terror]

Do you play anything except TF2? (more demanding).

Because your specs are pretty similar to mine (E6300 @2.8 (OC), ATI Radeon HD 3870, 4 Gb RAM) and I get 60 FPS average (and upgrading would be pointless).

Have you tried re-formatting (or buying a new HD) as a cheaper alternative to upgrading (I found my performance jumped dramatically after reformatting).

[PapaFade]

Don't rush to buy DX11 GFX Cards until they've released some games that use it

[Teatime]

Do you play anything except TF2? (more demanding).

This is the bi-annual upgrade which has become a tradition for me.

And yes, I play the occasional other game. Recently I played Bioshock, and my system wasn't able to handle high settings. So future games may even give me more trouble.

[PapaFade]

Whats ur budget?

[Chaos]

Im not sure on the exchange rates tbh..

What speed DDR2 is your ram? I'm guessing its something along the lines of 667mhz?
If thats the case, get a DDR3 board, 4GB of something reasonably priced DDR3 (I recomend Crucial as youll be able to upgrade to 8Gb when you like as they rarely change the matching process ) and a Q9550 if your budget will stretch.. Deadly has that chip and is very happy with it..

As for graphics cards.. wait for the new GTX300 series and the new 5800 series.. as Zarf said, they're gonna be DX11 (not sure on the GTX300 cards there actually) and will be quite well priced comapred to the current top dogs.. When those come out, buy one of the mid range models and you're sorted

You should still be able to get ok money for your gear on ebay so that should help you with your budget

(tip for selling.. do it after your upgrade so you have some packaging to send your old stuff out with for protection)

[Teatime]

Budget is not of primary concern.
CPU and Mobo should be below €200 (but that should not be a problem) and as I said already I'm willing to go above €200 for a graphic card if it's worth it.
The main problem (as always with computer parts) is to find the best balance between cost and performance.

So I assume the smart route is to wait for the new graphical cards and also to see if the Core i5 might be worth it.

[Chaos]

So I assume the smart route is to wait for the new graphical cards and also to see if the Core i5 might be worth it.

Thats about right see how they're rated in the reviews..

[Millicent Bystander]

I got Bioshock yesterday (for £3 at a boot fair) and it runs smooth as silk at 1280 x 1080 on my PC which is a similar spec to yours apart from the processor which is an E8400.  

I did also get a new hard drive (a WD Caviar Blue) about a week later which seemed to make a huge difference in performance, especially loading TF2.  At the moment the bottleneck in my system is the graphics card (an Ati 3850, similar in speed to your card).

My recommendations, upgrade to a socket 775 Quad Core Processor, an ATi Radeon 4870, a new hard drive (or two if your m/b can handle RAID) and Windows 7 and wait for the i5 chipset to come down in price.

[Junta]

If you use your PC primarily for games (i.e. TF2) and do light office work, then my own personal recommendation would be:

1) Fast Core 2 Duo - running on a socket 775 motherboard (yes that's right - I recommended a dual core)
2) As much RAM as you can afford
3) A large SATA drive - Samsung or something
4) ATI 4870 or 4850 (4770's are bargains but wont last too long in terms of performance - easy to change though!)
5) 64 Bit O/S

This is my personal recommendation based on the fact that Core 2 Duo is excellent at running most games like TF2. These chips are getting cheaper and a 3Ghz version (such as E8400) packs a good punch. These chips also over clock well (although I've not done it personally).

I recommend a 775 motherboard knowing full well that it is now a dead end platform because of i5 and i7 Intel packages coming forward. Personally, Intel are starting to churn their sockets and motherboards so quickly now that I suspect that any i5 or i7 investment would be out dated soon in terms of yet more motherboard models coming out etc. Personally, anyone who buys a motherboard for "future proofing" is going to be disappointed tbh.

I've reached the stage where I'm willing to get the most for my money without breaking the bank. This mostly comes from the fact that I know what I want to do and what makes it work well. For my Tf2 and L4D needs, a 64 bit OS and lots of ram was the biggest improvement for me. The fast core 2 duo seems to hold its own in Valve games at the moment.

Socket 775 isn't dead yet and the core 2 duo range still offers amazing value for money.

[Zarf]

I have to say, If you're looking at making an upgrade to your PC, Solid State Drives are worth a look.
Nothing makes a bigger difference to the day to day enjoyment of using a machine, you really feel it when you go back to using a non-ssd machine and suddenly you're waiting 2 minutes after startup for stuff to finish loading before you can actually use it, and start noticing how long it takes the start menu and other folders to load.

I built a machine with three RAID0 SSD's for my mate this summer (7.9 on the Win7 hdd test! ) and am definitely going to upgrade to them this year, Going to wait until i can get 256GB space for ~£300. I sold my RAID0 Raptors months ago in preparation and am sick to death of the cheap 7200rpm drive i'm using in the interim.

For the same price as a top graphics card you can get an SSD enough storage space for your OS, Apps and whatever games you're currently playing.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with PCMark Vantage, it ends up being the most real-world-like hard drive test I can come up with. It runs things like application launches, file searches, web browsing, contacts searching, video playback, photo editing and other completely mundane but real-world tasks.

[Chaos]

Even at £300 for 256GB its steeep!

As for what Junta said, its spot on really.. A C2D will be more than enough for most games currently.. and most likely in the future too

Most of these suggestions are pretty valid tbh.. its more about what you want to spend your money on..

I would recomend getting a couple of big disks in there though.. I was using 2 750Gb WD Caviar blacks in RAID0 and they were lightning fast for little cash! You could get away with less storage if you want.. Hzza uses 2 WD drives in RAID0 and his loading times are minimal (one of my recomendations).. I moved onto VRs cuz theyre quick and have good storage... but they're still quite expensive bang for buck wise.. for the 200 quid they want for those you could buy 4 250Gb drives and RAID0 those for performance.. although security would be a concern

For now, a good OC on your CPU will help you play Bioshock and also help you with TF2, I am happy to help with this of course.. PM me if you need it

[Teatime]

Just for your understanding:
I don't upgrade because of urgent necessity, but because I want to.
As I mentioned before, I usually upgrade my system approx. every 2 years. And due to the fast development cycles that usually involves buying a new CPU/MB combo, often require (or at least suggests) new RAM.
And while my current graphic card is still doing okay for many games (certainly for TF2) I'm open for something with a bit more punch.

I got Bioshock yesterday (for £3 at a boot fair) and it runs smooth as silk at 1280 x 1080 on my PC

I have a 24'' with 1900x1200.

@Junta
I am considering the option just to upgrade the CPU since my MB would support it.
However, I disagree on the Duo. Sure, a single application will profit from the higher tact. But when I'm not gaming it is quite common for me to do a million things at a time, and a Quad should be able to handle the load better. Also I expect applications to become increasingly multi-threaded, so there again a Quad should be superior.

The interesting aspect of the i5 is that it tries to be a "best of both worlds" by shifting performance. Since I'm not in a hurry I will wait for further reviews and - of course - prices

General question:
So far I have shied away from RAID since I'm (unreasonably?) paranoid about RAID 0 and 1 and 5 is basically a waste of space in favour of performance, and so far I've always needed space more
Is it really worth it?