Upgrading My PC's internal organs from faithful old AMD 64.

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I think it's about time to go about upgrading my system :D. She's served me well for a number of years but it just can't cut the mustard with today's games and apps.

My system at current spec is as follows:

AMD Athlon 64 3800+
Socket 939 Motherboard (can't remember make but it was cheap:().
2GB DDR2 400MHz memory.
Inno3D Nvidia GTX260 Freezer X2 Graphics card (recently bought to extend system life a bit longer).
Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS soundcard.
Pioneer DVD-RW drive.
LiteOn CD-RW drive (dead :().
Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm 500GB hard Drive.
Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard.
Microsoft Razer Habu mouse.
Samsung 22" monitor.
Hiper type R modular silent PSU 530W


The system I intend to change it to is as follows:

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz overclocked to 4.00GHz.
Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler.
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard.
Patriot Viper 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz) Low Latency Tri-Channel.

Inno3D Nvidia GTX260 Freezer X2 Graphics card. (later to be upgraded with an additional card running SLI or change for DX11 Card).
Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS soundcard.
Pioneer DVD-RW drive.
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache x2 (running in Raid0 config as system drive).
Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm 500GB hard Drive (maybe stay inside case or will convert to external).
Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard.
Microsoft Razer Habu mouse.
Samsung 22" monitor.
Corsair HX 750W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply


The system changes I want to make are highlighted in red. These will be changed with the following items from Overclockers.

Samsung F3 drives http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-081-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=940
Overclocked i7 bundle http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-171-OK&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=1675
Power Supply http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

I'm about 90% decided on the spec of the PC but there's a few nigling questions on my mind. Just wondering if I can pick forum users brains on this issue ;).

1) I was thinking about getting a solid state drive as the system drive, but the current price of SSD's and lack of capacity put me off. The capacity and read/write speeds of the F3 drives running raid0 seemed more attractive and kept me with a platter system drive. Good move or should I reconsider?

2) Would my PSU have trouble driving my system if I were to add a 2nd GTX260 card at a later date?

3) Would I do better to buy the MB/CPU/Ram separately and go for higher clock speed memory and clocking the system myself? Or would the memory supplied be more than sufficient for my needs?

Think that's about it. If any other questions pop up in my head I'll fell free to post them :p.

edit: Upgrade list changed due to good suggestions from forum users :D.
 
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1) I wouldn't buy an ssd at the moment. The £/Gb ratio doesn't seem worthwhile to me. But there are people who have them and are very happy with them.

2) I don't think that would be enough for sli.

3) It's a good bundle, but personally I like to do these things myself. Handy if you don't have the time to overclock etc.
 
That PSU should be swapped out for another one, I recommend a Corsair HX 750 watt PSU for SLI, a 500 watt from a poor rep manufacturer like that would struggle with SLI,for my GTX 275'S i had to fit four power cables in all, I am not sure if the PSU you have has that many didicated cables for it, let alone the juice. The general rule on PSU's is that the older they get the less effcient they become. All those components mentioned need power...and lots of it, especially overclocking.

As mentioned by others SSD drives are over priced and less effective. I would not recommend Raid 0, I have used it and when it fails on one drive then you lose all your data. Get a Samsung F3 1.5 terra or 1 terra, cheap and vast storage.

Cheers

Von

p.s.

You mentioned you wish to get another 260 GTX, DX 11 cards have arrived that will be future proof (260 is DX 10 only), for example if I was to play devil's advocate, perhaps consider an ATI 5850 from Sapphire?
 
SSDs will be a lot cheaper at Christmas, or rather you'll get a lot more space for your money. If you can raise that cash again between now and Christmas it's something to consider.

Any particular reason for the i7 though? You'd be able to get the top hex core from amd for (almost certainly) less. Considering they're due out so soon it may be worth waiting to see how they perform, or at least consider the possibility.

P.s. Is the 260 for cuda, or any special reason not to take an ati card?
 
Thanks for all the replies guys :D.

