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06.10.2011, 12:51
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | Sorry to butt in on this thread, but do you recon the above rig would be able to run BF3 at a satisfying level?
(just to get an idea if I can afford to get a new machine for some serious gaming time ... ) | | | | | It will run any game... That CPU with a GT560 is fast enough.
It's a beauty of a card at that price.
Here is the Guru 3D review The GeForce GTX 560 Ti SOC (GV-N560SO-1GI) is a beautiful thing really. It is a nice to look at graphics card, it remains to be very silent, it's pre- (factory ) overclocked for you real high and that falls within warranty and next to that, it chunks out serious performance. At the current baseline clock frequencies this card is battling with cards like the Radeon HD 6950 and GeForce GTX 570 ... and that's surely not a bad position to be in for a card like this. With that level of game rendering performance you can address any modern game up-to say a monitor resolution of 1920x1200 combined with 4x Antialiasing and 16x Anisotropic filtering. Power consumption isn't really an issue either, albeit higher due to the default factory overclock, we calculated that the product consumes roughly 195 Watt when it's stressed badly in a game. Mind you these are peak levels, the average power consumption will tell another story.
Noise wise you will not complain either as well, there just isn't any. So with that in mind we add features like 3D capability, CUDA and PhysX. Then overall you'll notice that the GTX 560 Ti series really offer a lot.
But sure performance wise you can't complain about anything here as all modern DX11 and lower games will play absolutely beautifully on the GeForce GTX 560 Ti SOC, and that's with decent image quality settings enabled at say 4xAA and 16xAF + very high in-game quality settings. | 
06.10.2011, 12:53
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | OK, to be upfront, I have received a PM with a budget figure.
That was CHF1000, given my experience with the brands below , and trying to maximise bang for buck whilst factoring in known reliability, I am suggesting the following component upgrades. My list comes to +-1100CHF
This assumes that the OP has an ATX case, with a non-suitable PSU, and already has a keyboard/mouse and screen - PSU be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER, E8 CM 680W 80plus Silver
- 8GB MEMORY Corsair CMX8GX3M4A1600C9, 4x2GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.65V
- CPU Intel Core i5 2500K BOX, 3.3GHz, LGA 1155, 4C/4T, unlocked
- MBOARD Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3, Intel Z68 B3, LGA1155, CFX/SLI
- GPU Gigabyte GTX-560 Ti OC 1GB GDDR5, PCI-E 2.0 x16, HDMI
- RAM Corsair Vengeance, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.5V
- OS/BOOT drive OCZ SSD Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120GB, SATA-3, 2.5 Zoll
- DATA DRIVE] Samsung HD103SJ, F3, 7200rpm, 32MB, 1TB, SATA-II
Now, it's all debatable, and some components are as good or as bad as the rest out there, but for 1100CHF , I can not get any more performance for a gaming machine.... These are all quality hand picked components. Some I use in my own servers / games rigs.
What I am sure of though, is that this rig will fly , and fly for some time to come.
What do you guys think ? For the same money , Digitec will supply the same spec , less the GPU (200CHF) and SSD (250CHF) and running off a paltry 380w PSU and using lower spec RAM | | | | | given that it is intended to be a gaming machine, i think replacing the CPU/mobo/ram is not the best approach.
instead the money should be spent on a new GFX card (major improvement in game performance), SSD (major improvement to general performance) and cooling to overclock the CPU (can reach 3GHz without issues) to use the CPU to full potential. games are typically GPU constrained, not CPU constrained so this approach will get maximum bang per buck.
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06.10.2011, 12:57
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice
Excellent, though I would prefer an Antec over the be quiet, only because I had one go belly up once upon a time.
I like the Crucial over the OCZ, though maybe there is a price difference. Inform him about TRIM.
...like your preference for Gigabyte too.
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06.10.2011, 13:01
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | given that it is intended to be a gaming machine, i think replacing the CPU/mobo/ram is not the best approach.
instead the money should be spent on a new GFX card (major improvement in game performance), SSD (major improvement to general performance) and cooling to overclock the CPU (can reach 3GHz without issues) to use the CPU to full potential. games are typically GPU constrained, not CPU constrained so this approach will get maximum bang per buck. | | | | | That current CPU will not feed the GPU fast enough. It is ageing.
