captzoo Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 With FSX Nirvanna now complete for Oz I think it's time to look at upgrading some of my hardware components. I will probably end up answering my own question here but I would also appreciate your thoughts on the subject. I built my first PC some 18 months ago (specs below) and would like to stretch the legs until I can look at a new rig (hopefully by the end of this year. As you can see I went down the AMD path (bad choice I know) and after reading various reviews on both AMD quad core CPU's and Intel quad core's I am contemplating the idea of either upgrading the CPU to a Phenom X4 9950 OR, pull the mobo out and replace it with an Intel Socket 775 board and either an E8500 or Q6700 CPU. Obviously the later is more expensive but based on the info I have read the Intel CPU's are far superior. I would like to upgrade the GPU too but after reading some posts here it appears that the best improvement is to upgrade the CPU first. I really don't want to replace everything yet but if the benefits are far greater using the Intel based hardware then so be it, I will bite the bullet. Any opinions on this?? My specs: ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Mobo AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 CPU Inno3D 8800GTS 320MB GPU 2x 1GB Corsair 6400 C4 DDR2 800 RAM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Mate, I know that the NVIDIA 295's are gonna be released soon, so either you can get some real good 260's or 280's at a reduced price or go the whole bit and lash out for a $700 295 gpu.... Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper31 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I say stick with Intel...AMD just hasn't caught up yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Stick with Intel BUT I really don't think I'd be wasting time and money with i7 at this stage, as with everything the prices of this type of hardware will drop significantly in the not to distant future. Intel Mainboard with Quad Core Processor support and up datable BIOS capable of no less than 6 SATA and at least 1 IDE HDD connection and at least as many USB and Firewire I/O's as well. My 2 C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captzoo Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Thanks for your comments Mozz and Sniper. I figured as much. After reading how poor the AMD's are at overclocking and how the top end Phenoms are only being compared to low end Core 2 Quads I think it's only logical to make the swap. I just bought all new i7 based compoents for the father-in-law to build a new machine for him. While he was prepared to pay for the latest and greatest at the premium price I think I'll wait a little longer. So the swap should keep me happy for a little longer (hopefully until Windows 7 and FS11 is released). Off to do some shopping then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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