Upgrade since early 2009

[hahallur]

Hi all, I have a rig thats still semi competent but I'm looking to use some off my summer salary to upgrade since the arrival of the new consoles will probably mean a significant boost in gfx for us PC gamers (not because we haven't had the power but, devs haven't been using it). As well as I need more memory and processing power for my audio work.

My current rig's specs
i7 920
2x HD4890 Crossfire
3 x 2GB DDR31600
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
MB: Gigabyte UD3r X58
6 HHDs
Corsair Graphite 600T
Corsair HX850

I'm planning to change out the CPU, GPU, MB, memory, PSU and Case.

I don't know why but I thought there was new gear arriving this summer, that's CPUs and GPUs. But I haven't seen a lot of evidence of late to support this.

So my question is, if I upgrade in June/July could I expect to bump my head into a wall when new stuff arrives 1-2 months after.

 

[Ken g6]

Haswell is coming in June/July/August. I suppose new/upgraded audio processing software might be written to take advantage of AVX2. So it could be useful. New GPUs all seem to have been delayed.

Have you tried overclocking that i7? New RAM would fit in your old machine almost as well as it would fit in a new one. If you want to keep the processor and mobo for awhile, you might get 4 sticks of RAM but only put 3 in your current machine.

If you still want to do a major upgrade within a month, can you answer [thread=80121]some questions[/thread] for us?

 

[SithSolo1]

New cpus and sockets should be out. Gpus not so much.

 

[Anubis]

if you are waiting untill june/july you might as well wait for haswell
i could not wait and went with a 3770k last week
i was running a 920 OCed to 4GHZ and there is a noticable speed increase,

 

[hahallur]

Thanks for the responses.

As for the checklist.

1. The PC will be used for all general tasks you web/school/photoshop but those are secondary. Where I require most power is when inserting multiple emulation plugins on audio channels and when gaming.

2. Budget I'd say 1400$

3. I'll be getting the parts from USA/Iceland

4. Don't worry about that, I'm not entirely sure where I'm getting all the stuff from.

5. For CPUs I want Intel unless someone can really persuade me otherwise. GPUs I've gone for AMD in recent years since they're more cost effective it seems. But I'm just looking for the most bang per buck.

6. As stated above I'll be using all the hard drives and SSD drive but the other stuff I will mostly replace.

7. I do not plan on overclocking since I prefer 100% stability and durability over a small performance increase.

8. I'm currently using 27" Dell 2709W 1920x1200 monitor, never know if I'll upgrade to the 2560x1440 model.

9. I plan to build it probably in July or August, but I might start buying and selling off part earlier.

 

[hahallur]

Currently wondering if HD 7870 Tahiti LE x 2 is the best choice for my budget. At least they seem to be very reasonably priced and about as powerful as a HD7950.

As for CPUs I saw Tom's benching a preview of i7 4770k and it doesn't look very powerful compared to the stuff thats already out there.
As for CPU's i7 3770 a good fit for me, seems weird going back to dual ch memory.
Maybe i7 3820 is a better fit.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

If you are NOT going to overclock then wait for Haswell.

 

[hahallur]

Is the chipset Haswell is going to be on, dual or quad ch memory ?

 

[darckhart]

OP, I am in the same boat and am waiting for haswell. Although, if you have not OC'ed your 920, you may as well give it try now just to see if the speed boost would be something interesting. at 2.66 GHz, the 920 is rather pokey, but at 3.8+, it holds its own pretty well except for the most demanding of things.

i have played with some 3570k/3770k at stock, and the speed difference is quite a bump, so your plan to not oc the new stuff is just fine. however, keep in mind that 4770k will bring new features as will the 8-series chipset.

I just picked up a 7950 since the price was decent and the game bundle was nice. It seems I have a rather leaky chip, but it still overclocks decently (1185/1565). and if you do decide to increase your monitor res to 2560, you may like the 7950>7870.

iirc, haswell will support dual channel memory.

 

[hahallur]

Thanks for the input darkckhart, I think I'll wait for Haswell.
Still wondering what GPU I should get.

Edit: If i'm going for 16GB memory what is the core difference between getting 2x8 or 4x4 modules.

 

[mfenn]

Get 2x8GB, DRAM densities are such that you aren't really paying a speed penalty on 8GB modules anymore. And you get more room for upgrades.

As for GPUs, it really depends on your time horizon. July is too far out to be picking deals.