Hello all - long time OCuk purchaser, first time poster.
My graphics card recently bit the dust - it didn't stop working completely but I suddenly started getting blocky glitches and lines appear on the screen, and have since gone back to an older card which works fine.
Previous card was: Point Of View 8800GT 512MB GDDR3
and am now using this old thing: Sapphire HD 2600XT
I decided it would be a good time to audit my current system, which I've had running for a couple of years, and see what potential bottle-necks I might have before buying a new GPU.
Running Windows 7, dual screen on Samsung SM2343NW 23" TFT Monitor 2048x1152, and a cheap 19" Acer.
I use my PC for graphic design work and gaming - currently everything is running fine (aside from noticing slower gaming performance from old GPU) and I'm not hugely desperate for more hugely more performance than I had with my 8800GT but I am concerned about a couple of things:
Is my processor likely to be the weakest component and potentially stop me getting the most of out a new & better GPU? Is my power supply sufficient? I tend to have a lot of USB-powered stuff plugged in (Wacom Tablet, ext. drive, keyboard with 2 additional USB slots, iPhone charger, etc.) and am a bit concerned that all of that is pushing the PSU...!
Ideally, if everything looks fine, I'd just like to spend around £150 on a new GPU, possibly a GTX 460.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
My graphics card recently bit the dust - it didn't stop working completely but I suddenly started getting blocky glitches and lines appear on the screen, and have since gone back to an older card which works fine.
Previous card was: Point Of View 8800GT 512MB GDDR3
and am now using this old thing: Sapphire HD 2600XT
I decided it would be a good time to audit my current system, which I've had running for a couple of years, and see what potential bottle-necks I might have before buying a new GPU.
- Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L iP35
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.86ghz Socket 775 FSB800 2MB Cache
- RAM: 4x Kingston 1GB DDR2 667MHz / PC2-5300 MEMORY
- PSU: Hiper 530W Black Type-R Modular PSU - SLI Certified with Active PFC
- HD: Seagate ST3250820AS 250GB 7200RPM SATA300 8MB Cache as well as an external Seagate USB drive.
Running Windows 7, dual screen on Samsung SM2343NW 23" TFT Monitor 2048x1152, and a cheap 19" Acer.
I use my PC for graphic design work and gaming - currently everything is running fine (aside from noticing slower gaming performance from old GPU) and I'm not hugely desperate for more hugely more performance than I had with my 8800GT but I am concerned about a couple of things:
Is my processor likely to be the weakest component and potentially stop me getting the most of out a new & better GPU? Is my power supply sufficient? I tend to have a lot of USB-powered stuff plugged in (Wacom Tablet, ext. drive, keyboard with 2 additional USB slots, iPhone charger, etc.) and am a bit concerned that all of that is pushing the PSU...!
Ideally, if everything looks fine, I'd just like to spend around £150 on a new GPU, possibly a GTX 460.
Thanks in advance for any advice.