My spec brings everything up to date and adds some degree of future proofing.
You are also forgetting that the Q6600 has the multiplier locked , it is not overclockable to the degree you say. I have one in the lad's PC.
SSD's improve boot times and load times, they do nothing for in game performance unless you are moving between levels and loading new stuff etc. For most gaming , the disk is not touched during play so an SSD is pointless.
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06.10.2011, 13:05
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | Excellent, though I would prefer an Antec over the be quiet, only because I had one go belly up once upon a time.
I like the Crucial over the OCZ, though maybe there is a price difference. Inform him about TRIM.
...like your preference for Gigabyte too. | | | | | This uses the new SF-2281 controller, so no TRIM issues.
I could go up CHF10-20 on every component and get fractions better, but feel I have a good balance for the budget.
I have used Gigabyte all my PC life. It's solid dependable stuff, and with a matched GPU, OC'ing is easy and reliable
This specific "be Quiet" is getting good reviews, personally, with all my gear , I never go less than 90+ and 1500W | 
06.10.2011, 13:07
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | It will run any game... That CPU with a GT560 is fast enough.
It's a beauty of a card at that price. | | | | | Ta muchly | 
06.10.2011, 13:10
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice
To be honest, and to make it easy for the OP, try to agree overall or disagree overall with the bundle , I am sure we can debate all day on finer points such as gaining 1-2 FPS with that GPU , or a few Mhz here and there etc...
One 560 GPU compared to another or one SSD to it's competitor or Ram latency discussions are great, but we are going to confuse the hell out of the OP.
What would be good, is if you could pop off to your preferred online shop and see if you can get a better price than 1100CHF !!
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06.10.2011, 13:21
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice
I'd call that a wrap, people can bicker over details for an eternity. Main thing is you have put together a reliable, robust, good performance system.
Only because I like to pick my stuff up, I buy from Heiniger, NetChange and Steg, but from all I read and hear from friends, Digitec is outstanding. Saving a few CHF from here or there may entail inconvenience or warranty issues.
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06.10.2011, 13:48
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | OK, to be upfront, I have received a PM with a budget figure.
That was CHF1000, given my experience with the brands below , and trying to maximise bang for buck whilst factoring in known reliability, I am suggesting the following component upgrades. My list comes to +-1100CHF
This assumes that the OP has an ATX case, with a non-suitable PSU, and already has a keyboard/mouse and screen - PSU be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER, E8 CM 680W 80plus Silver
- 8GB MEMORY Corsair CMX8GX3M4A1600C9, 4x2GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.65V
- CPU Intel Core i5 2500K BOX, 3.3GHz, LGA 1155, 4C/4T, unlocked
- MBOARD Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3, Intel Z68 B3, LGA1155, CFX/SLI
- GPU Gigabyte GTX-560 Ti OC 1GB GDDR5, PCI-E 2.0 x16, HDMI
- RAM Corsair Vengeance, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.5V
- OS/BOOT drive OCZ SSD Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120GB, SATA-3, 2.5 Zoll
- DATA DRIVE] Samsung HD103SJ, F3, 7200rpm, 32MB, 1TB, SATA-II
Now, it's all debatable, and some components are as good or as bad as the rest out there, but for 1100CHF , I can not get any more performance for a gaming machine.... These are all quality hand picked components. Some I use in my own servers / games rigs.
What I am sure of though, is that this rig will fly , and fly for some time to come.
What do you guys think ? For the same money , Digitec will supply the same spec , less the GPU (200CHF) and SSD (250CHF) and running off a paltry 380w PSU and using lower spec RAM | | | | |
Daddy likes! If I was to buy all this tech can you help me build it?? | 
06.10.2011, 14:00
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | Daddy likes! If I was to buy all this tech can you help me build it??  | | | | | I'm too far away, but you will need a serviceable case, fans, cable ties 'n such. Maybe you can get an OEM Win 7 64-bit OS along with the above.
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06.10.2011, 14:04
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | I'm too far away, but you will need a serviceable case, fans, cable ties 'n such. Maybe you can get an OEM Win 7 64-bit OS along with the above. | | | | |
ah ok. Thanks for all the tips then. I think I will need some help though, any takers?
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06.10.2011, 14:05
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice
>That current CPU will not feed the GPU fast enough. It is ageing.
that's why i suggest overclocking the CPU.
