Looking at upgrading my motherboard and VGA

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 18, 2010, 08:01 AM

Now, I'm getting sick of my old 9500GT and ASUS P5KPL/1600 so I wouldn't mind upgrading both. My CPU is great and I have no intention of upgrading that.

Motherboard Requirements: Must be LGA775, DDR2, I wouldn't mind an SLI capable board

VGA Requirements: Must be NVIDIA

I'm looking at around $200 to $250AUD. Any suggestions?

**mrcrusty** · March 18, 2010, 10:37 PM

Graphics Card: Gainward GTS 250 @ skycomp. Same price range as the 9800 GT, even if it's performance is slightly higher (9800GTX+). - $131 online (excludes shipping).

Motherboard: Asus P5QL-SE @ Umart. - $87.55 online/$97.55 instore (excludes shipping).

Might be able to find them in the same place (shipped as one bundle) or for cheaper somewhere else, but I cba looking comprehensively for a deal since I'm typing this up at uni.

**Dewy** · March 19, 2010, 01:00 AM

VGA: GF GTX 260 is around 240-50 AUD and the best your going to get around that price. Pretty sad your in VIC, excel computers is by far one of the best places in Australia for computers/parts. They constantly get awards from Pc User (don't know if you read it, but its the most read pc mag in Australia). But you really should get a ATI radeon from 5000 series, it is worth the extra money. I'm going to get 5850, hopefully tomorrow if I drive out to Exhibition Park (lucky there is computer fairs in canberra other wise I would have to go to Sydney) and its just a bit less than $400. Actually in the long run getting a card like 5850 will save you money.

**mrcrusty** · March 19, 2010, 02:23 AM

You're in Vic, then MSY is probably your best bet for prices (most stores are in Vic).

They have a .pdf on the site with the parts they are selling, just don't expect them to be friendly... or sociable... or smelling acceptably.

If you know what you want, know how much it costs and email/ring beforehand to check whether there's stock, then it's a pretty easy process... assuming they have stock.

Actually went to the Malvern branch today to pick up a new mobo (Asus M4A79XTD Evo). Emailed last night whether they had stock, they replied at around noon today saying they did, I went after uni (it's like 5 mins from uni) to pick it up and off on my merry way I went. Whole process inside the store took five minutes, would've been shorter but there were a few people in front of me.

Was kinda funny watching the guy in front me have no idea what he was ordering. The clerk was like "wtf man, just order and gogogogogo."

HIS 5850 @ $363 btw. Good ~$30-$40 cheaper than most other stores. The Gainward GTX 260 @ $213.

So yeah, great prices, not so great service. They build themselves up as the anti-Harvey Norman, and it shows.

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 19, 2010, 01:37 AM

I've decided to scrap the idea of sticking with DDR2. I'm gonna upgrade my RAM too with DDR3

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 19, 2010, 03:19 AM

I've had a look at MSY and they're pretty good but I just don't have the chance to get to their stores because they don't have one in the middle of nowhere

I get mine from megabuy.com.au

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 20, 2010, 04:47 AM

Would it be worth buying an LGA1156 mobo and replacing my E8500 with an i3 530 to sort of future proof myself?

**Freddie** · March 20, 2010, 06:17 AM

Originally Posted by Capt. Fozdike

Would it be worth buying an LGA1156 mobo and replacing my E8500 with an i3 530 to sort of future proof myself?

Not really, you should be able to get a decent overclock out of your E8500 which will keep it going for a while longer and if you really wanted to upgrade I would suggest going down the quad core route.

If you want to replace your motherboard you might was well upgrade your whole PC there's not point in replacing it just to get expensive DDR3 which won't give any performance boost of note and even then if you wanted to stick with your CPU you have look at X48 boards.

I would suggest a video card upgrade is your best move a Radeon HD5850 would be a good buy and offer a big bump over your currant card but I don't know how much they cost in Ozzy $'s.

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 20, 2010, 06:23 AM

Originally Posted by Freddie

I would suggest a video card upgrade is your best move a Radeon HD5850 would be a good buy and offer a big bump over your currant card but I don't know how much they cost in Ozzy $'s.

Almost $400 lol. What about a 5770? Although I'd rather go with NVIDIA purely because of my previous problems with ATi

**mrcrusty** · March 20, 2010, 07:22 AM

A 5770 will perform around as well as a GTX 260, perhaps not as good, but with a decent OC, it should trade blows with it. The 5770 is equivalent to the 4870 in performance, which was just a tad below the GTX 260.

In terms of price, it's basically half what a 5850 is. So roughly the $200 mark.

XFX has the cheapest 5770 on Megabuy (with the old reference cooler), for $186.

In comparison, the GTX 260 which does have better performance, but lacks DX 11 support, HDMI and has higher power consumption, goes for $220.

However, the cheapest GTX 260 that's actually in stock, goes for a hefty $250.

The upcoming Fermi Nvidia GTX 470/480 cards will be priced similarly than the Radeon 5850/5870 (if not higher), so it might better to wait until the prices drop to get either the 5xxx series or GTX 4xx series cards.

I wouldn't recommend getting anything from the GTX 2xx series aside from the GTX 260 though. Nvidia's high end GTX 2xx products are ridiculously overpriced.

The 4890 is priced similarly to the GTX 260 ($215-$300) and is equal to the GTX 275 in performance. It also can run with a stock GTX 285 with a good OC, but the GTX 275 is priced between $280-$400, and the GTX 285 is priced between $400-$600, despite being beaten by the 5850 in most benchmarks. The GTX 280 can be even more expensive, reaching up to $700, because it's so damn rare.

Hopefully the Fermi cards won't be ridiculously priced (because in imaginary land, where I don't have to worry about a budget, the GTX 480 has my name on it), but as it stands right now, if you're not planning on the GTX 260 or perhaps the GTS 250, it's ATI or gtfo.

**Freddie** · March 20, 2010, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by Capt. Fozdike

Almost $400 lol. What about a 5770? Although I'd rather go with NVIDIA purely because of my previous problems with ATi

In all honesty at this point in time ATI have the only cards worth buying, all of Nvidia's cards still carry a huge premium are hard to find as there EOL so you can either waiting until Nvidia gets some affordable mid ranged DX11 cards out the door (could be a few months) or get a HD5770 now.

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 20, 2010, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by Freddie

In all honesty at this point in time ATI have the only cards worth buying, all of Nvidia's cards still carry a huge premium are hard to find as there EOL so you can either waiting until Nvidia gets some affordable mid ranged DX11 cards out the door (could be a few months) or get a HD5770 now.

Hmmmmm, well my phone is beginning to play up now and really become annoying. I think I'll have to get a new one before upgrading my computer.

Thanks for all your help anyways

+rep to all of you