New Computer

[Deann]

Can't say I looked to make sure your mobo can run it - but assuming you can, there is really no reason to go i7 instead of the cheaper upgrade to a phenom II. Anandtech.com just had a nice review on the most recent Phenom II. Short version is that it outperformed the 9650 by a fair bit and was much cheaper. It traded blows back and forth with the i7 920 depending on application. When you concider the price of a i7 mobo vs a Phenom II mobo, then the Phenom II was a fair amount cheaper. If I was only looking at buying new, I'd probably still go i7 because it should have a long future upgrade path, but when money is a concern and you already have a AM2+ mobo, then I wouldn't think twice about going AMD. You won't be loosing anything CPU wise.

I just looked into the i7 vs the black edition of Phenom... and the difference in price is about £50. What kind of performance increases in terms of wow do you think would happen if i spent the little bit extra and assuming my motherboard can handle it (Which i will need to do a bit research on i think).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-i7-920...1946905&sr=1-1
This is the i7

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-HDZ940XC...1946249&sr=1-2

This is the Phenom II

For a £50 difference I could possibly entertain the idea of getting an i7.

[Deann]

Read the above as: You shouldn't have an issue with the 9600GT, unless you have a power supply with a low wattage rating. (Read: Less than 400W, power requirements taken from Nvidia's page on the 9600GT)

I think you'll see a noticeable difference even now if you plopped in the 9600GT.

This then raises the issue of the case Currently the case i have doesn't have enough room for it at the moment, but the case is wearing down, so I could also entertain of using the graphics card and buying a new case.

Edit; the current power pack on my pc reads at 230v.... which would incure me having to purchase a new one of those also... Prices are rising everywhere >.>
Edit 2; According to Amazon, power packs that have 500v ish are like.. £20, So either i've read the wrong thing on my power pack or it really sucks -_-

[Sajuuk]

I just looked into the i7 vs the black edition of Phenom... and the difference in price is about £50. What kind of performance increases in terms of wow do you think would happen if i spent the little bit extra and assuming my motherboard can handle it (Which i will need to do a bit research on i think).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-i7-920...1946905&sr=1-1
This is the i7

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-HDZ940XC...1946249&sr=1-2

This is the Phenom II

For a £50 difference I could possibly entertain the idea of getting an i7.

Keep in mind if you go i7 you WILL need a new motherboard, the processor, and new RAM. i7 motherboards take DDR3, not DDR2.

Did a quickie build on the minimum you would need to switch to i7 - £549.33 (roughly 390 Euros more than just upgrading your CPU)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...A17AS5ETPMZ9A1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...A25P672H5P8ME9

This then raises the issue of the case Currently the case i have doesn't have enough room for it at the moment, but the case is wearing down, so I could also entertain of using the graphics card and buying a new case.

As per the wattage rating, Where would i be able to view what power is being pumped into my pc?

You could take out the PSU/side of the case and see if you can see any numbers on the side.

And the 230v is not the power of your PSU, it's just a switch so your PSU can accept the voltage going through your building. (USA electronics take things at about 110V, whereas europeans get 230v.)

[Freddie]

For a £50 difference I could possibly entertain the idea of getting an i7.

If you're considering switching to a new platform, I suggest waiting till next week when Intel's new CPUs and motherboard chipset will be released, probably on Sept. 8.

The best single resource I know for comparing this stuff on a bang-for-buck basis is the price-performance system graphs on techreport.com. They will probably publish a new one with the new CPUs and the older CPUs you've been considering on Sept. 8, or shortly after Sept. 8.

Here's an example of the kind of graph they publish (the second one compares price-performance for entire computers):

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17402/13

[Deann]

With the increasing amount of things changing etc, Again, the possiblity of a new build comes to mind...

If i get the new mobo, ram and i7, and salvage things like my hdd, monitor etc I think it would be able to be pulled off.

Would the 6gb ram be enough to healthily 5 box?

@Freddie, I will wait the week and see if the prices come down, Because every little helps xD

[Sajuuk]

With the increasing amount of things changing etc, Again, the possiblity of a new build comes to mind...

If i get the new mobo, ram and i7, and salvage things like my hdd, monitor etc I think it would be able to be pulled off.

Would the 6gb ram be enough to healthily 5 box?

@Freddie, I will wait the week and see if the prices come down, Because every little helps xD

The biggest issues I had with 6Gb was while in dalaran, other than that it's quite doable. BUT, even if you did upgrade to i7, we still might be looking at switching cases/power supplies as it is. So while you may get more performance with i7, it would end up being a lot more out of your pocket. And while I ended up doing something just like what you're considering (Switching to i7), I don't know how your finances are for you, so I'd say go the less expensive route. Keep in mind I had moved back in with my mother, with almost zero expenses, waiting for the money to come in from my job so I could upgrade.

[Freddie]

I don't know if prices of existing i7 systems will fall, but there will be new i7 chips next week that use cheaper motherboards and their performance may be comparable to the i7-920. We won't know until next week when Intel's news embargo ends and benchmarks get published.

Intel is also going to release new mid-range CPUs which may force AMD to lower prices to remain competitive.

[Deann]

The biggest issues I had with 6Gb was in dalaran, other than that it's quite doable.

That would be no problem, I don't mind hearthing 2 at a time or w/e it takes ;P


Also - I think for now, with the increasing prices etc that it will take to get all the different options with the new mobo, i7, ram, etc etc I feel it's too much of a sink to pull out at this time and would feel more comfortable sticking with what i have, and upgrading to Black edition Phenom II. Also I think i'll look at getting a different case that will neatly accomodate the graphics card along with upgrading the powerpack if it is needed.. (I'll check later, but don't want to go inside the case at this time!)

Also, due to the unknown nature of whether this will support 5 boxing, I don't mind cutting down to 4, as that is probably a better number to group with friends or whatever

The price of the black edition Phenom II is £160 at the moment with free shiping, and i'm hoping that price will go down in the next few weeks with the release of the new chips.


Edit; Thank you all for your help - however it's coming up to 5 am, and I need to grab at least a few hours sleep Thank you for your help and i'll be on more tommorow to possibly continue this discussion

[Sajuuk]

That would be no problem, I don't mind hearthing 2 at a time or w/e it takes ;P


Also - I think for now, with the increasing prices etc that it will take to get all the different options with the new mobo, i7, ram, etc etc I feel it's too much of a sink to pull out at this time and would feel more comfortable sticking with what i have, and upgrading to Black edition Phenom II. Also I think i'll look at getting a different case that will neatly accomodate the graphics card along with upgrading the powerpack if it is needed.. (I'll check later, but don't want to go inside the case at this time!)

Also, due to the unknown nature of whether this will support 5 boxing, I don't mind cutting down to 4, as that is probably a better number to group with friends or whatever

The price of the black edition Phenom II is £160 at the moment with free shiping, and i'm hoping that price will go down in the next few weeks with the release of the new chips.

The only problems was windows started dipping into my page file, making performance somewhat laggy. And good idea (voiced be everyone) to wait for prices to drop with the new release. God knows how common price drops are, and how often we kick ourselves in the butt for not waiting a little bit.

[jak3676]

upgrade vs buy new - always a fun argument

I think the upgrade would probably still be a bit cheaper for you. You already have the mobo and RAM, but sounds like you'd be buying a new case, power supply and CPU. if you haven't started multi-boxing yet, the 9600GT should last you at least until you get to northrend.

Of course if you buy an all new system then you can always do some amount of splitting between hardware and software multiboxing.

i5 series CPUs and mobos should be out soon, ATI could be releasing new GPUs soon as well. Of course the longer you wait, better the hardware will get.