Time for an upgrade

So my current desktop PC has been running well for the best part of 3 years and has served me well. Indeed some of the components were transferred from the PC that I had before this so it is starting to feel sluggish.

Last year when I upgraded to Vista I swapped out the graphics card based on the Vista score which kept me going a bit longer but we have reached a point where we have to upgrade or go mad waiting for things to happen.

So chips have moved on and so have motherboards so this time, upgrading really isn’t an option in the true sense of the word. The only hardware that will make it’s way into the new PC will be the PSU and a couple of hard disk drives.

So what do we buy?

Well I am not in the habit of upgrading hardware for the sake of it so want a good spec that will see me through the next 3 years. Likewise I will not be paying out £1000 for one of the top end CPUs from Intel.

But the new 45nm quad core Yorkfield chips are now shipping so here is what is now on order:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 CPU
• Intel DX38BT Extreme motherboard
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• Nvidia 8800GT graphics card
• A new SATAII HDD for the OS
• A new case

So this gives me a shed load of CPU performance on a motherboard that can support it. I was tempted to go for the Q9450 which gives 12MB cache rather than 6MB but there was a significant price different and even with 6MB, this thing should fly.

Another key point has been noise. My current system is pretty noisy so the new system has seen my choosing quiet components such as cases and fans in an attempt to keep the noise levels down.

So all of this is due on Monday so I expect to have this up and running by the middle of the week. I am expecting a performance increase of Herculean proportions here so watch this space.

As for the bits left over from the old PC?

Well I am toying with the idea of sticking it in a new case and building  nice little media PC for the living room but for now the wallet is looking pretty empty so that will have to wait for a while.