I've not upgraded my desktop hardware for nearly seven years, so it's time for some new kit. To know how much extra bang for my buck I'm getting, I want to do a direct comparison between my current hardware and my new hardware, with the new kit running at stock speeds and also overclocked.
Current Hardware
My current hardware looks like this:
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
|---|---|
| Cooler | Stock |
| RAM | Corsair 4GB DDR2 800MHz |
| Motherboard | ASUS P5KC ATX |
| Graphics | Inno3D GeForce 9500GT 1GB GDDR2 |
Benchmark
I used GeekBench to profile CPU performance and GpuTest for graphics, downloadable here:
http://www.primatelabs.com/geekbench/download
http://www.geeks3d.com/gputest/download/
I ran GeekBench three times to make sure the results were consistent:
| Run | Single-Core Score | Multi-Core Score | Full Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1272 | 3242 | http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/2019865 |
| 2nd | 1280 | 3244 | http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/2019892 |
| 3rd | 1317 | 3244 | http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/2019918 |
I ran each of the GpuTest fullscreen benchmark scripts, a couple couldn't run, the results of the ones which could are as follows:
| Module | Points | FPS |
|---|---|---|
| Triangle | 20371 | 339 |
| Plot3D | 2127 | 35 |
| FurMark | 141 | 2 |
| PixMark Volplosion | 54 | 0 |
Buy Stuff!
Now I'm thoroughly disgusted at the performance of my current rig it's time to buy some new stuff. I don't have stacks of cash to throw at this upgrade so I want to maximize performance per pound, easily overclock, and have further upgrade options in the future.
My new hardware will look like this:
| CPU | Intel Pentium Processor G3258 | £47.57 |
|---|---|---|
| Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO | £25.50 |
| RAM | HyperX FURY Series 8GB DDR3 1866MHz | £52.99 |
| Motherboard | ASRock Z97 Anniversary | £54.00 |
| Graphics | Integrated Intel HD Graphics | n/a |
| Total | £180.06 | |
Not a bad price if this upgrade lasts another seven years.
There are some great prices on G3258 bundles out there, with the CPU already overclocked and ready to go, but they weren’t quite what I wanted, and I fancied clocking this myself. Some bundles I looked at are:
eclipsecomputers.com
dabs.com
overclockers.co.uk
