Suggestions for upgrade

fetster · 27 Nov 2010 at 11:03

Hi, I'm looking to spend approx £300 on upgrading / replacing my fairly modern machine to allow me to play recently released games (Civilization 5 / Call of Duty etc).

My current spec is:
- ASUS P5W DH Deluxe MB
- Intel Quad Core 2.4Ghz cpu
- 4 GB PC2 6400 DDR2 Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB
- 2TB Western Digital HDD

My initial thoughts are to replace the graphics card and leave everything else. Anyone else agree? What card should I go for?

Anything else that may also need replacing?

I don't just want to throw money at it if I am not going to get much of a performance increase.

Thanks

Fetster

VFM Addict · 27 Nov 2010 at 11:10

Yep, new gcard and oc that quad !

What res do you run at?

Cookeh · 27 Nov 2010 at 12:47

As mentioned, get a cooler for that cpu (such as:- http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-010-NC&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395 Noctua NH-U12) and overclock it!

And then, also as mentioned, a new graphics card:-
This will do nicely, a GTX470:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-237-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1810

fetster · 27 Nov 2010 at 17:46

Thanks for the suggestions, I've never tried overclocking but may give it a go.

In terms of resolution, i never use the machine, built it last year for gaming but never had chance to use it (occupied with baby bottles and nappies). Now that the baby is bigger I want to get back into games on my computer and was thinking of upgrading for Christmas. I've just been using a basic spec low power computer for general surfing / office that I leave on 24/7.

How easy is it to overclock the cpu? What would I safely get out of it?

Cookeh · 27 Nov 2010 at 19:05

fetster said:
Thanks for the suggestions, I've never tried overclocking but may give it a go.

In terms of resolution, i never use the machine, built it last year for gaming but never had chance to use it (occupied with baby bottles and nappies). Now that the baby is bigger I want to get back into games on my computer and was thinking of upgrading for Christmas. I've just been using a basic spec low power computer for general surfing / office that I leave on 24/7.

How easy is it to overclock the cpu? What would I safely get out of it?

Assuming its a Q6600, an G0 stepping version will get to around 3.8GHz (Use CPU-Z to find this lot out

)

Guide to overclocking can be found here:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17612922
Personally, I and many others find it easy

fetster · 29 Nov 2010 at 15:46

thanks for your advice guys. I'll probably be back in touch when I attempt to overclock it.

hybrid572 · 29 Nov 2010 at 17:21

What PSU are you using? Please don't tell us you're going to overclock on a £20 bargain bin 300W thing.

fetster · 29 Nov 2010 at 19:58

Its a 700w Tagan BZ series, so should be able to cope.

Cookeh · 29 Nov 2010 at 20:02

fetster said:
Its a 700w Tagan BZ series, so should be able to cope.

Easily