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#3171381 - 01/04/11 04:58 AM New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0?
U-96 Data? Rewind tape... Hotshot Registered: 05/15/00 Posts: 6942 Loc: Oxford, United Kingdom	Hi guys, a new build may well be on the cards this year (unless anyone can suggest a cheap life-extending boost for an AMD X2 5600+ and ATI 4670 system) Would it be worth waiting for UEFI and USB3.0 native motherboards? I like the benefits these bring but is it worth holding back until these boards fall in the mass market price (e.g. sub $100). My current system is certainly creaking with games like BFBC2, and I have to do a lot of backups to external drives for photos, etc, which seems to take forever...
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#3171601 - 01/04/11 09:55 AM Re: New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0? [Re: U-96]
NoUseForAName Hotshot Registered: 11/02/04 Posts: 5303 Loc: Colorado	There are many mobo's for sub-$100 that have USB3. UEFI has already come, and faded away due to lack of industry support. It's not a 'must' and is just hype until it's a standard and companies support it better (which who knows how long that will be). Here's a 2009 article on UEFI on Tom's: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-uefi-firmware,2486-3.html What's your budget? What types of games do you usually play? What are the details of your current system so we can see if it's still worth upgrading? Edited by NoUseForAName (01/04/11 09:58 AM) _________________________ "No bucks, no Buck Rogers" Case: CoolerMaster HAF-922 MoBo: ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 PSU: XFX Black Edition 750w CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 965 3.4GHz OC'd -> 3.9GHz RAM: 12GB Mushkin Blackline DDR3 1333/1600 GPU: Palit GTX 560 Ti 2GB Display: Asus 25.5" @ 1920x1200 OS: Win7 Pro 64bit Audio: On-board AC'97 w/ Sony 5.1 surround
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#3171642 - 01/04/11 11:03 AM Re: New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0? [Re: U-96]
speedbump Hotshot Registered: 11/23/05 Posts: 6321 Loc: Edgewood TX	I have a 2Tb Seagate USB 3 drive and my mobo has a USB 3.0 card in it and it's way faster than USB 2. I would say at least twice as fast. _________________________ MSI P55-GD65 with i5-750 @ 4.0Ghz vcore 1.370 Xigmatek Balder HS/2 120mm fans, Antec EW PSU EA750 750W GSKILL Ripjaws 2x4Gb DDR3 1333 One 2Tb Seagate LP, two 1.5Tb LP Seagates Gigabyte GTX 460 1Gb OC to within an inch of it's life Lite-On 24X DVD burner, LG 12X Blu-Ray burner COOLER MASTER Storm Scout Win 7 Pro 64 Lots of fans spinning with little LED lights blinking www.razzledazzleart.com http://texascbx.blogspot.com/
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#3171846 - 01/04/11 03:55 PM Re: New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0? [Re: U-96]
U-96 Data? Rewind tape... Hotshot Registered: 05/15/00 Posts: 6942 Loc: Oxford, United Kingdom	Thanks guys, I was getting the impression that UEFI had died a death - shame, it seemed nice, especially for tweakers and big drives. Current system is AMD X2 5600+ MSI board 2MB DDR2 RAM ATI Radeon 4670 1GB Win 7 Home x64 Windows Experience score is 5.5 I tend to play LOTRO, BFBC2, Empire Total War... after over two years with this rig I'm finally finding I'm having to compromise on visuals for performance (although Win 7 bought me a year's grace on performance). I also have to chuck a lot of files around (several thousand RAW files), so file transfer is a big consideration. I had considered a eSATA docking station, but maybe USB 3 makes more sense for a new build.
