New Upgrade please advise what to do

[bigbird76]

Hi all

1st post and some advice is well needed please.

I want to upgrade my pc in Early January for gaming and I want to start looking now at what stuff to purchase, so i can keep some money to 1 side.

My system at the moment is as follows:-

ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP AiLifestyle Series P35 Socket 775 Socket eSATA 8 channel Audio ATX Motherboard

Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4(4-4-4-12)

Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Energy Efficient 95W edition Socket 775 (2.40GHz) G0 Stepping L2 8MB

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler

XFX 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 DVI PCI-E Graphics Card

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer

Antec 900 gaming case

Enermax 580w powerpack

Samsung pebble 22" Screen

win xp sp2

Games are oblivion/Fallout3/Bioshock/GTR Evolution/COD4/ and a few simulator games..

Up untill now i have had it it my head to purchase a 280 GTX and buy a new power suply unit and more memory and vista so that i can maxx these games out.. I know the 8800 gtx has done a very good job but i dont know what to replace it with or even replace at all if something else is the bottleneck?

I know you guys on here are experts i know a little bit and can build my own pc but there is a lot of stuff out there and its very confusing.

Questions are:-

Will my motherboard run the below hardware?

Which graphics card is best option to replace my 8800 gtx

Which PSU is best option for my setup 650w?

Is the memory still ok or can i fit new faster memory or just add another 2GB?

Any other stuff you guys think i need??



Another thing is the motherboard bios i have never updated it would i benefit from this?

My budget is about £500

Cheers for any reply's

Bird

 

[GSDog]

snip

Hi and welcome.

Looking at your spec I think if I were in your position I'd replace your RAM with 4GB (2X2GB).

Get Vista 64bit.

Upgrade GFX card to either a Nvidia GTX260-216/GTX280 or an ATI 4870.

Overclock your Q6600 CPU.

Your motherboard, HDD, CPU and PSU are all fine. I don't think a BIOS upgrade will make much difference unless there is something you need in the update. Take a look at the BIOS update and see if it offers anything you need.

 

[Paul2506]

Hi and welcome.

Get Vista 64bit.

Upgrade GFX card to either a Nvidia GTX260-216/GTX280 or an ATI 4870.

I agree get Vista 64Bit to enjoy directX 10 for gaming and i deffo recommend the 4870,I have this card and it's a beast,It plays Dead Space,Fallout 3,Bioshock,Crysis and all up to date games without even a hickup

 

[bigbird76]

Hi and welcome.

Looking at your spec I think if I were in your position I'd replace your RAM with 4GB (2X2GB).

Get Vista 64bit.

Upgrade GFX card to either a Nvidia GTX260-216/GTX280 or an ATI 4870.

Overclock your Q6600 CPU.

Your motherboard, HDD, CPU and PSU are all fine. I don't think a BIOS upgrade will make much difference unless there is something you need in the update. Take a look at the BIOS update and see if it offers anything you need.

Apart from 2gb more could you explain what the differances are between the new memory you quoted and my old memory they look very similair??

Also i have no clue about vitsa will that quoted one be fine for me and will i need to purchase another service pack or anything? (totally not a clue about vista)

As for gfx i have allways been nvidia but the ati looks tempting but i dont think i would benefit as i run 1680x1050 res and from what i can gather a 260 or 280 will murder that resolution. The overclocked zotac 280 amp seems a tidy buy for the money can anyone comment on that or anyone own one as my previous 2 cards were XFX

Cheers

Bird

 

[GSDog]

Apart from 2gb more could you explain what the differances are between the new memory you quoted and my old memory they look very similair??

Well you'd have 2X2GB sticks instead of 4X1GB sticks of RAM, which would mean more room in your case and also more room to upgrade.
The RAM is so cheap right now I think it would be best to just sell your current 2X1GB sticks and buy the OCZ 4GB (2X2GB).

Also i have no clue about vitsa will that quoted one be fine for me and will i need to purchase another service pack or anything? (totally not a clue about vista)

You don't need to buy anything extra. I suggest you try and learn a bit more about Vista and decide if you want it. It will certainly make your PC more future proof and it supports DX10 for better gaming, etc.

As for gfx i have allways been nvidia but the ati looks tempting but i dont think i would benefit as i run 1680x1050 res and from what i can gather a 260 or 280 will murder that resolution. The overclocked zotac 280 amp seems a tidy buy for the money can anyone comment on that or anyone own one as my previous 2 cards were XFX

The ATI 4870 1GB is very similar performance to the GTX260-216. I personally like the GTX260-216 cards more than the ATI 4870 but unfortunetly OcUK don't have a great selection of GTX260 cards so I spec'd the 4870 instead.
I highly recommend the XFX GTX260 Black edition (216) which can be had for around £230. It also comes with Farcry 2.

 

[subaru_swift]

i have a zotac 280gtx amp & one word = Wowwwwwwwww

it is a nice card & the eye candy is out of this world.

i did & still own a xfx 8800gtx in my amd 6400+be rig & i thought that was good.

 

[bigbird76]

Cheers for all the input guys

The Zotac 280 Amp is looking very good to me at the moment i had a look online and it seems to have good remarks and reviews.

Also i think i will buy that Ram too and also purchase Vista.

Next Question

Will the prices drop much in January because im sorta tempted to buy now but i really do not know if the prices are high at the moment due to the xmas hipe period etc.

Bird

 

[Paul2506]

I hope so m8 lol i as gonna upgrade from my E8400 to a Q9550
But then i thought i might as well wait till after crimbo to see if there is a price drop xD

 

[lunarwolf]

Hi and welcome.

Looking at your spec I think if I were in your position I'd replace your RAM with 4GB (2X2GB).

Get Vista 64bit.

Upgrade GFX card to either a Nvidia GTX260-216/GTX280 or an ATI 4870.

Overclock your Q6600 CPU.

Your motherboard, HDD, CPU and PSU are all fine. I don't think a BIOS upgrade will make much difference unless there is something you need in the update. Take a look at the BIOS update and see if it offers anything you need.

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