Need some upgrade advice

CoatKiller · 17 Dec 2011 at 11:21

Hello all,

I need some advice about upgrading my old system that I bought from OCUK about 4-5 years ago

I want to improve game performance with a budget of about £250.

Here are my specs atm

ip pro motherboard
Intel Q6600 quad core cpu
Nvidea 8800gtx gfx
3 gig of ram (1 stick has died)
Standard hard drive
Windows7 64 bit

Was a really good system when I bought it but now its struggling a tad and im on a tighter budget these days so can't upgrade the whole system.

Your opinions on what I should spend the £250 on will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Ps, I was thinking of a nvidea 560 and ram to make 8 gigs? Also, what about a fast ssd? are ssd drives worth it for what I want to achieve?

Karateyid · 17 Dec 2011 at 11:31

If its games u struggle with then a new gfx card would probably work better than other options. Ssd are great but ur prob struggling on gfx.. I see a few people have same CPU and are doing ok in bf3 with better gfx cards..

Have u over locked ur CPU ? I'd prob go for another stck of ram as ur board is prob dual channel

hybrid572 · 17 Dec 2011 at 11:33

Get a 560Ti and the 8 gigs of RAM. Leave out the SSD, it won't improve ingame performance significantly.

Idleman · 17 Dec 2011 at 11:37

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517 £30

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-247-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341 £170

A 60GB ssd will cost about £80.

You might be better off getting a decent cooler for your quad and oc`ing, if you have`nt already.

dfarrall · 17 Dec 2011 at 11:39

Your graphics card is by far the worst part, grab a 560ti and some new ram as suggested.

Prazynothh · 17 Dec 2011 at 12:34

If you are going to install Win 7, then better to opt 4 GB RAM atleast. x64 bit will full utilize the RAM. Go For Intel I7 if budget permits.

CoatKiller · 17 Dec 2011 at 12:54

Thanks for all input so far

Was wondering if that RAM linked by Idleman is compatible with a ip35 pro motherboard? I think the mb has a max capacity of 8gig ram with 4 slots - is the capacity dictated by total ram or ram per slot (in this case 2gig per slot)?

If the mb will take it the ram looks great value.

For sure I think a 560ti card will be coming my way soon

One more thing, I play some mmo's which when entering new areas lag/delay because I guess it needs to load new textures of other players and the environment? would an ssd improve this by much if this is indeed the case?

Davefran · 17 Dec 2011 at 12:59

CoatKiller said:
Thanks for all input so far

Was wondering if that RAM linked by Idleman is compatible with a ip35 pro motherboard? I think the mb has a max capacity of 8gig ram with 4 slots - is the capacity dictated by total ram or ram per slot (in this case 2gig per slot)?

If the mb will take it the ram looks great value.

For sure I think a 560ti card will be coming my way soon

One more thing, I play some mmo's which when entering new areas lag/delay because I guess it needs to load new textures of other players and the environment? would an ssd improve this by much if this is indeed the case?

NO it isn't you need DDR 2 which is quite a bit more expensive than DDR 3
Gonna need a bigger budget if you want a GTX 560ti, the best one to get is MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Power Edition "448 Edition" OC Twin FrozR III

YOUR BASKET
2 x Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-6400C5C) £49.99 (£99.98)
Total : £108.68 (includes shipping : £7.25).

Idleman · 17 Dec 2011 at 13:11

No it`s not, sorry, my mistake.

What make and model do have installed?

fowler002 · 17 Dec 2011 at 13:28

no one seemed to have asked what your current psu is, it maynot be able to handle anew graphics card.

CoatKiller · 17 Dec 2011 at 15:03

Ram installed as follows:

Memory Type: DDR2 PC2-8500, DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 PC2-5300, DDR2 (non-ECC)
Maximum Memory: 8GB
Currently Installed Memory: 3GB
Total Memory Slots: 4
Available Memory Slots: 1
1GB
1GB
DDR PC2-6400
1GB
DDR PC2-6400
EMPTY

Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-8500, DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 4GB kit (2GBx2) per slot.*
*Not to exceed manufacturer supported memory.

Crucial Ballistix Tracer brand is installed atm 3x1gig strips.

I did have 4gig of ram but 1 stick died. I like the idea of 8 gig but it looks like I need to buy 4x2gig strips that look a bit costly on top of a 560ti gfx card but perhaps possible.

Also, psu is 1000watt so should have no worries with a single 560ti.

fowler002 · 17 Dec 2011 at 15:47

make/model of the psu as 1kw means jack if its a no name cheapo

Idleman · 17 Dec 2011 at 15:51

Whats the(RAM) serial number, BL.......?

beejjacobs · 17 Dec 2011 at 16:42

Davefran said:
NO it isn't you need DDR 2 which is quite a bit more expensive than DDR 3
Gonna need a bigger budget if you want a GTX 560ti, the best one to get is MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Power Edition "448 Edition" OC Twin FrozR III

YOUR BASKET
2 x Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-6400C5C) £49.99 (£99.98)
Total : £108.68 (includes shipping : £7.25).

I really wouldn't recommend spending that much on RAM, for one thing it's old tech and I'm not sure 8GB of RAM is really worth it. Sure it is at DDR3 prices when it's so cheap but 4GB will be plenty for games I think. Maybe try to pick up some second hand DDR2. I'd stick with a GPU upgrade (if your PSU will take it) or maybe a new CPU, mobo, RAM and upgrade the GPU later?