Help with Alienware upgrade.

PaulE

PaulE

PaulE

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Joined
27 Dec 2008
Posts
10
Location
Wirral, North West UK
I currently own an Alienware Area51 750i
intel core2duo 34500 @2.20ghz
nforce 680sli mb.
2gb ram (pc2-6400)
1x nvidia geforce 8600gts

I've got about £500 to spend to update it more for gaming, i'd like to increase ram, and switch to 2x gfx, and possibly processor.

I'll buy all parts from OC, please give me some ideas?
 
You'll get a much better upgrade going for 1 decent gfx card than adding another 8600, if I were you Id look at this

EVGA GeForce GTX 260 "Core 216 55nm" Superclocked 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (896-P3-1257-AR) £221.94 (£192.99)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £149.49 (£129.99)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ) £82.79 (£71.99)

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK) £39.09 (£33.99)

Sub Total : £428.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL @ Home Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.49
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £65.62
Total : £503.07

Ive included a new HDD in there too as I suspect the one you have will be old and slow, prob 5400rpm, based on your other components
 
95thrifles said:
You'll get a much better upgrade going for 1 decent gfx card than adding another 8600, if I were you Id look at this

EVGA GeForce GTX 260 "Core 216 55nm" Superclocked 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (896-P3-1257-AR) £221.94 (£192.99)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £149.49 (£129.99)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ) £82.79 (£71.99)

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK) £39.09 (£33.99)

Sub Total : £428.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL @ Home Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.49
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £65.62
Total : £503.07

Ive included a new HDD in there too as I suspect the one you have will be old and slow, prob 5400rpm, based on your other components
Click to expand...


I'm glad you've included a 1tb HD in that, as that was also on my wishlist.
Do you think the above upgrade would provide a decent boost in gaming capabilities?

also, im presuming the processor you've quoted on will be compatiable with my current mobo?
 
Last edited:
icey_haj said:
Thrifty's spec will blow you away, I promise.
Click to expand...

To be honest, I'll probably end up going for it!
Only have a 32bit windows vista install though, is is REALLY worth the price of upgrading to 64bit for extra just shy of one gig it'll give?
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Indeed. The 8600GTS isn't much of a gaming card in the first place. I'm a bit surprised that Alienware would be selling such kit.
Click to expand...

Alienware peddle any old crap and say it's performance hardware, their customers will believe them and buy it.
 
thepeganator said:
You can use any 32bit key for the 64bit version, OEM or retail whatever, it's fine.

Worth the however much it takes to get the install media.
Click to expand...

& technically, if i download an iso of 64bit vista oem, seen as I own a 32bit OEM license, that's okay isn't it.

Would i definately need to flash bios for that gpu?

I also forgot to mention, im playing on a 42" samsung hdtv.
 
PaulE said:
& technically, if i download an iso of 64bit vista oem, seen as I own a 32bit OEM license, that's okay isn't it.

Would i definately need to flash bios for that gpu?

I also forgot to mention, im playing on a 42" samsung hdtv.
Click to expand...

I know you used to get all the versions of windows xp on msdn avaiable in iso format for download but I don't know if same goes for vista. Maybe try there then you would be all legit.
 
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