Starkillers next Upgrade

Starkiller

Starkiller

Starkiller

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Joined
6 Jul 2004
Posts
157
Location
Staffs UK
EDIT AUGUST 2010 OLD THREAD REACTIVATED AS A REFERENCE to last upgrade in 2007
read from#18 for August 2010 upgrade
Then come back in 2013 And see if Windows 10 really needs +64GB ram to run properly


Hi

Last weekend I bought MOH airborne and installed it, turns out my AGP X800XTPE soft-moded is not up to the job(pixel shader 3 needed) :(



I was reasonably happy with my PC(July 2004), +3200AMD in a gigabyte GA7NNXP with 1.5GB geil DDRram which was recently re-skinned into Antec900 with Corsair HX620PSU.
my monitor is a Iiyama 19" 454pro


So Im not sure what to do next

1) buy a temp AGP card (x1950pro @ £110ish)
and a wide screen 24" LCD monitor (£300ish)

2) treat myself to real upgrade(early Xmas), something like
Intel Core 2 Quad LGA775 Q6600 GO SLACR 2.40GHz Retail / Abit IP35 Pro / 2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500C5 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit, ThermalRight SI-128 Cooler - Bundle
OR
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz Retail / Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe / 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 TwinX Dual Channel Kit - Bundle
maybe boost ram to 4GB

with a kick ass Graphic card like a 8800ultra or GTX or ATI equivalent x2900???
maybe sneak in a pair of raptors while the wifes not looking
maybe spend £1000-£1500:eek:


BTW I cant just take the game back LOL, I like to be able to play the new COD4 and StarWars Force unleached with good eyecandy

your thoughts and advise are greatfully accepted
 
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How about a nice 20-22inch screen + a Quad Core, 2-4GB of Memory and a GTX?

I am right in thinking that you already have a case (Antect 900) and a PSU (Corsair 620)?

Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit X2
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache X2
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Sound Card - Retail
Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter

Total : £1,331.08
 
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yeah i've just recently upgraded and i would say if your going for an 8800 don't go any lower than 640mb, i've got a 320 mb one and it isn't bad.. but it wasn't as good as i had expected, and getting a higher gfx memory is more future proof for games yet to come.
i'm not sure whats more expensive 2x raptor or a cheap scsi drive but its all up to you, if i was going to do that i'd just use the drive for the operating system + games and keep regular backups of that drive, and have a storage drive.
have you ever thought of dual monitors or widescreen? with that setup could be quite nice widescreen.
 
stickroad said:
How about a nice 20-22inch screen + a Quad Core, 2-4GB of Memory and a GTX?

I am right in thinking that you already have a case (Antect 900) and a PSU (Corsair 620)?

Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit X2
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache X2
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Sound Card - Retail
Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter

Total : £1,331.08
Click to expand...
Yes I have the case & PSU
Sorry forgot to say I also have a Pioneer DVD-R, X-FI & 2xWD160GB SATAs raided (plus 3 USB caddies[500/400/250] for media back up)
using XP pro SP2

so you reckon is better to go for the big upgrade now rather that later and waste £ on a temp card till after xmas?

do you rate the Intel CPU over the AMD
I think 4GB ram is the way to go, thou to me actual performance increase for memory always seams low, G/Cards all seam to give biggest improvements, hence my thoughts to spend big here.

I'd like to go 24" (1920 x 1200) on the monitor for films and games
 
no real point getting a temp card, have a look at the Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP-HC 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey, the 8800gtx spec'd will be ok for it.

definately go for the intel over amd.

add the screen mentioned to any other bits you need from stickroad's thread.
 
Many thanks for your advise so far

now im looking at:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM 2 off (£150.38)
Am I right in thinking these arent much slower that the Raptors?
and loads bigger/quiter

Intel Core 2 Quad LGA775 Q6600 GO SLACR 2.40GHz Retail / Abit IP35 Pro / 2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500C5 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit, ThermalRight SI-128 Cooler - (£448.78)
Wasnt sure which cooler was the best here SI-128 or Tuniq Tower 120 ?