>it is not overclockable to the degree you say.
typical overclock for that chip is 3.2ghz. max 3.6ghz. 3ghz is easily achieved by a competent geek. another (less attractive) other option is also to trade the quad core for a dual core with a higher clock-speed if you're not confident in overclocking.
>SSD's improve boot times and load times,
exactly why i said general performance. also level/map load times.
either way, overclock + spending 700chf on a gfx card and 300chf on an SSD will result in a better performing gaming machine that the rebuild from new method.
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06.10.2011, 14:08
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice
another option is to ask the same question on: http://hardforum.com/
you'll probably get the most optimised spec if you can bear it | 
06.10.2011, 14:55
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice
Your solution will simple run out steam next year, with the MB and CPU getting even older and failing prematurely due to overclocking, it's already 3 years old ffs, OC'ing it will kill it. I am trying to get a reliable , cost effective solution to the OP here, you seem to be dragging the argument towards overclocking , liquid cooling and overkill graphics cards, screaming fans and hot air blowing out of every hole. let's be realistic eh , the OP is no Geek or Nerd ? | Quote: | |  | | | exactly why i said general performance. also level/map load times. | | | | | You said nothing like that...
Last edited by Upthehatters2008; 06.10.2011 at 15:15.
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06.10.2011, 15:10
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | another option is to ask the same question on: http://hardforum.com/
you'll probably get the most optimised spec if you can bear it  | | | | | I used a matched GPU with the MB, suggested / support RAM for the MB , recommended controller match for the SSD and MB OBSC and a boxed retail CPU, i.e. matched cooler.
Do you you think you can optimise better ?
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06.10.2011, 15:11
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice
...*chuckle*...
...come to think of it, might suggest an Arctic Cooling Freezer HSF. Only CHF30, the OEM CPU fan is kinda loud. .
Last edited by J_T; 06.10.2011 at 15:22.
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06.10.2011, 15:19
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | ah ok. Thanks for all the tips then. I think I will need some help though, any takers? | | | | | It's tempting , just as a hobby, but for the few francs I could charge , the risk of damaging components during the build or dealing with returns etc makes this a bit financially risky. If fully indemnified, and you supplied all the parts, dropping off your old system and picking up the new system, I would build it for you.
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06.10.2011, 15:36
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice
Is it really worth going to all that trouble if the price is over 1100 CHF anyway? This computer can be had for as much: http://www.toppreise.ch/prod_239393.html
The specs balance out to be about the same or better. The GT 530 is not as hard core gamer a card as the GTX-560, but it's not bad, and with 2 GB memory, I doubt you'll have trouble playing most games for years to come.
Just from a warranty stand-point (not having to worry about separate components), it's worth it. Digitec have 2 ready for pick-up in Zurich now.
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06.10.2011, 15:40
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | instead the money should be spent on a new GFX card (major improvement in game performance), SSD (major improvement to general performance) and cooling to overclock the CPU (can reach 3GHz without issues) to use the CPU to full potential. games are typically GPU constrained, not CPU constrained so this approach will get maximum bang per buck. | | | | | | Quote: | |  | | | You said nothing like that... | | | | | | Quote: | |  | | | >
>SSD's improve boot times and load times,
exactly why i said general performance. also level/map load times. | | | | | see above.
sorry, my suggestion is simply better than yours. deal with it! | 
06.10.2011, 15:45
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| | Re: PC CPU upgrade advice | Quote: | |  | | | Is it really worth going to all that trouble if the price is over 1100 CHF anyway? This computer can be had for as much: http://www.toppreise.ch/prod_239393.html
The specs balance out to be about the same or better. The GT 530 is not as hard core gamer a card as the GTX-560, but it's not bad, and with 2 GB memory, I doubt you'll have trouble playing most games for years to come.
Just from a warranty stand-point (not having to worry about separate components), it's worth it. Digitec have 2 ready for pick-up in Zurich now. | | | | | The GT 530 is very weak. Check out the reviews. I would argue that it not really a card for a gaming rig. It's just a plain old OEM card. Gamers steer clear. I think the OP wants a good gaming card.
The unit above has no SSD
However it does have an OS and LCD screen (but maybe the OP already has that)
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