Motherboard & CPU upgrade viable

[tehpwner]

Greetings fellow forumers!

I have been saving money for some time now and I was wondering whether or not it would be sensible to upgrade the motherboard/cpu combo in my current computer, or if I'd be better off just getting an entirely new computer (disregarding the work involved in swapping out a motherboard + cpu, I know it's a lot of work :P). Here are my current specs:

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

Motherboard: EVGA 132-CK-NF78, EVGA nForce 780i SLI
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6700 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8190MB RAM

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Display Memory: 4050 MB
Dedicated Memory: 978 MB
Shared Memory: 3072 MB

I have access to a 800W PS if need be for a new motherboard/cpu combo. What would you guys suggest I do? I am trying to find the best price/value combination here, and I'd say a budget of 300-500 dollars for a motherboard/cpu combo is what I am aiming for. Thanks for all tips and suggestions. Above all else though, is now a good time to be getting a new CPU, or should I wait a bit?

[chaud]

Assuming you are upgrading for WoW, that would the the thing to do. You would also need new RAM, as you have DDR2 now.

You can grab a 3570K, Z77 motherboard, and 8GB of RAM for about $400. Then hold on to that other $100, save a bit more, and grab a new GPU in the summer / fall next year.

The next new CPU is coming in late Q1 or Q2, so it could be 4-6 months if they don't delay anymore.

[tehpwner]

WoW is only a small part of it (although being above 8fps on certain encounters would be nice!). I am actually more upgrading it for Crusader Kings 2 (very heavy CPU, also dumps some calcs on the GPU) and Total War games (specifically Shogun 2 and Rome 2 in the future). A GPU upgrade was something I was actually planning to do in the time frame you suggested (for Rome 2's guesstimated release of Q3-Q4 2013) . Thanks for the info!

[bobthenailer]

I would save some money and get a new cpu+motherboard if I was you. Also I think you have DDR2 ram? When you upgrade you might as well grab some DDR3 ram.

It is a good time to upgrade with all the Christmas sells going on.

If you really want to you could build a really nice new system for about $400 more? I would like to know more about the current computer though so I know what could be scavenged from the old one. Things such as what size of hard drives you are running, and the type they are. IDE or sata ? Is your DVD or CD drive IDE or SATA? If you have any IDE drives replace them with the newer SATA.
What case do you have this hardware in? Can the case give you enough airflow to cool the upgrades?

I like to do builds on Newegg all the time what do you think of the following?

Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-D3H LGA 1155

(would have included links but the darn forum won't let me.

cpu= ivy bridge 3570k


memory 8gb (2X4gb) at around $40 or you could get 16gb (2X8gb) its not that much more at around $75. kingston, muskin, corsair, g skill are good.


Videocard either an AMD 7950 or Nvidia 660Ti at around $300 each or you could get a different card at around $200ish and still be okay.


Hard drive if you want one=1tb seagate about $70


If you need a Case here are a few good ones near $100
corsair 400r
Coolermaster scout 2


Or do a search for a case and take your pick.


Get a good quality power supply such as a Corsair or Seasonic 80 plus silver or better. I would say about 650 watts minimum and max around 1000 watts if you are over clocking or running some sli or crossfire.

Hope this helps

[tehpwner]

I would save some money and get a new cpu+motherboard if I was you. Also I think you have DDR2 ram? When you upgrade you might as well grab some DDR3 ram.*snip*

It's all SATA (I made sure of that when I built this a few years back) so everything is theoretically salvagable (but I'll def. look into more ram, my parents would appreciate the hand me down memory immensely for their own computers anyways). As for hard drive space, I am good I have a 1tb and a 500gb internal set and that has never been in any sort of threat of running out for me. Media drive is an LG dvd+/- writer. Can't remember further than that, haven't used the thing in years aside from installing windows.

My case is an Antec 1200 (not the exact one, but that's as close as I could find to my current one. Only differences being aesthetics). It's a full ATX tower so room shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks again for the tips both of you, I'm going to swing by my local small business computer store (a friend of mine runs it) for some price estimates on the parts tomorrow.

[bobthenailer]

Glad that you have some salvageable parts.
Since you have the hard drives, case and DVD drive covered that saves you probably $250 or more.
More thoughts on this build would be to upgrade the CPU cooler and maybe get a Solid state drive they are getting pretty cheap these days around $1 per gigabyte.
Good places you can have your friend order parts from are Tigerdirect, Newegg, and NCIX (computer store in canada but they have a branch in the US now).

Hope the build goes well.

[tehpwner]

Had a SSD, die on me recenlt (tbf it was one of the earlier ones and I expected it). I'll wait till they get much cheaper.