Upgrade advice

wirefan · 30 Sep 2008 at 17:51

Current E660 2.4 GHZ DC (Stock levels / stock fan)
Abit IP35 Pro
4 gb (OCZ PC2-8500 modules)
Geforce 8800GTX (Faulty)
OCZ EliteXStream 800w
Samsung 24" Monitor (1600 x 1050)
Windows XP SP2

Obviously need a new GPU, thinking 4870 x2. Any advice on further upgrades?

jak731 · 30 Sep 2008 at 17:53

new cpu cooler like a tuniq tower or thermalright ultra extreme or similar and a overclock on your cpu

wirefan · 30 Sep 2008 at 17:58

OK with that in mind, what am I looking at getting that CPU to a reasonable speed?

3.0ghz?

Also, does XP recognise the increased speed?

Any feedback on the GPU choice options for the res?

jak731 · 30 Sep 2008 at 18:00

for that res a single 4870 will be enough. at 2.4GHz, you are likely to be bottlenecking the card. you should get at least 3.2GHz with ease and more if you tweak the setting a lot more

PwnDirect · 30 Sep 2008 at 18:01

At that res & spec a 4870 would be more cost effective.

And you dont need to change from stock cooling I say overclock to 3ghz then take some temps at idle & load to decide weather you really need to change it.

Yes xp will regonize the speed increase.

richyb_safc · 30 Sep 2008 at 18:03

My e6600 got to 3.2 no problems, you'll need a new cooler though! Id definately be looking towards 3.0-3.2 though.

At that res. most people will suggest a 4870x2 is porbably overkill, I obviously wouldnt agree as I game at that same res. and currently on a 4870x2! I would say if you can then go for it! it'll probably last a while from now! my first build on this pc i skimped on a 640mb gts instead of a gtx, and had to upgrade a lot sooner than I would have had too otherwise!

So yeah, decent cooler, 3.2GHz and a 4870x2 and you're there!

richyb_safc · 30 Sep 2008 at 18:06

just had a look through the other replies, it seems I'm the devil on your shoulder spending your money! my bad

pastymuncher · 30 Sep 2008 at 19:37

An Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro and a ATI 4870 will do you nicely. You should be able to clock to at least 3.2-3.4Ghz.

wirefan · 1 Oct 2008 at 15:10

OK I've gone ahead and bought

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 PCS Extreme 512MB GDDR5
&
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler

Now, anyone want to buy a faulty ZOTAC GeForce 8800GTX AMP! Edition?
Hard crashes in games randomly.

wirefan · 1 Oct 2008 at 15:12

O, and how do I overclock as Im a noob at that.

pastymuncher · 1 Oct 2008 at 16:45

wirefan said:
O, and how do I overclock as Im a noob at that.

Set your fsb to 333 and that should give you 3Ghz. You should'nt need to increase voltage for that. As you increase the fsb you also increase the speed of the ram so you need to set your ram speed to the closest step to it's stock speed, 1066 in your case. Actually it should be 1066 at 333mhz fsb. If it does'nt boot then try increasing the vcore a couple of notches and booting again. Use coretemp/realtemp to keep an eye on temps and Prime95/Orthos small fft's to check stability. Let us know if that works out and we can try for more.

There is a good clocking sticky at the top of the overclocking section with links to useful programs.

wirefan · 1 Oct 2008 at 17:58

Cheers for the advice.

PwnDirect · 1 Oct 2008 at 18:50

wirefan said:
OK I've gone ahead and bought

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 PCS Extreme 512MB GDDR5
&
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler

Now, anyone want to buy a faulty ZOTAC GeForce 8800GTX AMP! Edition?
Hard crashes in games randomly.

Good choices you might want to look into aftermarket cooling for your vga

Is your card still under warrenty send it back as faulty get them to send you a new 1 & sell the new 1