PC Peripherals Advice on phased manner upgrade

Vulc4n

Adept
Am planning to upgrade in a phased manner (due to cash constraints) as below. Please let me know if this (plan given below) makes sense (and is possible).
Will need some help with configuration and prices at places. I will be upgrading one component at a time, keeping others the same.
So the new component has to be compatible with the old components.

My current config is E6300/P965 Neo F/2 GB DDR2 Crucial Ballistix/X1800 GTO (CPU/MB/RAM/GPU)

(1) P965 Neo -> ???? (decent MB in 6-7K range, wouldnt be doing too much overclocking to start with)
(2) X1800 GTO -> HD 4850 (7k)
(3) E6300 -> E5200 (Price?) + Add 2 GB RAM

Any advice/help would be much appreciated. Thanks
 
No need to upgrade your CPU, since E6300 is quite a capable proccy itself even for overclocking. Also upgrade your mobo only if you are planning to overclock, if not then again no need to upgrade, as such.

Upgrading your video card would give you the biggest boost and the only thing IMO on which you should be putting your money into at this point of time.
 
^^Read above post, i agree as well..
If you absolutely have to upgrade:-
Change mobo first, Gigabyte G31M ES2L(2.4k, awesome mobo), you can use your current CPU on this.
Next is GPU, then CPU, then RAM.

Go for the HD 4770 instead of the HD 4850.
 
Vulc4n said:
wouldnt be doing too much overclocking to start with

Why would you want to invest in a motherboard in the range of 6~7k if you're not planning to attempt much of overclocking?

Assuming you've 6k in hand right now, sell the present P965 board and the processor (say like 2k for the board + 2.5~2.7k for the processor?).

Get the Gigabyte EG31-MS2 board (~2.5k, 4-phase pwr as against the 3-phase pwr found on the G31 S2L; expensive than the G31 S2L by 75 odd bucks!) and the E5300 (~4k at the max?) processor. Intel has recently announced Virtualisation Tech to be enabled for some of the entry-level DC processors like the E5300/E5400/E7400 etc. The newer batch should get the addition. So the E5300 seems to be a better investment than the E5200.

That leaves you with ~4k in hand? Sell the 2 sticks of RAMs as well and invest in a new pair of 2GB sticks (like the G.Skill PK series/PI Black). The older pair of sticks should fetch you some good value even now since they must be sporting the Micron D9 chips.

Invest in the gfx card later. Use the onboard IGP or the X1800GTO until then.

PS: The HD4770 is a better investment over the HD4850 since the former has a lesser pwr/heat profile. The HD4850 is kinda passé now. :p
 
Certainly didnt expect so many replies so soon :)

@amien and thebanik - The main reason i thought of upgrading my CPU was i thought it would bottleneck any current generation GPU. Would that not be the case without an overclock?

If I can OC with the E6300, guess I should go for the Gigabyte and invest in a decent cooler (main reason I didnt want to OC right away was I dont have cash for a cooler right now).

@Gannu - How does the 4 phase pwr affect things? (Sorry not been following recent going ons). Would that mean I would have to replace my power supply? (CM XP600 W btw).

But tell me why you suggest a change of RAM. The Crucials are well recommended too, like you said they are Micron D9 chips and capable OCers (though the 800 MHz may be a bottleneck)

Edit: As for the GPU, i thought a bigger number meant a better card. As in 4850>4770.
 
^4-phase pwr simply put, implies better and stable OCs. It also means a slightly higher pwr consumption and heat dissipation.

You may not have the need to change your PSU but be warned that the CM Extreme Power 600W has smoked many rigs in TE and some of them can vouch for that.

Change of RAM since you insisted you would not eb OC'ing? What's the point of having those Ballistix if you're not going to OC? Sell them off and get those cheapo Corsair XMS modules locally which could OC pretty decently.

The Crucials can fetch some good value like I said before. *hint-bikey/supra* :p

Lastly, 4850>4770 true but consumes more pwr during idle/loads, dissipates more heat and needless to say, is expensive than the 4770 by a grand or two which IMO is a wasteful expenditure considering you could OC the 4770 which could match the performance of the 4850.
 
If you OC then no E6300 would not be a bottleneck to the current generation GPU. If you dont OC then the headache of selling and buying E5200 would make more sense. The extra money you would put in for buying E5200 can be put in a cooler. Learn to OC with E6300, then few months down the line if you feel more adventurous you can go ahead and buy any other new proccy, also in a few months mostly the prices of existing proccies would go down.

Also If you are planning to do only mild OC then you can try selling those RAM sticks and buy any other decent RAM as Gannu suggested. You just might have hidden gems in those rams which you might not be able to fully harness, :bleh:

Vulc4n said:
Certainly didnt expect so many replies so soon :)

@amien and thebanik - The main reason i thought of upgrading my CPU was i thought it would bottleneck any current generation GPU. Would that not be the case without an overclock?

If I can OC with the E6300, guess I should go for the Gigabyte and invest in a decent cooler (main reason I didnt want to OC right away was I dont have cash for a cooler right now).

@Gannu - How does the 4 phase pwr affect things? (Sorry not been following recent going ons). Would that mean I would have to replace my power supply? (CM XP600 W btw).

But tell me why you suggest a change of RAM. The Crucials are well recommended too, like you said they are Micron D9 chips and capable OCers (though the 800 MHz may be a bottleneck)

Edit: As for the GPU, i thought a bigger number meant a better card. As in 4850>4770.
 
Amien said:
^^Read above post, i agree as well..
If you absolutely have to upgrade:-
Change mobo first, Gigabyte G31M ES2L(2.4k, awesome mobo), you can use your current CPU on this.
Next is GPU, then CPU, then RAM.

Go for the HD 4770 instead of the HD 4850.

+1

Dont spend more than 3k on ur mobo, a total waste of money. n this giga mobo is awesome.
 
^^ Thanks

Before this thread gets dead and buried, what would be a good price I can get rid of the P965 Neo F and X1800 GTO for?
 
^The P965 could fetch you around 1.5~2k. Those're in the same leagues as that of the P5B Dlx IINM. The X1800GTO about another 1.5~2k. Warranty being another major factor here.
 
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