[nuandy]

E8400 CPU
Asus 8800gtx 750 meg
8 gig ddr2
GA-EP35-DS3L
2 SATA hd 1x 750gig 2x 200gig 7200 (all nothing special)
JeanTech 700watts psu
JeanTech Phantom case
Samsung P2250 22" widescreen monitor

[rabb1t]

An ATi 5850 would likely be tons faster, but I'd say you could probably hold out until Q1 of next year and move to something like a Nvidia 360 (though I'll lol if they use that number.)

(I would mention it's interesting to note that there is an Nvidia 3D Vision Discover set of glasses out there that turns any monitor into a 3D compatible one. This is likely total poo compared to the true thing, and the red/green lenses probably do hell to your eyeballs after a few hours, but it's important to note that this is practically free ($10 for 10 glasses on the Nvidia site) compared to the $600 monitor+glasses change over of the full version. Soon I'll probably go peep a rumored local kiosk which compares the two. I'd have already tried on my laptop, but I don't have a real GPU, nor is it an Nvidia one.)

Rest is probably going to hold out just fine for a bit longer. Sure, a Core i5 with DDR3 and an OCZ Agility SSD would be an improvement, but worth the cost, meh, certainly nowhere near as worth it (in terms of improvement per dollar) as a GPU change. Prices will likely start to spike up on core parts pretty quickly as we enter the Holidays, so if you have 'money burning a hole in your pocket', I'd say go for a total core change in Q1 along with a new GPU once the frenzy settles back down.

[Fozzik]

I'll say what I usually do... unless there's a game you are specifically having a problem playing at the quality / performance that you want, hold off. The money you will spend now to get a reasonable performance increase will buy you a much larger increase in six months to a year.

Also, balancing the different components means that getting a single component upgrade now will not provide nearly the bang-for-the-buck as a whole-system upgrade will later.

[Slide]

I agree with Fozzik on this, unless there's a specific game you need to play and can't currentlly then hold off. There's very little in the way of PC gaming that a midrange PC or console wont handle.

[nuandy]

thanx guys was pretty much what i was thinking but now the wife is fed up with her ancient dell bit of crap so thinking of giving her mine and doing a new build with this
Intel Core i7 Quad 860 2.80 8MB
Antec Nine Hundred/Ultimate Gamer Case
Corsair Memory 850W Corsair Modular PSU
Gigabyte S1156 Intel P55 ATX DDR3 Audio & Gigabit Ethernet
Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200RPM SATA-300 32MB
OCZ Technology DDR3 2000 MHz ( PC3-16000 ) 8gig
Sapphire Technology ATI Radeon 5870 HD 1GB

£1100 build not sure about the motherboard & cpu though

[meStevo]

Yeah... wife has a Dell (old enough that it's an AGP mobo) that takes several minutes to load WoW... she's going to inherit this when it's time to upgrade, which I may get impatient and do just before/after the 1st of the year... hate that my best option is probably going to be an ATI.

e6600
GTX260
8gb RAM
Antec Nine Hundred
like 3TB of HDD space over 4 drives.

Probably going to be able to build a stupid expensive system, but still don't see myself going w/ SSDs

[rabb1t]

Originally Posted by nuandy

Intel Core i7 Quad 860 2.80 8MB
Antec Nine Hundred/Ultimate Gamer Case
Corsair Memory 850W Corsair Modular PSU
Gigabyte S1156 Intel P55 ATX DDR3 Audio & Gigabit Ethernet
Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200RPM SATA-300 32MB

I'd say that unless you are going dual GPU you don't need a Core i7. I'd say drop down to the Core i5 and put the savings towards changing from the Segate to an OCZ Agility SSD.

Also, not sure on your prices over there, but I'd say look at DDR3-1600. There's really not going to be a noticeable difference bumping up to DDR3-2000, so if you can save monies to put towards something better (like the SSD) that'd be the better deal.

The Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P is the one I've found in my research (including review articles) as the mainstream giga board. Not sure which you are looking at in your post.

Originally Posted by meStevo

hate that my best option is probably going to be an ATI.

It's only best in terms of price to performance. The GTX 260 Core 216, GTX 275 and GTX 285 are still very good/solid performing cards. It's just that ATi is a bit more for the money and has DX11.

It's important to remember though that you won't have PhysX (without using hacked drivers) and don't forget that if this is a new card you are talking about you've got the 90-day or 100-day upgrade policies if you go with Evga or BFG. (Though I'd say expect the series 3 around bunny day more than not if the delay is any indication so far.) (Peeps may also argue that PhysX in a single card isn't a huge deal, as recent reviews with Batman have shown it's best to pair a 2nd card around a GT 220 or higher to run as a dedicated PhysX card instead of running graphics+PhysX on a single card.)

