Advice on cheap upgrade

PikeyPriest

PikeyPriest

PikeyPriest

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21 Jun 2004
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Hi, i recently purchased Diablo 3 and portal 2, both of which just about run on minimum detail, but get graphics errors after about 15 minutes causing the PC to crash. My current PC is:

Asus P5W DH delux
Core 2 duo @ 2.9ghz
2gb ram
ATi X1900 (latest drivers)

My feeling is that the graphics card is holding the system back and if i swapped to

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-154-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411 , i would be able to play the games.

Few questions though, would the above card work in a PCIe 16x 2.0 slot? I do have a 2nd 6 slot power connector for the card, so that shouldnt be a problem.

Is it worth getting another 2gb of ram?

Thanks for any advice

*edit* With DDR 2 can i mix different manufacturers as long as the speeds are the same? Also, do modules have to be the same size? IE 4x 1gb, or would 2x1gb and 2x2gb for 6gb work?
 
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is there a specific reason you've gone for that card ?, yes it will run ok in the pcie 2.0 slot.

upgrading from what you have to something like a ati 6870 or nvidia 560/560ti would give you a decent upgrade.

what make/model/wattage psu do you have at the moment.

main thing with memory is matching the voltage requirements and making your the memory timings suit all the memory, useful if you can get the same manufacturer but not necessary.

as for module size they don't need to match, just remember if they don't you wont run dual channel, but i've never really noticed any advantage with it.

and yes i'd look to have the system run 4gb if you can afford it.
 
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mp260767 said:
is there a specific reason you've gone for that card ?, yes it will run ok in the pcie 2.0 slot.

upgrading from what you have to something like a ati 6870 or nvidia 560/560ti would give you a decent upgrade.

what make/model/wattage psu do you have at the moment.

main thing with memory is matching the voltage requirements and making your the memory timings suit all the memory, useful if you can get the same manufacturer but not necessary.

as for module size they don't need to match, just remember if they don't you wont run dual channel, but i've never really noticed any advantage with it.

and yes i'd look to have the system run 4gb if you can afford it.
Click to expand...

No particular reason I went for that card, from review it seems to run fairly cool and OC's well, thats all. I`ll have a look at other cards.

PSU is a energymax liberty 500 or 620W.

Current G. skill ram is:
1gb x2 - 800 - 5 5 5 14, Ram i was looking at was 800 - 5 5 5 15. Which I didnt think would cause an issue as the Gskill could have its timing slowed slightly if there was a problem.
 
PikeyPriest said:
No particular reason I went for that card, from review it seems to run fairly cool and OC's well, thats all. I`ll have a look at other cards.

PSU is a energymax liberty 500 or 620W.

Current G. skill ram is:
1gb x2 - 800 - 5 5 5 14, Ram i was looking at was 800 - 5 5 5 15. Which I didnt think would cause an issue as the Gskill could have its timing slowed slightly if there was a problem.
Click to expand...

fair enough on the card.

double check the psu, and the amps on the 12v rails, any idea how old is it ?

should be fine, might be worth setting the timings manually in the bios to the 5/5/5/15 rather than leaving them on auto, just something i've always done when mixing memory, could just be me being over cautious :).
 
I think the 7850 would be a great upgrade for the gfx but you will never be able run it at 100% with 2gb ddr2 :\ what is the maximum you are willing to spend ?
 
PSU is 5 years old.

From reading online i can find that

+12V1 & +12V2 give 32A (384W) - from a japanese website with table in english. *edit* - looks like they are 22A max each or 32A max total.

Thanks for the advice about voltage, I`ll go for crucial that is also 1.8 then instead of the kingston that was 2.1V

*Edit* from reviews it seems the max draw is only about 160 watts, so should be fine IMO. Rest of the PC only has 2x Hdd and 2x 120mm fans.
 
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Thanks for the advice

With 4 gb of ram and the 7850 D3 runs smooth on max settings, no slowdown. Windows is much more responsive aswell.

Very happy with the upgrade :D
 
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