improving an old system

Hunterforce · 16 Feb 2010 at 16:09

Hi guys

I want to upgrade my old system and wondered what you guys think would be the best way to max out what i have already

The motherboard is the Asus a8n-vm
running 3gig memory
500 hard drive
on board sound (mmmm i got an old audolgy 2 sound card with front controls but cant seem to get it working

)
amd athlon 64x2 dual core 4200
Nvidia geforce 7800 gt graphics
all running Vista ultimate 64 bit

any views would be great

PS can this set up run another gig of memory, i have a spare slot

Cookeh · 16 Feb 2010 at 16:13

New graphics card, and possibly some more ram

Daaaveee · 16 Feb 2010 at 16:27

+1 for new graphics card, if it's gaming performance you're after. Any ideas on budget?

mit1 · 16 Feb 2010 at 16:36

+1 for new graphics card, and as far as ram goes make sure have the fastest ram your board can take.

PhoenixUK · 16 Feb 2010 at 17:07

new GPU, but don't go too high, something like 2nd hand 8800GT or 4830/4850/4770 for around 40quid is all you need. Anything higher might start seeing a bottleneck from cpu/ram.

Try OCing your CPU as well, should give it some boost.

Hunterforce · 16 Feb 2010 at 20:21

mmmm been looking all afternoon for the 8800 gt cards and they vary so much in price, whats the difference between the gt and the gts???
and will these work ok with my motherboard and 64 bit vista??

DireEmblem · 16 Feb 2010 at 20:26

Just a thought, but it looks like your chip fetches a decent price on the bay, theres one with under 2hrs to go, 22 bids atm for £60

That along with whatever you are planning to spend to u/g, could get you a decent upgrade no?

PhoenixUK · 17 Feb 2010 at 00:03

Yep that's not bad idea either.
If you could get ¬100+ for your current stuff, adding another 100 on top would get you a nice upgrade like:
AM3 785g mobo ¬60
x3 435 - 56
4gb ddr 3 - 80
+ GPU in the 50 range.

mame · 17 Feb 2010 at 00:19

Hunterforce said:
mmmm been looking all afternoon for the 8800 gt cards and they vary so much in price, whats the difference between the gt and the gts???

8800 GT is good. If you go for the GTS, MAKE SURE YOU GET THE 512mb version. The 320mb and 640mb versions are not as good. The 512mb is much better than the 640mb.

Hunterforce · 17 Feb 2010 at 00:22

PhoenixUK said:
Yep that's not bad idea either.
If you could get ¬100+ for your current stuff, adding another 100 on top would get you a nice upgrade like:
AM3 785g mobo ¬60
x3 435 - 56
4gb ddr 3 - 80
+ GPU in the 50 range.

all working from my motherboard???

Opps mobo is motherboard loool see total noob here
lol
am3 785 is the chip i guess??
would this all be s/hand or new?? i do like the sound of the 8800 gts maybe if i can get 2 use them in sli if poss??

PhoenixUK · 17 Feb 2010 at 00:29

The prices I listed are for new parts, 2nd hand could probably do cheaper but I doubt you'll be able to find anything else than the mobo and ram 2nd hand as nobody sells those CPUs just yet.

I've got a 2nd hand mobo myself for 40, had to buy new ram but if you search well you can get 2nd hand 4gb ddr for ¬60-65.
Chip will have to be new as nobody sells them.

The gpu, with that board I think there is possibility to CF a HD4xxx series card with the onboard hd4200 but not sure how that would work.

I'd search for a radeon 4830 or 4850/4770, they're great cards and you can get one for as low as 40-50 now. Or maybe even a 4870 for ¬60.