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz (£99.86)
extra ram on sale, rude not too:D

OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - OEM (£291.39)
Can this one be OC to near Ultra speeds? / would I need a extra cooler?

Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP-HC 24" Widescreen (£446.49)
How does this compare to the much cheaper Samsung 24"?

Total : £1,436.90 if i collect ;)
 
from what i've seen mentioned the 8800GTX coolers seem to be pretty good, run it and see if you think it needs replacing.

The Dell 24" monitors seem to be well liked form posts i've, never had the opportunity to test it against the samsung, so i would say go with whichever suits you're budget best.

Go for the tuniq 120, again well liked around here.

yup the 500gb AAKS drives are said to be nigh on as quick as the raptors and quieter.
 
Just out of interest I did the 3dmark2006(I know i was going to be low)
3DMark Score 2036 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 1106 Marks
SM 3.0 Score N/A
CPU Score 738 Marks
1 - Return to Proxycon 8.331 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 10.108 FPS

CPU1 - Red Valley 0.234 FPS No FPS more like seconds per frame here (SPF)
CPU2 - Red Valley 0.372 FPS
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) Not Supported
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) Not Supported

Im going shopping this morning so ill post the improvement later

only other thing om not sure on is the OS whether to stick with XPSP2 or go to Vista64
 
I finally bought
Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP-HC 24
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB
Intel Core 2 Quad LGA775 Q6600 GO SLACR 2.40GHz Retail / Abit IP35 Pro / 4GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500C5 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit, with Tuniq Tower (Damm its big):D
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS x 2

manged to get time on sunday to built it, so far so good

Installing XP looks like a pain due to having to make a Raid driver disc on a floppy(whats a floppy disc?:confused:) . Is there an easier way?

Is there a solution for gameport on the IP35, my MS sidewinder needs gameport not USB.(my X-fi doest have one either)
 
Starkiller said:
I finally bought
Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP-HC 24
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB
Intel Core 2 Quad LGA775 Q6600 GO SLACR 2.40GHz Retail / Abit IP35 Pro / 4GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500C5 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit, with Tuniq Tower (Damm its big):D
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS x 2

manged to get time on sunday to built it, so far so good

Installing XP looks like a pain due to having to make a Raid driver disc on a floppy(whats a floppy disc?:confused:) . Is there an easier way?

Is there a solution for gameport on the IP35, my MS sidewinder needs gameport not USB.(my X-fi doest have one either)
Click to expand...

Might want to consider a 64bit OS if you dont have one already, considering the 4gb of ram you've got there :).
 
ok systems built and just tested with 3dmark06 no OC yet

3DMark Score 11916 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4932 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4989 Marks
CPU Score 3902 Marks

1 - Return to Proxycon 40.969 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 41.222 FPS
CPU1 - Red Valley 1.298 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 1.877 FPS
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 47.546 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 52.23 FPS

good upgrade me thinks :D & OC still to go

im not sure on vista64 yet. still considering it tho
 
Ive now OC a little

9x350 with 1.31v and GTX 600/900

3DMark Score 13132 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 5338 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 5270 Marks
CPU Score 4980 Marks

1 - Return to Proxycon 44.265 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 44.7 FPS
CPU1 - Red Valley 1.65 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 2.405 FPS
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 49.114 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 56.291 FPS

could go further, but no need....yet :D
 
Is your signature not incorrect? E6600 = dual core. Q6600 = quad core.

I thought you were having a laugh when I read the first post, but then realised the date posted.

:)
 
Hi again
Just ordered an upgrade to keep it rolling a bit longer
Gainward GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
OCZ Gold Edition 2x4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel (OCZ2G10664GK)
2x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA-II 64MB
and a OCZ RevoDrive 120 GB( hopefully with a geen sticker lol)
will risk installing win7 64 from a happy XP-SP3
 
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