Small upgrade advice pls

wobbo · 19 Dec 2013 at 17:49

Hi guys and gals,
Im running an old pc, specs below.

AMD 6000 x2 @3GB
OCZ DDR2 ram 2x1GB sticks
MSI K9N mobo
9800 GTX
Samsung 80 GIG HDD
Corsair CX600 PSU (1 year old)

i would like to add another 2 gig of ram, mobo manual says 4 gig ddr2 max,(4 ram slots) the first two slots have the ocz ram in, should i get 2 more 1gig sticks or 1x2gig stick ?

Im still using Win xp and see that there will be no more support for this OS in 2014, so i was thinking of putting Win 7 on my 80 GIG hdd and getting a smallish ssd (120gig) to put my steam games on, i've never had an ssd so dont know what brands are good, been looking at the samsung and kingston some of which have some good reveiws.

Any advice would be great
Thx

OvEr_KiLL · 19 Dec 2013 at 17:55

ram i would go for is this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-285-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=144
2 sticks 4gb dual channel

and sell the ram you have now
and ssd go for one the samsung evo's size up to you!

lee32uk · 19 Dec 2013 at 17:58

I wouldn't spend £60 on 4Gb of DDR2 Ram. I think you would be best looking for some 2nd hand tbh. Also the motherboard only supports SATA II so you won't get full speed with the SSD.

OvEr_KiLL · 19 Dec 2013 at 17:59

didnt think about that lee but yeh great idea!

wobbo · 19 Dec 2013 at 18:26

thanks for the replys guys,

i know this is a differant brand but would these work ok ?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=144

@Lee, so is it worth even getting an ssd for this mobo, would it run faster than my 80 gig hdd ? otherwise i will have to put win7 + steam stuff on the 80 gig which wont leave much room, unless i get another hdd

t31os · 19 Dec 2013 at 18:38

If you're going to double up on ram, the most ideal choice would be to match the two existing sticks for better compatibility. If not matching sticks, then ideally matching operating voltages and timings.

pastymuncher · 19 Dec 2013 at 19:02

Even at sata 2 speeds a ssd is a big boost over a mechanical hdd.

lee32uk · 19 Dec 2013 at 19:06

wobbo said:
@lee, so is it worth even getting an ssd for this mobo, would it run faster than my 80 gig hdd ? otherwise i will have to put win7 + steam stuff on the 80 gig which wont leave much room, unless i get another hdd

It will be faster than your current HDD, but you won't be getting the full potential as it will only be running at 3Gb/s rather than 6Gb/s.

The Toshiba SSD is a pretty good drive for the money, and if you decide you want to upgrade your motherboard in the future you can just transfer it over.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £64.99
Total : £73.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).

wobbo · 19 Dec 2013 at 19:34

thanks guys,

i will keep looking into the ram, and yes lee when i can do a proper upgrade at least i will have a ssd to put in.

thx again all, have a good xmas

cheers