Somebody Stop ME! (Upgrade? Or no?)

[Mean_dm]

You've probably seen my other threads that I'm upgrading, so I won't bore you with the details..

Right to the chase: I am building a new rig so I can pass my current rig to my little brother for Christmas.

This is the rig I have now:

Case: NZXT Apollo
PSU: Corsair TX550W
Mobo: Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
RAM: 4g (4x1) Corsair XMS2
CPU: E8400 Wolfdale
GPU 460 GTX 1gb MSI Cyclone

Which is the rig I would LIKE to give him... Unfortunately I seem to have hit a snag. The problem is that I do NOT have a whole lot of money to spend on a new rig, but his piece of junk is breaking down, so I figured I could help him and me at the same time.

This is the New rig as of right now: (And what I paid for each, just to show I'm trying to keep the cost as low as I can)

Case: Rosewill Thor V2 (99$)
Mobo: Asus P8Z68 Deluxe/G3 (160$) <-- Yes, 160$ brand new
Ram: 8g (2x4) Ripjaws X 1600Mhz (30$)
CPU: 2500K Intel (150$)

So about 440$. And I still need a GPU and PSU.

I'm contemplating the XFX 850W PRO850W PSU, which I can get ahold of for 100$ new..

But the GPU is a problem. I was hoping that another 460 GTX would go on sale, but that does not look like it is going to be the case. (I've gotten everything I do have this past weekend so far).

I have a few options... Do I:

• Buy a cheaper GPU to place in my old rig to give him and keep the 460 GTX for my new rig? If so, what GPU should I look for so he isn't handicapped to badly?
  
• Upgrade my GPU to ______ (I have no clue ) so he can keep the 460?
  
• Buy another 460 GTX so we both end up with one?

The reason I ask, is because the cheapest 460 GTX that I would buy is 170$ (I should add that I hate MIRs, I can be convinced to do them... but you could stare down a wall before I am comfortable with them). While I can see the 560 GTX ti is about 220$... The 560 GTX (no ti) is about 200$...

Or should I be looking at something other than Nvidia?

 

[turbohans]

Honestly if you just stick with this,

Case: Rosewill Thor V2 (99$)
Mobo: Asus P8Z68 Deluxe/G3 (160$) <-- Yes, 160$ brand new
Ram: 8g (2x4) Ripjaws X 1600Mhz (30$)
CPU: 2500K Intel (150$)

or at least try it out before buying another GPU you should be happy.

That E8400 was probably a huge bottleneck on the other. I you were not dead set on going I7 I would really just suggest finding a Q8xxx or Q9xxx as that would be a huge improvement alone.

 

[Mean_dm]

The whole point was giving my old system to my brother, so I've pretty much got to figure something out with the GPU.

Are you suggesting I buy a lower end card to put in there?

 

[JeremyCT]

What's your comfort level with used equipment? There's a number of fine replacement options in the classifieds now. Not cutting edge, but certainly capable. Seeing as it's a gift, I don't see how your brother could complain about GTX285 or even a 9800GTX+.

I think there might even be a GTX460 in the classifieds atm to complete your own SLi pair.

Jeremy

 

[Mean_dm]

I'm fine with used equipment, as long as said equipment was taken care of. I tried viewing the classifieds a while back but no threads showed up, so I thought I needed special permission... I can see threads now, bleh... Thanks for the heads up, I will take a look!

 

[Mean_dm]

I saw one that I may throw my hat at... but looking at those deals got me thinking on a couple of things...

Should I wait until the 6xx series from Nvidia? Are there any games that could push a SLI'd 460 1gb setup coming out soon? (I don't see anything)

The most graphic intensive game I play atm is BF3, and my one 460 GTX can almost do Ultra settings there... Probably could by itself if it weren't for the E8400 (right?). I play at 2048x1152 resolution on a 23" HD monitor.

I'm a "wait until I can't play at Ultra...then upgrade" kinda guy. As long as I can play at max settings, I don't even think of upgrading. I'm also a "bang for buck" kinda guy... which brings up a question I need to ask the Radeon boys... yikes.

*EDIT* Ack! Really sorry for the double post, I wasn't thinking!

 

[mxthunder]

What kind of GPU does he have in his current system? Maybe he could just keep it, and you keep yours, at least for the time being, then wait until you find a deal on a new one and pass your 460 along to him.

 

[Mean_dm]

This is why I'm doing this, hah... He has an AGP slot card . His comp is outdated by more than a few years.

 

[turbohans]

The whole point was giving my old system to my brother, so I've pretty much got to figure something out with the GPU.

Are you suggesting I buy a lower end card to put in there?

Sorry I took so long! LOL Yea that might work, I run a 465 myself and it runs BF3 real decent on high so I would imagine you would be ok if you waited on upgrading that.

The biggest bottleneck in the system you have now would be that Duo E8400 IMHO unless you can get it to run like 4GHZ (possible!) it would actually choke up that 460.. A lot of people here might still give you that Duo vs Quad stuff but from what I have noticed running a few newer games like BF3 or even GTA IV just those games will use 100% of three cores or more.

 

[Mean_dm]

Exactly what I did. I found an 8400 gs that I slapped in there... He's already getting a decent enough computer, shouldn't hurt him to save up for a decent gpu...lol...

Unless developers started making games for PCs again... unlikely to happen, but meh. Until we see a halt in these crappy console ports, I think he will be ok for a while. Thanks for the advice everyone!