Help with PSU/Card and RAM

B&W

B&W

B&W

Soldato
Joined
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Posts
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Location
Birmingham
Guys what im looking for is to upgrade my system into a really good gaming computer than runs all the new games on 1440 x 900 at max settings and will run the new games that will be coming out like BF3, mass effect 3 etc etc......

My Spec at the moment is below:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor
RAM: 3GB
Graphics Card: 8600GS
Operation System: Windows 7 Ultimate
PSU: 250-300Watt (rubbish)

i think my motherboard only has one single PCI-E x16 slot slot and that is what my current graphics card is anyway.

im pretty sure my motherboard is fine as it will run DDR2 ram fine.....and runs PCI-E gfx cards.

im really looking to invest in a top of the range graphics card but not too too expensive, a 600W PSU or 500W if it will run things, and i know i need 4gb ram but which model.

Regards
B&W
 
Hi there,

May I ask what the make and model of your motherboard is?

Also, what case are you currently using ?

What stepping Q6600 are you using (B3 or G0)? You can check using CPU-Z (you can also check out what motherboard you are using with this software)

Finally do you have an approximate budget in mind for your upgrades?
 
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cmndr_andi said:
Hi there,

May I ask what the make and model of your motherboard is?

Also, what case are you currently using ?

What stepping Q6600 are you using (B3 or G0)? You can check using CPU-Z (you can also check out what motherboard you are using with this software)

Finally do you have an approximate budget in mind for your upgrades?
Click to expand...

I think the Motherboard is a Foxconn PT8907MB-2.0-8ERS2H
but in CPU-Z it says Model - pt890-8237a in the mainboard section

This is The Case: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&tx=52&ty=54

in CPU-Z under revision it says G0

around £160-165

Being a packard bell, does it use a normal size ATX PSU? and not some obscure sized thing.
Click to expand...

Ye i think its just a normal PSU, have a look at the case above
 
I would suggest this PSU and this graphics card. 3GB of RAM should generally be enough for gaming (plus DDR2 is expensive these days).

I would usually specify the HD 5850 at this budget, but it is a pretty long card and the GTX 460 is a good performer, £5 more (at the moment) and a much shorter card.

That said, please have a measure of the case before buying the graphics card. The GTX 460 is 8.25 inches long I believe and uses cooler which hangs into the lower adjacent PCI slot.
 
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sorry for the big images but is that enough space for my gfx card if i was to buy a GTX 460
 
Its a tough call - the main issue may be those blue and grey SATA connections. Can they be installed in different ports?

Would you be able to measure 8.25 inches from the left-most part of the 8600GT PCB to the right and see if that distance hits those SATA connections?
 
cmndr_andi said:
Its a tough call - the main issue may be those blue and grey SATA connections. Can they be installed in different ports?

Would you be able to measure 8.25 inches from the left-most part of the 8600GT PCB to the right and see if that distance hits those SATA connections?
Click to expand...



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

As you can see i measures 8.25 inches (21cm) and its not hitting the grey sata connections at all. should it be ok then?
 
Looks good - so long as there is nothing else on the board that would get in the way of the dual-slot cooler used by the GTX 460 then you should be clear to install one.
 
I was thinking about the Sapphire HD 5850 Card, its supposed to be very good and runs all games on very high settings, will it fill in my case????

stulid said:
Being a packard bell, does it use a normal size ATX PSU? and not some obscure sized thing.
Click to expand...

Looking at the pictures above will i have no problem fitting the BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply [BN106] PSU
 
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I was wary to recommend the Sapphire HD 5850 Extreme as the 5850s are known to be relatively long cards (9.5 inches), however looking at this the Extreme version is considerably shorter than the original versions. In fact looking at the pictures it seems to be about the same length as the GTX 460.

Here is a head-to-head comparison of the HD 5850 and the GTX 460 1GB in a range of games.
 
cmndr_andi said:
I was wary to recommend the Sapphire HD 5850 Extreme as the 5850s are known to be relatively long cards (9.5 inches), however looking at this the Extreme version is considerably shorter than the original versions. In fact looking at the pictures it seems to be about the same length as the GTX 460.

Here is a head-to-head comparison of the HD 5850 and the GTX 460 1GB in a range of games.
Click to expand...

My 8600 GS Is around 7.5 Inches. only thing im worried about is it might hit the blue sata cables (my hdd cables) it shouldn't though, can u guys have a look at the pictures and reassure me it doesn't lol
 
i remember my old pb system, newer gpu is gunna start causing heat problems

id suggest first buying a nice new big case...

oh and pb motherboards are.. well i didnt really find much info on mine so..
im presuming thats how you bought it? or is it a mobo u dropped into the case yourself?
 
DJ_Hughesy said:
i remember my old pb system, newer gpu is gunna start causing heat problems

id suggest first buying a nice new big case...

oh and pb motherboards are.. well i didnt really find much info on mine so..
im presuming thats how you bought it? or is it a mobo u dropped into the case yourself?
Click to expand...

It should be fine, my mobo has got a fan smack back in the middle, nice new PSU with a 120 mm fan, shouldn't have any problems.
 
B&W said:
It should be fine, my mobo has got a fan smack back in the middle, nice new PSU with a 120 mm fan, shouldn't have any problems.
Click to expand...

yea im thinking about the heat from the gpu when u include that, as due to size itl probably block off most of ur case ruining the airflow :p

(i did it with mine when i added a 9800gt... my old case for my pb was stupildy small tho)
 
DJ_Hughesy said:
yea im thinking about the heat from the gpu when u include that, as due to size itl probably block off most of ur case ruining the airflow :p

(i did it with mine when i added a 9800gt... my old case for my pb was stupildy small tho)
Click to expand...

my case aint small, its pretty decent, out of curiousity, with your old small pb case what temps was ur gpu running at
 
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