General Upgrade Help Please

Robe$h · 3 Oct 2008 at 11:01

Hello there.

It's been over a year since I bought and assembled my PC, mainly for making music on as I have just started a Music Technology course at University.

So this is what I currently have:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)

Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (WD740ADFD)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)

OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)

Lian-Li PC-7A PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Silver

Of course, I have a monitor and keyboard/mouse too.

What do you guy reckon I could upgrade on? Some new RAM? A new CPU maybe? I have been out of the loop for the past year so I really don't know what I should be looking at. I have some money to upgrade my PC with ready for my University course. But you might even think that nothing in my PC needs upgrading yet... I am also thinking of getting rid of the 8800GTS as it never gets used anymore and will replace with something that is less 'high end' But again, I'm not too sure what to replace it with though...

Thanks in advance for the help!

Robe$h · 3 Oct 2008 at 12:12

I'm running Windows XP because this is the most stable OS when running many music related applications. I guess my budget would be around £250-300 but can be stretched if need be.

Thanks again for the help!

Robe$h · 3 Oct 2008 at 17:14

On the side of the box it says my Motherboard is Rev. 2.0

Robe$h · 4 Oct 2008 at 15:29

Hey guys, thanks for all the help!

I guess keeping what I have for the moment is the best option I agree. I have never done any overclocking before so I better go and do a little research first before I go and get stuck in!

Thanks again for the help!

Robe$h · 5 Oct 2008 at 19:17

I'm getting a little confused as to what setting's in my BIOS I need to tweak...

Here is a picture of my current BIOS setting's, sorry about the quality:

It would be greatful if someone could let me know as to what setting's I need to change. I have had a read through the Overclocking Guide but I'm not sure as to what bits I actually need to change in the picture above...

Thanks for the help!

Robe$h · 6 Oct 2008 at 19:58

Thank you for the help!

I'll let you know how I get on...

Robe$h · 6 Jan 2009 at 14:38

Hi guys.

I'm sorry to bring this thread back up to life. I got some money for Christmas and I have decided I do want an upgrade for my PC. I just got a MacBook Pro for all my music needs so this PC will be for games only. The games I will be playing are Microsoft FSX and Crysis. My budget is around £500. I want to keep my Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB but I want to replace my main hard drive, the Western Digital, with something much bigger than 74GB. I would also like a new GFX and maybe a new CPU and more RAM?

this is what I currently have:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (WD740ADFD)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
Lian-Li PC-7A PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Silver

I am running Windows XP SP3 as my operating system.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Robe$h · 6 Jan 2009 at 17:03

I've done a bit of research and have come up with the following spec:

I was just wondering what you guys thought? Should I maybe consider something else, like a cheaper GFX and a different CPU? And would the above GFX/CPU even fit in my current Mobo? And maybe a different Hard Drive instead of the one I've listed above?

Thanks again for the help!

Robe$h · 7 Jan 2009 at 12:01

I'm thinking of getting the Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM instead but I really don't know if it's compatiable with my current Motherboard..? Or should I just stick with the Q6600? Thanks.