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#3171956 - 01/04/11 06:51 PM Re: New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0? [Re: U-96]
vocatx Member Registered: 03/29/06 Posts: 1745 Loc: Voca, Texas	I'm far from an expert, but were I you I think I would drop a quad-core in (assuming your mobo supports quads) and upgrade to a 5850 or 5870 video card. I'll bet just the card would be a big gain. I recently went from an X1950XTX to a 5850 and you can't believe the performance I gained. I run Rise of Flight at 1680x1050 with almost all settings maxed out. You can see my specs in my sig... _________________________ 4H_V-man NEW System Specs: MSI 870 A-G54 AMD X4 Phenom II @ 3.4 ghz 8 Gb DDR3 1333 RAM 1 Tb Western Digital 250 Gb Western Digital 320 Gb Seagate Radeon XFX 5850 graphics Thermaltake 650 Modualar power supply Thermaltake Element V full tower
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#3172303 - 01/05/11 09:22 AM Re: New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0? [Re: U-96]
NoUseForAName Hotshot Registered: 11/02/04 Posts: 5303 Loc: Colorado	Originally Posted By: U-96 Thanks guys, I was getting the impression that UEFI had died a death - shame, it seemed nice, especially for tweakers and big drives. Current system is AMD X2 5600+ MSI board 2MB DDR2 RAM ATI Radeon 4670 1GB Win 7 Home x64 Windows Experience score is 5.5 I tend to play LOTRO, BFBC2, Empire Total War... after over two years with this rig I'm finally finding I'm having to compromise on visuals for performance (although Win 7 bought me a year's grace on performance). I also have to chuck a lot of files around (several thousand RAW files), so file transfer is a big consideration. I had considered a eSATA docking station, but maybe USB 3 makes more sense for a new build. If you don't want to spend the money for a new system you could upgrade your CPU, RAM, and/or GPU to buy a little more time. Also, an SSD or fast HDD would also help some. Really you have quite a few options that you could take, so it's really whatever is easiest for you. Just make sure your current mobo will support any new upgrades _________________________ "No bucks, no Buck Rogers" Case: CoolerMaster HAF-922 MoBo: ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 PSU: XFX Black Edition 750w CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 965 3.4GHz OC'd -> 3.9GHz RAM: 12GB Mushkin Blackline DDR3 1333/1600 GPU: Palit GTX 560 Ti 2GB Display: Asus 25.5" @ 1920x1200 OS: Win7 Pro 64bit Audio: On-board AC'97 w/ Sony 5.1 surround
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#3172319 - 01/05/11 09:38 AM Re: New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0? [Re: U-96]
speedbump Hotshot Registered: 11/23/05 Posts: 6321 Loc: Edgewood TX	Yes, put all your money in a video card and leave the rest. Get a 570 or AMD card. Those 570s will be 300 bucks soon enough. I already see them for less than 350. _________________________ MSI P55-GD65 with i5-750 @ 4.0Ghz vcore 1.370 Xigmatek Balder HS/2 120mm fans, Antec EW PSU EA750 750W GSKILL Ripjaws 2x4Gb DDR3 1333 One 2Tb Seagate LP, two 1.5Tb LP Seagates Gigabyte GTX 460 1Gb OC to within an inch of it's life Lite-On 24X DVD burner, LG 12X Blu-Ray burner COOLER MASTER Storm Scout Win 7 Pro 64 Lots of fans spinning with little LED lights blinking www.razzledazzleart.com http://texascbx.blogspot.com/
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#3172444 - 01/05/11 11:53 AM Re: New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0? [Re: vocatx]
JAMF Frugalite & P-38 fan Senior Member Registered: 05/29/10 Posts: 2776 Loc: The Netherlands	Originally Posted By: vocatx I'm far from an expert, but were I you I think I would drop a quad-core in (assuming your mobo supports quads) and upgrade to a 5850 or 5870 video card. With the 6950 priced the same as the 5870, get the 6950 instead.
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#3172592 - 01/05/11 02:44 PM Re: New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0? [Re: U-96]
Allen Senior Member Registered: 10/13/99 Posts: 4748 Loc: Ohio USA	FWIW, Newegg has a Sapphire HD5870 1GB for $202 delivered -- after discount codes and rebate coupon -- only until end of day Jan 5. Two in Crossfire would be hard to beat -- would need two HD6970 or two GTX580 to beat it by a little (much more expensive solutions). That one has been on sale as low as $215 recently. So, it may be in the very low $200 range again -- if they don't sell them all. _________________________ ATI Sapphire HD7970 OC - Eyefinity 5760x1200 24", 1xDell-U2410 H-IPS + 2xHP-ZR24w S-IPS, Extended 23" Samsung cPVA, Ceton InfiniTV 4, Bulldozer FX8150@4.5GHz w/Swiftech Water Cooling, 16GB GSKILL PC3 @1866, ASUS Sabertooth 990FX, Corsair 120GB SSD, WDigital + 3x Seagate + Hitachi + 2x WD Ext = 10.0TB, Sony DVD, OCZ ZX 850W PSU, CoolerMaster HAF922, TM Warthog HOTAS, TM T-Flight Stick X, TM Cougar+FSSB & CH Pedals, Saitek X52 Pro & Pro Combat Pedals, TrackIR5 w/TC Pro, Windows 7 HP 64b
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#3172872 - 01/06/11 04:05 AM Re: New build: worth waiting for UEFI/USB3.0? [Re: U-96]
U-96 Data? Rewind tape... Hotshot Registered: 05/15/00 Posts: 6942 Loc: Oxford, United Kingdom	well I just dropped for a 6950, a USB3.0 card with a 1TB external 3.0 drive, and 2x2GB 800MHz RAM. That should keep me content for a while, and I can carry the gfx card and storage over to the next system... thanks for all the advice folks.
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