Best Parts for use with 8800GTS?

twoodster · 8 Dec 2006 at 10:52

Hey

Need a bit of help! I bought a Gainward 8800GTS the other day - but it seems my current processor is holding it back rather a lot (Athlon 64 3500+) . Only got a score of 5000 odd in 3D Mark 06 for example, and general game performance isn't that great either.

I'm just wondering what my best option would be regarding a new motherboard (can only go up to a 3800+ I think with my A8N Sli Deluxe) and processor? Ideally one that likes Corsair ram because I don't fancy buying that too I'm not made of money though unfortunately, so would probably have to be a good balance between price and performance! Thanks!

Tom

Lolcb · 8 Dec 2006 at 11:07

Asus P5B/ Asus P5W

semi-pro waster · 8 Dec 2006 at 11:08

Welcome to the forums, since you have DDR Ram then I think your only real choice is to go for an ASRock Dual VSTA motherboard, it supports PCI-E and AGP but more importantly for you it is one of the few that supports DDR (as well as DDR2). I'd then go for a Core 2 Duo 6300 and a good cooler and overclock it a bit, the CPU will be about £110, cooler is around £16 for an Arctic Freezer 7 and the motherboard is normally around £40 but I don't think that OcUK sell it.

twoodster · 8 Dec 2006 at 11:39

How about the Core 2 Duo E6600? Is that a good'un? I can probably stretch to about £300-350 all in.

Rab · 8 Dec 2006 at 11:51

twoodster said:
How about the Core 2 Duo E6600? Is that a good'un? I can probably stretch to about £300-350 all in.

with that u gonna need new mobo/ram as well.
what kinda psu u got as the 8800 heavy on power, poss that it that is holding u bak

twoodster · 8 Dec 2006 at 11:56

Rab said:
with that u gonna need new mobo/ram as well.
what kinda psu u got as the 8800 heavy on power, poss that it that is holding u bak

Well I was hoping the ram that I have would be ok (Crucial TWINX2048-3200C2PT)

As for the PSU, its a HEC-550TD-PTE 550w jobby.

Rab · 8 Dec 2006 at 14:49

from card description
"Finally 500W minimum for PSU and 600W+ is recommended."

b a good chance then that could b u prob, cant c a 3500+ holding u bak as much as u say, seems more like a power issue

twoodster · 8 Dec 2006 at 15:48

Rab: From what I've read 550w should be fine for the card. Don't think that's the problem.

I've just found out I can go up to a AMD Dual Core 4800 X2 with my current motherboard (A8N SLI Deluxe). Didn't know that. Would that be a good option? Would there be a big performance difference between that and an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600?