Upgrade guidance?

Col_M · 27 Jul 2008 at 19:24

Hey guys, as I've got a new job and a fair bit more disposible income I'm looking to upgrade my computer that was built on a budget last summer. I've currently got....

E6300
2Gb Geil ULL
7800GT - (hand me down from old computer)
Gigabyte 965P-DS3 mobo
17" TFT screen (1280*1024)
Corsair 520W PSU
oh and I'm running XP

It's been OK really and got me through STALKER + Crysis albeit at low/med settings but it really struggled. I'm also looking forward to the likes of Far Cry 2, GTA4, Crysis: Warhead, STALKER: Clear Sky, Fallout 3 and Mirror's Edge, which may be a little too much.

Anyway with all that in mind the gfx card is probably the weakest link and that'll need to be upgraded first, I may look at getting a 24" screen sometime in the future and the ATI 4870 seems to be the thinking mans choice at the moment which will be ok for that.

After that I'm not really sure what the weaker links are, what do you guys think? possibly the E6300 to a quad or faster dual?

semi-pro waster · 27 Jul 2008 at 22:58

I'd go with the graphics card upgrade initially to a 4870, especially if you are thinking about upgrading the monitor soon.

Then I think you'll probably want to look at CPU and possibly motherboard - if you haven't already tried overclocking then you could do that since an aftermarket cooler is a fairly cheap option.

ACESHIGH · 27 Jul 2008 at 23:00

semi-pro waster said:
I'd go with the graphics card upgrade initially to a 4870, especially if you are thinking about upgrading the monitor soon.

Then I think you'll probably want to look at CPU and possibly motherboard - if you haven't already tried overclocking then you could do that since an aftermarket cooler is a fairly cheap option.

I think thats good advice. Upgrade to larger LCD, plus graphics card to a 4870 then think about cpu increase - try overclocking it first though.

Col_M · 27 Jul 2008 at 23:32

semi-pro waster said:
I'd go with the graphics card upgrade initially to a 4870, especially if you are thinking about upgrading the monitor soon.

Then I think you'll probably want to look at CPU and possibly motherboard - if you haven't already tried overclocking then you could do that since an aftermarket cooler is a fairly cheap option.

Thanks

I do have a slight problem though and I'm not sure if it's a gfx card or monitor related, it's light patches and streaks on my screen. I guess when I get the 4870 if it was the 7800GT then they'll go, if not I'll know it's the monitor.

I'll take pics and add them to this thread in a few mins....

The two arrowed blobs on the side of the screen on this one (sorry for bad pic)

Got my real camera out for this one, it's the horizontal line going through the red X (had to edit swearies out on this one

)

Anyone know if it's the monitor of gfx card on the way out? I guess it's tricky not being able to see it yourself in the flesh.

Leezy · 28 Jul 2008 at 00:55

Not to sure on them...the line looks to distinct to be dead/buggered pixels but the smaller ones could be...

but even those look to colourful to be dead pixels so perhaps graphics related.

semi-pro waster · 28 Jul 2008 at 07:33

As Leezy says, it is difficult to tell but the blueish blobs at the side of the screen could be backlight bleed possibly, the line on the second picture might well be graphics card related though - have you tried reseating it just in case that is the problem?

VTR · 28 Jul 2008 at 08:20

I've got the same board/cpu and PSU as you.

First thing I'd do is overclock the CPU, they're quite slow at default speed. You should get it upto 3Ghz+ easily, which would make a massive difference. I wouldn't say it's worth changing CPU/board at the moment, may aswell get the most out of what you've got. Next I'd go for a 4850 or 4870 graphics card and a 22"-24" TFT and then if you've got anything left over maybe look at upgrading to 4GB ram, although it's only really needed if your running Vista. 2GB on XP still runs everything pretty well...

Col_M · 28 Jul 2008 at 10:04

Oh yeah the CPU is happily running at 2.8Ghz with a Noctua NH-U12P for cooling, so it's fine for the time being.

I'll have to check the card tonight when I get home and make sure it's firmly in the slot. I did check the monitor cable but that made no difference.

To be honest I'm thinking it could be the monitor as it's getting old now and the nature of the defects are that they are lighter in the middle then fade out over a number of pixels. If it was a gfx problem I'd expect it to be more of a "clean" defect effecting one row of pixels for example. It's also happened over a period of time, the two blobs on the side of the screen have been there for 2-3 months but I only noticed the horizontal lines last night.