[bwfc0907]

Hi
Just want your thoughts. My current PC is i7-950, 6gb Ram, GTX570.

I use for storing my iTunes (iTunes match & Apple Tv, gaming (battlefield 3, FIFA, CIV 5, F1 2011), converting videos, excel & word (studying). This machine is used as a server and Ethernet is hardwired.

I have a little cash, enough to buy an iMac (whether I wait to see if a new version materialises is a seperate matter).

My choices though are
1) buy the iMac & sell off my PC & use it as I do above with boot camp. Would cost approx £1k after sell off.
2) upgrade my current PC to i7-3770k, 16gb ram, GRX670, 256gB SSD. Would cost approx £600 after sell off.

Most of my machines are apple around the house & I find the cloud, pages & numbers excellent. We have 1 appleTV, 2 iPads, 1 MacBook air, 2 iPhones.

Can I have your thoughts on
1) which makes more sense
2) if upgrade is an SSD worth it?
3) do the upgrade specs look ok. Would be looking to future proof & with the motherboard is a reasonable budget.

Cheers

[nonumb]

Originally Posted by bwfc0907

Hi
Just want your thoughts. My current PC is i7-950, 6gb Ram, GTX570.

I use for storing my iTunes (iTunes match & Apple Tv, gaming (battlefield 3, FIFA, CIV 5, F1 2011), converting videos, excel & word (studying). This machine is used as a server and Ethernet is hardwired.

I have a little cash, enough to buy an iMac (whether I wait to see if a new version materialises is a seperate matter).

My choices though are
1) buy the iMac & sell off my PC & use it as I do above with boot camp. Would cost approx £1k after sell off.
2) upgrade my current PC to i7-3770k, 16gb ram, GRX670, 256gB SSD. Would cost approx £600 after sell off.

Most of my machines are apple around the house & I find the cloud, pages & numbers excellent. We have 1 appleTV, 2 iPads, 1 MacBook air, 2 iPhones.

Can I have your thoughts on
1) which makes more sense
2) if upgrade is an SSD worth it?
3) do the upgrade specs look ok. Would be looking to future proof & with the motherboard is a reasonable budget.

Cheers

What are you hoping to get out of it if you do upgrade? I'd suggest that a ssd is all you need and a new graphics card in time for new games. Your pc is not low spec and I'd say it should do most things as well if not better than an imac so don't get why you want to change?

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by bwfc0907

Can I have your thoughts on
1) which makes more sense

For a gaming machine certainly not the iMac, it makes little sense spending a grand to downgrade from a GTX 570 to something with performance between the GTX 550Ti and GTX 560. The faster CPU will help compensate in some games so your overall performance probably wouldn't drop but it certainly wouldn't be a 1k upgrade there.

2) Given how cheap they are compared to the numbers you're looking at definitely.

3) Do you particularly need to upgrade at the moment? Your current system is no slouch and the main feature you'd want that you couldn't add through PCI-E cards is Intel Quick sync for faster medium quality video conversion. Are all the external components sorted? You could get a nice 2560x1440 monitor or iMac or better quality instead of upgrading your current system, or a triple screen setup.

[bwfc0907]

Originally Posted by nonumb

What are you hoping to get out of it if you do upgrade? I'd suggest that a ssd is all you need and a new graphics card in time for new games. Your pc is not low spec and I'd say it should do most things as well if not better than an imac so don't get why you want to change?

It's simply the fact that I have the money now that I know I won't have in a couple of years I therefore wondered about improving or getting the iMac whilst opportunity presents itself.

[bwfc0907]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

3) Do you particularly need to upgrade at the moment? Your current system is no slouch and the main feature you'd want that you couldn't add through PCI-E cards is Intel Quick sync for faster medium quality video conversion. Are all the external components sorted? You could get a nice 2560x1440 monitor or iMac or better quality instead of upgrading your current system, or a triple screen setup.

It's an aside but are the new MacBook Pro able to play games at high resolution & high settings if the iMac struggles.

As I have said there is an opportunity at the mo & want to make a decision, maybe a MacBook Pro would be a solution?

[nonumb]

Stick the money in a savings account and buy in a year or so? easier said than done but ssd prices are dropping all the time and I'd imagine the equivalent upgrades will be a similar price.

Upgraditis is a bad thing but having the money when you know you won't later and not needing an upgrade seems a little silly to me.

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by bwfc0907

It's an aside but are the new MacBook Pro able to play games at high resolution & high settings if the iMac struggles.

As I have said there is an opportunity at the mo & want to make a decision, maybe a MacBook Pro would be a solution?

The GT 650M is weaker than the Radeon 6970M.

If you want gaming on a high resolution screen then you're looking at a desktop. A high end gaming laptop with two GPUs may have the grunt but as far as I know they all have medium resolution 1920x1080 screens.

[goodvino]

An imac is no substitute to a PC. You will be able to do no more on an imac than with your ipad. Games on a mac are usually more expensive, and most wont work at all. You will have issues with various bits of hardware, the latest graphics card/processor wont be compatible until its about a year out of date and it will be twice as expensive, the same software that would be free for a pc user comes at a premium on a mac. The OS will be out of date within two years and then new software wont work until you upgrade. On top of that it will never be half as powerful as the latest PC.

[bwfc0907]

I've decided to upgrade my PC & sell on my current parts.