upgrade advice

ian8683 · 10 Jul 2010 at 19:10

Hi guys
got a little bit of extra cash and want to upgrade my computer system. Mostly used for gaming.
current spec:
AMD Phenom 2 X2 550
Asus M4A77TD PRO Motherboard
Corsair Dominator DDR3 RAM 4Gb
ATI Radeon HD 5570 (sapphire)

Not sure where to start tbh :s
thought that increasing the amount of RAM might make things faster and would also consider putting the graphics cards in crossfire but read somewhere that i would have to upgrade to a 4 core processor for that..
any advice would be appreciated as kind of confused and also this being my first system so not used to upgrading

lol
thanks in advance

ian8683 · 10 Jul 2010 at 20:06

A solid state hard drive yeah?

ian8683 · 10 Jul 2010 at 21:36

thanks mate

out of interest what would u go for yourself? another graphics card or the cpu?

ian8683 · 10 Jul 2010 at 21:55

hmm got a 550 psu has enough pci-e connectors

u recon the 5830 is worth it? seems like a fair price

ian8683 · 11 Jul 2010 at 17:27

thanks for the advice mate

probs go with a new processor first i recon and then when i get a little more cash a card will follow

ian8683 · 11 Jul 2010 at 18:57

might actually try that again, tried once via the bios but crashed after 5 mins, found out that i have to use AMD overdrive as cant adjust the voltage in bios

any of u guys have any experience using this way of overclocking?

ian8683 · 11 Jul 2010 at 19:24

yeah thought that was strange too but wont let me its greyed out sadly

ian8683 · 11 Jul 2010 at 22:30

i'll have another look tomorrow on iphone atm

and will let u know

ian8683 · 12 Jul 2010 at 13:18

ok managed to get the voltages to change using the + and - keys wasnt using them was pressing enter :s lol
Anyway what ones should i be changing so that 4 cores are stable as it will crash after about 5 mins if i dont change anything?
not really bothered yet about overclocking as i dont know too much about it tbh.
there is options such as:
cpu ratio
cpu nb frequency
loadline calibration
ht link speed and width
dram frequency
cpu over voltage
vddnb over voltage
memory over voltage
:?
was thinking about just changing the cpu over voltage by a couple of incriments and starting up in the hope that it will be more stable but worried by changing that i will have to change another option
anyone got any advice?
thanks in advance

ian8683 · 12 Jul 2010 at 13:52

yup got cpu-z says i am at 1.264v-1.280v atm so i only need to be changing the vcore voltage then for this?

ian8683 · 12 Jul 2010 at 14:02

yeah mate just unlocked it not changed any of the other settings yet

ian8683 · 13 Jul 2010 at 10:28

ok started just now set the vcore to 1.3v and has lasted longer than 5 mins and not crashed yet... strange thing is in cpuz says my voltage is just the same as normal for some reason as in 1.264-1.800 is this normal?

ian8683 · 13 Jul 2010 at 10:41

cool i'll keep the computer running and keep u posted so far so good

ian8683 · 13 Jul 2010 at 14:22

ok seem to be having no problems at all no crashes or anything

just doing daily work and played a few games earlier but notice an improvement which is good, what would my next steps be would u say?

ian8683 · 13 Jul 2010 at 16:20

cool will dl prime95 later and test tomoz

temps are at around 39-40 whilst playing games asked in the cooling section about getting an aftermarket cooler cause i will probably need one now was thinking about getting the H50 but not sure it will fit as my motherboards 12v supply is quite near the back of the case (antec 300) near the fan.