Windows tells me it's time for a CPU and memory upgrade. This also means buying a new motherboard. I don't have the time to investigate every intricate detail of a component like I used to. How far will £300 ~$500 take me?
Windows tells me it's time for a CPU and memory upgrade. This also means buying a new motherboard. I don't have the time to investigate every intricate detail of a component like I used to. How far will £300 ~$500 take me?
Last edited by D; 30th-March-2011 at 21:04.
It also judges your video card primarily on VRAM. Windows ratings are a joke. Is there anything specifically that you need/use the processor for?
Short answer until D responds:
Gaming only: Phenom II x4, Black edition 4GB DDR3 1600
Video editing/gaming/whatever else: Core i7, 1336 socket, 6GB DDR3 1600
I'd prefer to stick with an Intel CPU because AMD's ratings now a days are too confusing. Checking the 1366 sockets I notice that there are only a couple of CPUs available from my usual place. I'm assuming this is the new socket. I'm not too concerned about CPU upgradability as by the time I upgrade again, the socket is obselete.
Looking at the 1366 CPUs, they're clocking in at about £200, which leaves me £100 for motherboard and memory. I'll check to see where I can go from there.
Once I get this sorted, coupled with my HD6950 and SSD I think I should have a beast once again.
....AMD's ratings are confusing? Wut? Just get the slowest clocked black edition Phenom II x4, and you should be set if you ask me. Then just get an AM3 socket board and some RAM. If you're only gaming, I seriously doubt you will be able to tell the difference between a Phenom II and an i7, but it's easier on the wallet.
If you do want to go with Intel against all reasoning (at least in my opinion, it's your money though), then yes, the 1336 socket is their highest end consumer board socket. You can get a 1156 board, but it does not support triple channel memory. So that's another option if tri-channel memory isn't that important to you (and to be quite honest it doesn't make much of a difference in performance).
Cheers, I think I've figured it out now.