Vonscar: I did a quick check on the thermaltake website using their PSU calculator and it looks like I'd have to go for an 800-900watt PSU :eek:. Are Hiper really that bad a manufacturer? It's powered my system for a number of years and I've had no problems. Runs really quiet, has 6 modular plugs on it and twin fans. What brands would you recommend?

As far as the raid0 configuration is concerned I'm prepared for the possibility of 1 drive going down. There will be a 3rd drive (my current system drive) to back up essential files to to prevent data loss. I already have a 400GB external drive I use to keep files safe. It's purely for a speed benefit. Load times on my current system can be tiresome and I really don't want to have to put up with that too much on a new system.

Buying a 2nd GTX260 would just be to stretch the life out of the graphics side. The one I'm using at the moment was bought for a bargain price of £86 on ebay and was barely used. Guy had a change of plan from going SLI with it and was a spare sat in a cupboard. If I could pick up another at a bargain price it would probably out perform an ATI 5850 with DX10 games. Looking at tomshardware results it does on most tests. There aren't many DX11 titles out at the moment so I'm not so concerned with going that way. Maybe when they're common place I'll swap the 2 cards for a current DX11 card.

Teddy3578: That's something I may take into consideration ;).

Azuse05: Where can I look up some gen on the new AMD processors? The GTX260 is purely because I've already got one and performs well on a lot of games even on this system. It's bottleneck is the rest of the system. At the moment I'd lean towards SLI for a performance increase if needed but that may change when it comes to it if there is a card that performs better at a reasonable price.
 
I just noticed on the Thermaltake calc I entered a wrong detail lol. I put 4 physical CPU's thinking it meant quadcore without reading the rather noticable bold print underneath :o. It recommends 519W PSU so I'd probably replace my old one with a 650W one.
 
Maxing out the load it recommends 596 so a 650W should definately do :).

edit: Put overclocked values in and it came to 730W :o. 750W PSU it is then lol. Vonscar was on the button with his recommended power :p.
 
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I have two GTX 275's in SLI, I am not going to recommend it...SLI does not scale up to 100 percent gain, and well DX 10 is now old tech. But if you can get a 260 cheap, try it. But note if you get an X58 board they can run Crossfire and SLI to.


Note there are two versions of the GTX 260, one with 216 stream processors and the other with 198...one is based on 65 nm tech and the newer is 55nm, what that means is the older one is more likely to pump out heat. I would recommend running them at stock speeds, I have bought two 260's in the past and they were faulty when clocked beyond their recommended range.

The Corsair HX 750, is a perfect PSU for your needs, there is a 850 watt version as well.

Cheers

Von
 
Vonscar: Yea it will be a case of "if I can get one cheap" that will determine if I get another GTX260 or just go for a new DX11 card. The 5850 or perhaps the 5870 would be of interest to me when it comes to it and what funds allow.

This is the card I have.

http://www.inno3d.com/products/graphic_card/gtx200/gtx260_freezerx2.html

It's the older 192 stream processors on inno3d's own board design. Already tried clocking it to 650MHz for a few hours and it ran fine on 3-4degrees hotter than standard. Seen reviews on the web where this particular card does 700MHz with reasonable ease. Not that I'd run them up that high.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

This is the particular PSU I was looking at. Bundle I put together last night came to ~£700 which is about what I'm prepared to pay for a new system.
 
I've just upgraded from a very simlar spec :). If you're going win7 64-bit then I think drivers for the Audigy 2ZS are non existant/just carp. I know I've resigned myself to saying good bye to mine, which is a shame as it's a lovely sound card :(
 
I've just upgraded from a very simlar spec :). If you're going win7 64-bit then I think drivers for the Audigy 2ZS are non existant/just carp. I know I've resigned myself to saying good bye to mine, which is a shame as it's a lovely sound card :(

I've had no problems with my Audigy 2ZS on Windows 7 64bit. Downloaded them direct from creatives site and if anything I think the sound is even better than it was on XP. I have to say though that Creative need a poke in the eye for making their link to old drivers real small and unobvious on their site. Although I just looked on www.soundblaster.com and they're on the front page now.
 
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