So I’m playing the Alpha of Hellgate: London, and I come to the realization; my PC needs an upgrade like a desert needs a rain. The current spec Alde desktop is very dated… It’s currently an Athlon 2400+ on an Asus motherboard with 1GB of ram and a NVidia 5700 video card.
I already have a great case, the Antec P180B.
Thinking of getting the
ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus or the EVGA 122-CK-NF63-TR, or
CPU wise, I’m going to have to ditch my venerable AMD Athlon platform and go with the Intel Core 2 Duo. Though which processor is the key. Need to get a good bang for the buck, and the price of the leading edge of the Intel line is really outrageous. Tom’s Hardware has a good CPU chart that uses a lot of tests to rate the CPUs. Here I’ve listed the Quake IV timedemo, as the main reason I’d be looking to upgrade is to achieve some better gaming results.
Most likely I’m going to get an Intel E6750. Price per peformance-wise, it’s rock solid. It may not have the super upper end of the Extremes and quad cores (less onboard cache), but it holds its own for everything.
| Model | FPS | Price | Dollar Per FPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| QX6850 (Kentsfield 3000/3333, P35, 800) | 132.8 | $1,055.00 | $7.94 |
| 6850 (Conroe 3000/3333) | 128 | $298.99 | $2.34 |
| QX6800 (Kentsfield 2933/266) | 127.3 | $985.00 | $7.74 |
| X6800 (Conroe 2933/266) | 124.7 | $975.00 | $7.82 |
| QX6700 (Kentsfield 2666/266) | 119.2 | $1,039.00 | $8.72 |
| 6750 (Conroe, 2666/333) | 117.8 | $194.99 | $1.66 |
| 6700 (Conroe 2666/266) | 115 | $317.99 | $2.77 |
| Q6600 (Kentsfield 2400/266) | 110 | $279.00 | $2.54 |
| 6600 (Conroe 2400/266) | 106.6 | $229.00 | $2.15 |
| 6650 (Conroe 2333/333) | 102.8 | $226.00 | $2.20 |
| 6420 (Conroe 2133/266) | 97.3 | $199.00 | $2.05 |
| 6400 (2133/266) | 92.5 | $197.00 | $2.13 |
Now, with that CPU selection is completed, the next choice is graphics cards. With SLI, you have a couple key decisions; do you go with a High End single card, or choose two low end SLI cards?
Mind you, my main decision is for Direct X 9; I do not expect to upgrade to Vista anytime in the foreseeable future. So, DX10 cards are a lost quantity on me. So, once again, you need to do a mash up of price per performance. I consider Oblivion to be one of the most demanding games out there, so I’m using it as my fps generator. Looking at realistic screen size of 1280×1024, It seems like the 8600GT is about the right range of price (~$150) to performance. I think I’m shooting for the EVGA 8600GT, and with the Asus motherboard, I can buy a second one eventually to increase performance.
Edit
Seems that Nvidia has released the 8800GT Video card. This card has almost the same performance as the 8800GTX, for half the price. I think I’ll use this one instead. Tom’s Hardware has a grammatically horrible review.
RAM is next. With the new MB, all my ram is now useless. So a pair of OCZ 1GB Modules will do the deed.
And of course the Zallman CNPS9700 to quietly cool things.
So, total, I’m looking at:
MB: $200
CPU: $200
GPU: $150
Ram: $90
CPU Fan: $60
Total: $700 + Shipping.
Yeow. I wonder how much a pre-built system would cost. I know I save a bit with not having to buy DVDRW, HD and case, but it can’t hurt to look. I figure I’ll compare the base system most in line with the $700 upgrade package above. Lowest/crappiest case plus smallest HD. Figure take $50 off the price for HD & case, so it’d need to come in around $750.
First up, Cyberpower. Their system clocked in at $850. And this wasn’t with the PLUS motherboard, or really decent RAM.
Next, is ABS. For the minimum system to get a 6750 in, I’m looking at $1500! Gah. F’that. A Dell XPS is just as expensive.
iBuypower is up next. They came in at $862.
So, verily, it’ll probably be worth it to buy the pieces myself and upgrade it.