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E8400 was fun - tell me a Quad to use.

Forum Homebuilt Systems : General Homebuilt - E8400 was fun - tell me a Quad to use.

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JohnnyMash   11-12-2008 at 02:42:58 PM

Hello everyone,

 

I have had my PC for 6 months as below:

 

XP Pro 32 SP3

 

Processor: Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.33GHz
Thermal Paste: OCZ Freeze thermal paste
CPU cooler: Zalman CNPS9700 NT
Motherboard: Asus P5K-SE, P35
Graphics card: Gigabyte 9600GT 512mb w/Zalman vF700-AlCu HSF
Memory: 4Gb Gingle DDR-800 1.8V
Hard drives: 750Gb Samsung F-1 SATA
Hard drive 2: 250Gb WD Caviar IDE
Optical drive: Lite-On DH20A4P DVD-RW
Power Supply: Antec Basiq 500W
TV card: WinFast DTV1000 T Digital TV Tuner
Case: Cooler Master 331 GLITE case

 

What I'd love to do is swap this out to another PC, and then swap its E7200 out to another box for sale.
With the (ed.)$AUD, I'd like to drop in a quad to stave off Nehalem until the '-tock' of the first i7's.
Programs use would include include audio encoders, AV+malware scanner, proxy server, and gaming with
the likes of racing and RTS's, I don't play Crys-- H3LL YES I do...

 

What's your best pick for a common setup, such as mine, that would still come up fairly strong in 18 months,
overclocked or otherwise, coming during the '09 new year?


Message edited by JohnnyMash on 11-12-2008 at 02:58:22 PM
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huron   11-12-2008 at 02:51:41 PM
- 0 +

It depends on your price range, but I would suggest the Q9550 ($319 area) - it's the last big step before you would pay another $200 for a small impact.

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JohnnyMash   11-12-2008 at 02:55:43 PM
- 0 +

Would a near-identical be a few dollars cheaper with the same internal specs, or is this the lower standard to build from?

Sorry, belatedly adding Australia to the mix.

Reply to JohnnyMash
topper743   11-12-2008 at 03:28:16 PM
- 0 +

Hi John, if you are upgrading mainly because you just want to then I support you in that. However, I don't think that you are getting everything out of the current system. The cpu, and I have a friend with the same one, could over clock up around the 4ghz range, his is a bit over 4ghz. With a good cooler I have heard that the 4ghz range is quite common. High ghz speed seems for the moment to be the thing to get the best performance in gaming. A better video card would help you out in improving system performance as the 9600 is now a mid grade card. I don't know if your preference is ATI or Nvidia but look at either of the brands top 1 or 2 model for a sharp frame rate increase over the 9600. The rest of you system looks good, though a bit larger PSU would have been my preference but if it works, great. If you really want a new cpu and you really want a quad core then what about a q6600 or a q9450, q9550, q9650 or even a qx9650 all over clocked of course. The 8400 is very good as you know. Try pushing the clocks up a bit and see how you feel. Another reason to just replace the GPU and push but not replace your current system is that Intel will be releasing their new i7 stuff and after the dust settles a bit on pricing and hype you’ll probably want one of those, say sometime in the next year.

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jitpublisher   11-12-2008 at 03:53:27 PM
- 0 +

+1^. A better video card would do more than anything, the quad will probably speed up encoding, but for games, definetly the video card is your weakest link.

Reply to jitpublisher
jtt283   11-12-2008 at 04:06:03 PM
- 0 +

You can save some money by getting a different cooler. The Xigmatek S1283 is cheaper and cools better than the Zalman. An Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is sufficiently better than stock to also be a good, cheaper choice if the Xig isn't available where you are.
I like the idea of having a quad now because of all the background crap, but in your case drop back to a Q9300 or Q6600 and put any extra money into a better graphics card if you like to play Crysis. Get a 4850 if you can afford it.

------------------------------ There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
 Reply to jtt283
JohnnyMash   11-13-2008 at 08:40:33 AM
- 0 +

Thanks Guys.
topper743, this thing sits on 4GHz very nicely, but I don't want to run it too high coming into summer. Why a larger PSU, by the way? At max draw this thing pulls around half that 500W, 9600GT included.

jtt283, I spent $70 on the Zalman and I won't get another cooler for this rig, and even if I did sell it for a Xiggy, so I don't believe it will save money at all, really. I do like the Q9450 though, and I think I might shoot for that. As you say, it is mainly to deal with the 'background crap', and for a first venture into quad territory. Crysis looks just fine on Med/High settings, and it isn't my one and only gaming priority (it's gonna get dull one day. SFII did.), so I don't really need a card that will do 16xAA/AF at mega resolutions, and will probably stick with the 9600 for another 6 months.

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