Page 1 of Can you just swap out a sandybridge?

Just upgraded my ram for some snazzy Corsairs, but the rest of my specs are beginning to look a little dated. I'm looking at SRL's CYRI checklist for Watch Dogs. Ram's now ok, but aside from the GFX card being borderline, my processor is starting to lack.

I've currently got an 15-2400 sandy bridge, which in physical terms, is just a chip sitting on a motherboard. If I was in the mood to, could I simply swap that for an i7 and the rest of the soft/hardware would accept it as is, or would re-installation be necessary?

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This item was edited on Friday, 11th July 2014, 20:19

As long as your motherboard supports the new CPU, you shouldn't need to do anything.

Reinstallation is only necessary for a CPU upgrade if you are going from 32bit to 64bit (or vice versa).

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Already at 64, and I'm sure my Foxconn can take up to an i7

Just need to convince the missus to let me get one...

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Writer`s Release

You can swap it out for an i7 that matches the socket, which for an i5 2400 is LGA1155. So, for example, you couldn't use one of the newer Ivy Bridge-E or Haswell i7s (which use sockets 2011 and 1150 respectively).

However, unless you're doing a lot of heavily threaded work like encoding/encryption then there is little benefit of an i7 over an i5. For gaming, an i5 is perfect and the 2400 should still have plenty of life left in it.

A new video card would give you a much bigger increase in gaming performance. For 1080p, a 280x would be a good choice (and comes with free games). For example:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-msi-radeon-r9-280x-gaming-3g-twin-frozr-oc-28nm-6000mhz-gddr5-gpu-1000mhz-boost-1050mhz-2048-str

Not enough DVI-I outputs

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Writer`s Release

Hmm, well I'm not sure how many cards offer 2x DVI-I specifically. There are several 280x models (Asus, XFX, Sapphire and Powercolor) with 2x DVI but they tend to offer 1x DVI-I and 1x DVI-D.

Alternatively you could go the Nvidia route. The GTX770 is the direct competitor to the 280x and from what I can tell most of them have 2x DVI ports, including the MSI (£227 at Scan). Again, they tend to be a combination of DVI-I and D ports.

Is 2x DVI-I essential?

Some other things to note:

Make sure there is enough room in your case to fit them. I recently got an EVGA GTX770 and it fit with less them a centimeter to spare (I was not expecting this and almost died when I started to fit it lol).

Also, make sure your PSU has enough PCI-E power connectors for the job (you'll likely need at least a 6+8 pin connector, or maybe an 8+8 pin for some models). Cards often come with adapters to convert molex connectors into PCI-E power connectors, but from what I've read these are not recommended.

Also, make sure your PSU has enough amps on the 12v rail.

This item was edited on Saturday, 12th July 2014, 18:35

Quote:
Gareth Williams says...
"Is 2x DVI-I essential?"Yep, two monitors both VGA but I have the necessary adaptors

Quote:
Gareth Williams says...
"Make sure there is enough room in your case to fit them. "
I've got a boxy HD5770 and there's enough room either side for another one at leastQuote:
Gareth Williams says...
"Also, make sure your PSU has enough PCI-E power connectors for the job"
Modular PSU, I've got a myriad of extra cables I can swap around as I need them

Happy to say I deffo had the future in mind when i put this one together






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Writer`s Release

HDMI to DVI adapter? :) I currently drive two monitors on my desktop using that method.


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