PC upgrade help - MotherBoard and CPU
 

Over the past year I have been slowly upgrading all the parts in my PC, trying to keep it up to date with the times/modern games. I started off with 0 knowledge on PC hardware, and still have a fairly limited knowledge.
It's at the point now where i think a CPU and motherboard change are needed, but i have no clue about either..

For my CPU i want to upgrade from my Intel Core i5 650 @ 3.2GHz, up to an i& of some description. What i'm unclear on in this regard is the different between the different models of i7, and if the additional x money for a higher end one is actually worth it.

as for the motherboard.. i don't even know what mine is. It's from some crappy old Dell. I think the board goes by Dell Studio XPS 8100 G3HR7

any help and recommendations would be greatly appreciated

actually dude, this is who you should talk to; http://trisphee.com/forums/member.php?u=4331 i ask him all my comp questions XD

My one question before I give any recommendations: Is it a laptop or a desktop (i.e. tower)?

I'd rather not go bother someone i don't know xD

It's a Desktop/tower

Hmmm.....wanting more to keep up with what games require now? Or get a bit ahead?

i jsut want a solid upgrade on what i have now. nothing to expensive, but a worthwhile upgrade that will keep me able to play the new games at a decent level.

All right, for the processor, these are some of the better Intel ones I've found with an i7 and an i5. Should be an okay upgrade with those two being what I've seen to be good.

The motherboard.....that will be a bit trickier. Here's an ASUS one. Here's another from MSi. Those two are on the lighter side of price, but if you want something heavier, there's one or two others I can think of.

If you're buying a motherboard you're getting really close to being better off buying a new machine.

I'm also uncertain that an upgrade from that particular i5 is even worthwhile -- that is a solid CPU that should give you AT LEAST another year of useful performance before it starts feeling too slow.

Upgrading a motherboard provides very little benefit on its own. The motherboard mostly only provides an interconnection between the components of your system as well as some baseline functionality that doesn't really change from mobo to mobo. (Most motherboards provide roughly equivalent audio, networking, and USB.) The only reason you'd want to upgrade your motherboard is if you get a new CPU that doesn't fit in the old motherboard's socket -- try looking for a CPU that fits the socket you have.

And even then you won't gain much from a motherboard update if you're not also upgrading your RAM, because newer motherboards benefit most from faster RAM. (If you're particularly unlucky your existing slower RAM won't even WORK on the board.)

Meanwhile, new computers these days are getting CHEAP. You may well be able to find a complete new computer for not much more than just the parts you're looking at upgrading.

this PC is partially a learning course for me, and i want to upgrade every part within it and teach myself about them along the way. even if an entire new PC is a better and cheaper idea that is not the direction i want to go.

I have recently upgraded my RAM to 16gb of 1666mhz stuff, and would also like to try out SLI with GPUS, which requires my mobo having an extra PCI-e slot. I would also like to have USB3 support, to make the USB3 ports in my case have a use.

As well as gaming, I actually run a Minecraft server of my PC which can quite often max out my CPU.

Okay, then your goal is to find a motherboard that supports 1666MHz RAM, enough PCIe slots, and USB3. Once you've found that, THEN go look for a CPU that you like that fits the socket on that board.

Edit: Newegg has a good search function that should make this easy enough.

When finding a CPU that is compatible with a board is it as simple as if it fits the socket it will work?

That and AMD vs. Intel (since I don't know if they use the same sockets these days or not) should be all you need to match.

i5 is a good cpu, unless its an original from 2009 you should be looking more at upgrading the graphics card, which i presume should be pci-E ( PCI express); If you graphics are integrated into the board you can still override it and install a newer card as long as your mobo and power supply can support it. A GIG or more of graphics memory goes a long way more than just CPU power. The GPU and its memory are where the math behindsthe renderings take place.