What should I Upgrade

[scooby2]

Hi

I am new to this forum and after a bit of advice, I have a budget of about £400.00
I use my computer for games and 3D work using Cinema 4D.

Specs are e8500 cpu, asus p5ql pro motherboard and 4g pc6400 800mhz memmory
graphics card is a ati hd4890 1gb with vista 64bit.

Don't know if i should just upgrade the cpu and memmory or get a new motherboard
bundle.

Any advice apreciated.

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

what psu do you have? it must be pretty decent if youre powering a 4890 and the e8500 is still a great chip... memory is a killer right now.. im half temped to say to you stretch your budget

get this
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MBB-I76T6G

and you could easily make back the difference on the resale of your cpu mobo and ram, rough prices at
cpu-70
ram 45-55 (depending on brand etc
mobo £45

[Helior]

You don't need an upgrade tbh.

If your set on spending that money, then your probably going to benefit the most from either an SSD, or a quad core like the i5 or i7.

[aspdend]

I agree with the other chaps - get an i5 or i7 motherboard bundle...

[scooby2]

Thank's guys

The psu is a Avenge Power 850W, I did wonder if a i5 or i7 would improve render times with the 3d software.

[aspdend]

either should be a very noticeable improvement

[bezza]

Thank's guys

The psu is a Avenge Power 850W, I did wonder if a i5 or i7 would improve render times with the 3d software.

Final rendering is CPU intensive.

As you're actually making the models etc, it should be more RAM and GPU intensive.

Personally, don't think you need to upgrade much at all. Death's idea is good if you really want to upgrade otherwise something like a cracking new monitor?

[system7]

The E8500 is a pretty good CPU and dual cores still hold up very well in DX10 gaming. If you overclock them, they can be a match for slower quads too in multitasking.

I'd say it still has some life in it. But it would be fun to set the memory to 1:1 and run it at 400MHz with a better cooler. Your motherboard should be up to it. :xgrin:

[J1993]

my opinion is wait until you can afford to upgrade to i5/i7, as just a £400 upgrade will not do a great deal

[A Ginger Sheep]

my opinion is wait until you can afford to upgrade to i5/i7, as just a £400 upgrade will not do a great deal

and you think that 400 quid wont get him an i5 or i7 system upgrade?

[pilgrim72]

My vote, pretty much in agreement with others, would be for you to get a quad core cpu first, as these are much better at video work as they take advantage of the 4 cores.

Perhaps then faster memory.

Then the gpu.

Maybe soon programs will come out that take better advantage of gpgpu for remndering and stuff though, but im just rambling a bit now!

[scooby2]

Thank's for the advice everyone, sounds like quad + faster memory are the way to go so I think
i will wait abit longer and plump for the i7 bundle.