Probably going to be able to build a stupid expensive system, but still don't see myself going w/ SSDs

Couple of things to note... Warcraft is reported to load in around 10 seconds with a SSD. So if you are looking at games where load times annoy you, this will remove that. Also, the OCZ Agilities, while still very expensive per gig, aren't a whole lot more expensive than something like the V-Raptor. Couple this with building a few months from now and they may be even cheaper.

OCZ Agility 120 gig $370
OCZ Agility 60 gig $230

Note that while sizes are small they should be plenty big enough to hold games.

[Slide]

I don't see any reason whatsoever to pick an i7 860 over an i5, for general and gaming use you will not see any difference at all.

On SSD, i've been building my monster PC up over 6 months or so. The SSD was by a huge margin the most noticable upgrade, it made a much greater change than quad core, modern graphics or oodles of RAM. If you can shave off enough on other components to afford it then get one.

Before I had the SSD it would take a bit to boot windows, then i'd be at the desktop waiting for the hard disk to sort out all the services and programs. Now i'm at the desktop in 20 seconds, and Office loads as soon as I click the button.

[Slide]

Originally Posted by rabb1t

Also, not sure on your prices over there,

SSD prices have gone up massively worldwide, there's not enough manufacturing capacity atm. A good 64MB currently costs what I paid for my good 128MB 2-3 months ago

[meStevo]

I hate you guys and your sound logic.

[Dragon-RD]

Hmm it would seem I'm on my own here but I never wait to upgrade (providing my rig can no longer play games with settings on the high side) the reason for this is that if you wait you'll always be waiting for the next "leap" in tech.

Should you feel the need / struggle to play games at settings you're happy with I would upgrade. But that rig looks like its decent enough for at least another 6 months while the 8800GTX has seen its better days there isn't an awful lot wrong with it depending on the resolution you play.

[rabb1t]

Originally Posted by meStevo

I hate you guys and your sound logic.

My logic has a sound. It's like 'waaaoooaahhhhoooaahhhwwwaaaaooooaaahhh woop woop woop'

Originally Posted by Dragon-RD

Hmm it would seem I'm on my own here but I never wait to upgrade

(Normally) I never wait either; I pretty much follow my 'lifespan' stats at my site regardless. Even though you may not really feel like you are struggling, it is possible to get behind on features and simply be used to it to the point you don't know the difference.

Like now, since my netbook averages 10-15 FPS that seems 'normal'. When it spikes up to the 25-30 range I'm like 'wholy poop I'm going fast!' (then look at the FPS and go, 'nope, that's actually still pretty slow by real GPU standards.) I've got a friend peep online who just did a full system upgrade and he's really really hesitant to upgrade from his 1440x900 screen. I've known people who were back on 1280x800 saying they were perfectly happy with it. Those kinds of people have had that part so long, they simply won't know what they've been missing until it's upgraded.

In short, if you always wait until you feel you are completely crippled there are likely a few things here and there that you are already missing out on.

[nuandy]

the savings from the i7 to i5 id only about £30 $45 ish
the SSD drive are overprice about £200 $300 for a 30gig and i dont have any load time issues with what i currently have

i just wasnt sure about which chipset is best for the mainboard

[Slide]

Originally Posted by nuandy

the savings from the i7 to i5 id only about £30 $45 ish
the SSD drive are overprice about £200 $300 for a 30gig and i dont have any load time issues with what i currently have

i just wasnt sure about which chipset is best for the mainboard

I paid £190 for a 128GB one a few months back, but prices have gone up a lot - and wont come back down until the new year. Apple bought most of worldwide production of the chips for the holiday season. I have no idea who you got a quote for £200 for 30 gigs from, but that is an epic rip off.

Depending on your screen resolution you can save £100 by getting a 5770 instead of the 5850, the 58xx are currently overpriced as supply isn't meeting demand.

[nuandy]

197 for the OZ 60 gig at dabs

[meStevo]

Hmm, any thoughts for/against this combo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...t=Combo.306543

[Fozzik]

I wouldn't buy a Rosewill power supply (I'm a strong believer in the finer brands when it comes to power supplies), and I think the slower hard drive rotation speed will really hurt performance (probably ok as a backup drive, but would suck as a primary). I also think the case is hideous...but that's a personal taste thing.