Upgrades - what to change?

AlexTrickle · 31 Oct 2012 at 17:09

After creating this thread I've decided that I may want to do a slightly bigger overhaul than just replace the graphics card.

I'm pretty happy with my i5 2500k and MSI P67 GD65 combo and given my uses (gaming really is as taxing as it gets) so its more or less everything but CPU and motherboard I'm considering upgrading:

1) Replace the 2x GTX460s with a single GTX670.

2) Buy an SSD for a boot drive. However no idea which are best?

3) Upgrading my RAM from 4GB to 8GB. Whats the best RAM I could get for my motherboard?
My PC seems to have suffered considerable slow down recently and struggles when I have multiple applications like word, a game alt-tabbed, and then 6/7 tabs on chrome up at the same time.

I also have a copy of Windows 8 ready to install if I were to perform these upgrades.

cmndr_andi · 31 Oct 2012 at 17:16

For gaming a nice new GTX 670 graphics card will be a lovely upgrade.

For pretty much everything else the SSD will provide a massive noticeable improvement. The ones I would recommend are the Samsung 830 and Crucial M4 SSDs (128GB minimum, ideally 256GB if you don't want to worry too much about using up all your space).

For the RAM, you may want to just get another set of the same Geil RAM you already have.

That said, a fresh install of windows plus an SSD boot time should more than solve your slow-down issues - especially if it was running a lot better before (when you still only had 4GB of RAM installed).

Personally, I would just do a fresh install Windows 7. Windows 8 looks pretty cool for tablets - but I don't see any benefit over windows 8 for most desktop stuff at the moment.

AlexTrickle · 31 Oct 2012 at 17:25

I'll take a look at those SSDs thanks for the advice.

If I recall; Windows is tied to your motherboard? I.e. my current Windows 7 shouldn't have any activation issues just installing on a new SSD?

cmndr_andi · 31 Oct 2012 at 17:44

Happy to help

AlexTrickle said:
If I recall; Windows is tied to your motherboard? I.e. my current Windows 7 shouldn't have any activation issues just installing on a new SSD?

You are quite correct - so feel confident using your existing windows license key when reinstalling the OS on an SSD, since the motherboard isn't being changed.

If you don't happen to have the disk you can now legally download it from microsoft's partners and either burn it onto a DVD or put it on a bootable USB stick.

setter · 31 Oct 2012 at 17:49

Gtx 670 will also be a nice upgrade. I recently switched from sli gtx 470's to a single gtx 670 wf. Much cooler, an awful lot quieter and a massive drop in power use in games. Better minimum and average frame rates in game. At stock speed, the max fps was down a bit, but that was sorted with an oc on the 670.