Spec me a small updrade (warning: old computer inside)

Sudden

Sudden

Sudden

Soldato
Joined
15 Nov 2005
Posts
2,955
Location
London
I feel like upgrading my computer. No particular reason as such - just want to improve performance a bit if I can. Spending limit - around £100 but flexible. It is an old spec (I bought it around 6 years ago with an aim not to get a new one until I really had to. I can still run games like ME3 on full without issue so don't see a need to do a massive upgrade. Only new components have been a lil bit of extra ram and stuff upgraded due to returns under warranty)

Current spec:

EVGA 780i FTW edition motherboard
EVGA GTS 250 (1gb) graphics card
4 GB OCZ Platinum Ram - DDR2
x6800 core 2 due extreme (2.93 ghz - oc'd to 3.2 ghz)
150 GB Raptor HD + other HD's for storage
Tagan 900W (I think) PSU

Anyone have any ideas if there is anything I could add/replace to give a performance boost? As earlier - don't want to spend on a new rig instead.
 
A 128 GB solid state drive would be a good option even though you probably only have sata 2,there would be a significant performance boost over your raptor.
 
SSD seems to be the way to go. Other than that a graphic card, but it doesn't look like you need that unless you wanna start playing more games.

The SSD and graphic card could be using in any new system when you do decide to fully upgrade.
 
Talking about old motherboards
A new video card might not be supported
And for ssd smart monitoring might not work
What impact dose it have on a SSD Trim technology?
 
SSD is fine on XP, yeah performance will drop comapred to win 7, but even without trim, it will outperform the Raptor by miles.

He could upgrade to Win 8 for £25 if it's a big issue.

EVGA 780i FTW & x6800 core 2 due extreme isn't that old.
 
Have windows 7 x64.

Looks like SSD is the way to go. Any recommendations on a good one?

Sasahara above mentioned maybe a graphics card instead. I will continue playing games on this rig, depending on what's out there. Hitman is the current game which i'm thinking about, though might just get it for the PS3 instead. Is there any GPU out there which will be give me a worthwhile boost given the other hardware limitations?
 
Sweet!

The samsung 830 SSD is good. It writes faster than the standard 840 and has a slightly larger capacity.

If you could find a 2nd hand 1GB 460 or 6850 (£50ish) that would be a nice improvement and give you directX11
 
Definitely an SSD as people say. Graphics card would be an option too - although your CPU/motherboard might bottleneck it somewhat, it'd still be a worthwhile performance boost.
 
Does the faster write still help given that I am limited by Sata 2? Also - do I need any cables etc. in addition to standard HD ones to install a SSD?
 
You don't lose that much performance using SATA 2. It'll still be hugely faster than what you are used to. Standard SATA data and power cables are what you need to hook it up. You may find your case doesn't have mounting points for a 2.5" drive. SSD's are so small and light that I've been able to use double sided tape to stick them to the bottom or side of the case in this situation. You can also buy brackets to fit a 3.5" bay if you'd prefer it screwed in.
 
As Blue160 said SATAII only realy affects the maximum transfer speed which at around 250-280 MB/S , the real advantage of SSD is the fast Access Times that are sub 0.1ms. Even you Raptor depending of the model will be around the 4.0-6.0ms.

As for graphic cards, £100 range at the moment isn't great, the HD 7770 is the best you can get excluding old cards that might appear on the market.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-101-GI

It just about matches the HD 6850 and GTX 460, though they both have 256-bit memory which is an advantage over the HD 7770's 128- bit memory.

A 2nd had GTX460, or even better a HD 5850/5870 would be worth looking at.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom