Upgrading, need your thoughts

skeaser · June 2011

Alright, I think it's about upgrade time just because my HDD isn't going to last much longer. My mobo only supports SATA 2 so I'm thinking about getting a SATA 3 mobo with USB 3.0. Since my case has USB 2.0 front ports I'm thinking about a new case.

I currently have an i7 920 and I think I'll leave it in the build.

Think I want a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131715 ASUS P6X58-E mobo

I have 6 GB of DDR3 1066, thinking about sticking with that and OC'ing to 1600.

I have dual GTX 260 core 216s, thinking about upgrading to dual GTX 570s.

I think I'm going to get a 64GB SDD for my primary drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148357 or the 128 GB version of the same drive if budget allows

and a 1.5TB HDD for my data drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148725

And I'm looking at this case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160 Cooler Master HAF 932

Do you guys think the CPU and RAM are still good enough for everything else?

Is that mobo up to snuff?

Does anyone know anything about any of the linked hardware that a buyer should be aware of?

Thanks for the help MMORPG.com techno-geeks!

Ridelynn · June 2011

To be honest -

Your upgrading an awful lot just because your afraid your hard drive is going out. I can certainly understand the itch to upgrade just for the sake of getting new toys though.

Your system, as is, is going to perform nearly as well as anything you could upgrade it to. Most hard drives can't take advantage of SATA3's speed (except the very latest SSDs).

I upgraded a pair of 260GTX's SLIed myself to an ATI 6970 last December: I don't regret the purchase, but honestly, I could get 60FPS in all my games before I upgraded, so it didn't really do anything for me.

What do you have that's USB3.0 that you need to run on USB3.0 - especially to warrant a case upgrade just for the sake of putting more ports in the front of the case? The only thing that can really take advantage of it would be external hard drives ... if you use external drives a lot maybe it's worth it, but you can also just get a USB3.0 addon card for a fraction of the price (and hassle) of upgrading your entire motherboard and case for it...

skeaser · June 2011

Originally posted by Ridelynn
To be honest -

Your upgrading an awful lot just because your afraid your hard drive is going out. I can certainly understand the itch to upgrade just for the sake of getting new toys though.

Your system, as is, is going to perform nearly as well as anything you could upgrade it to. Most hard drives can't take advantage of SATA3's speed (except the very latest SSDs).

I upgraded a pair of 260GTX's SLIed myself to an ATI 6970 last December: I don't regret the purchase, but honestly, I could get 60FPS in all my games before I upgraded, so it didn't really do anything for me.

What do you have that's USB3.0 that you need to run on USB3.0 - especially to warrant a case upgrade just for the sake of putting more ports in the front of the case? The only thing that can really take advantage of it would be external hard drives ... if you use external drives a lot maybe it's worth it, but you can also just get a USB3.0 addon card for a fraction of the price (and hassle) of upgrading your entire motherboard and case for it...

Truthfuly, it's all "just becuse". I enjoy building them and get the itch every few years.

Quizzical · June 2011

The main reason to replace a motherboard is so that you can get a different processor, or else because your old motherboard died. If you want SATA 3 or USB 3, you can get those on an add-in card, without needing a new motherboard.

Why do you need USB 3.0 front ports? Even if you need USB 3.0, why on the front in particular?

I'd say go ahead and upgrade the storage, but I don't see any dire need to replace anything else. For the video cards in particular, the next generation of parts should launch this fall. Unless you're running into some particular game where your current cards simply aren't adequate, I'd wait. A full node die shrink and the addition of HKMG to the process node should be a big deal.

For storage, I have that SSD in my laptop. It's arguably the best on the market at that capacity. You can also get something reasonably good for $15 cheaper for the same 60 GB capacity, though:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147062

Or 107 GB of usable capacity for $175:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233160

I'm not saying that you shouldn't get the SSD that you picked. Rather, I'm saying, here are a couple of other good options that you might want to consider. If you consider them and decide that you like what you picked before, go ahead.

Do note that the hard drive is very slow. If the OS and all of the programs that you use much will fit on the SSD, then that's no big deal. But it's a lot easier to do that with 107 GB of SSD space than 60 GB.

Ridelynn · June 2011

Originally posted by skeaser

Truthfuly, it's all "just becuse". I enjoy building them and get the itch every few years.

Nothing wrong with that at all, so long as your willing to admit it! If I'm honest with myself, this is probably the biggest reason I buy computer stuff too.

I do have to agree with Quiz on this one though:
I love the 920 - it's what I'm running in my own right right now. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

But if you are going to upgrade the motherboard, go ahead and bump it up to a Sandy Bridge.

If anything else, keep the 920 on that old motherboard and run it as a file server for your house or something. Shoot, with all the stuff your upgrading, you just need a power supply and a DVD drive and you'd have an entire second operational computer.