Hey, I've pretty much upgraded everything in my computer to the best my motherboard can handle, but that's not enough any more. That and I want to have the ability to upgrade the other bits and pieces in my computer to keep up with new games and the likes. So, I need a new motherboard.

As it is my specs look like this:

ASRock H55M-LE motherboard (with American Megatrends Inc. P1.80 BIOS)
Intel Core i7 870 CPU 2.93GHz Quadcore
GeForce GT 430 graphics card (this would be my next upgrade, after the motherboard is done)
8GM DDR3 RAM (2 4GB cards)

Attempts to use a better graphics card have failed, so I've had to drop back to the second best card the motherboard is supposed to be able to handle. I've got plenty of power leftover from an 450W supply too.

Any recommendations for what I should buy? I'm on a fairly limited budget, but I'm in no rush to buy so I can save up for a bit if need be, and I'm more than willing to spend money on my computer.

 

The real problem here are processor sockets.

The processor you have right now is 1156, which is a bit old. New motherboards are going to be for the Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge 1155 or the new Ivy Bridge 2011 sockets.

So if you want to upgrade your motherboard, you're going to have to buy a new processor as well too, because your current processor won't fit into a new mobo.

The alternative is to buy a higher quality 1156 motherboard to go with your current processor, but this is like throwing money down the drain. When you want to upgrade processor, you'll have to buy a new motherboard all over again.

(Edit: also, this probably should have been in PC Discussion).

 

Oops. Noticed a couple of computer build threads in here, forgot about the other forum.

---------- Post automerged at 08:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 PM ----------

And if that's the case I can always sell off my current processor to fund the new one. I've got a spare, older, one around here somewhere.

 

So what cards have failed to work? I don't really see how that is the best card your motherboard can run. And I think you can put a pci express 2.1 card in a 2.0 slot and still have it work.

 

your processor/motherboard is fine. It's 'worse' than a more recent intel cpu like the i5 2500, but the difference in games is less than 10% fps (and that's in games where you aren't fps capped by the graphics card anyway)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/107?vs=288

Upgrade graphics card and save your money.

Please elaborate, include PSU model and what gfx card you tried to upgrade to.

---------- Post automerged at 11:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 AM ----------

ebwop:

Also, you can't 'just' buy a new motherboard - you have to buy a new CPU and motherboard at the same time. If you want a setup that is undoubtedly better than what you've currently got, that'll set you back ~300 USD (no idea what that is in UK funbux)