upgrading pc :)

djxtc

djxtc

djxtc

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7 Apr 2009
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hi, I built myself a pc last year and i m now considering investing around £400 in it to make it last for another year at least. I mostly use my pc for work and gaming.
This are the components that i have at the moment:

Windows Vista Home Premium 32 oem
ASUSTeK P5K-E
Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTX
2gb corsair ram
Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro
Antec P182
Intel Core 2 duo E6750
1 Samsung 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM
Dell 24” (2407FPW)
Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro
Corsair 620W HX Series Modular PSU


So basically I would like to invest a bit into making this pc better and have a longer life, if any nice soul could give me a tiny bit on advice on what to replace for the best performance i would be most appreciative.
 
That rig should be fine for the moment, only thing I would upgrade is perhaps add more RAM and upgrade the GPU to a 4890/GTX275.
 
I would suggest this and this, it's just a shame you're on a 32 bit os, therefore unable to utilise all that memory.

EDIT: For some reason I thought the budget was £200, so go with one of the cards that Icey Haj recommended, and maybe 64bit vista and another 2Gb of ram.
 
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do u think that it would be a good idea to upgrade the processor too, as it might be a bit of a bottleneck with a good graphic card otherwise.
thanks for your advice guys btw:)
 
It's a nice idea to invest on the system now to upgrade it according to the latest technology. I would like to suggest you to invest on processor as there is a latest upgrade in that area. Core 2 quad is the recent one now.
 
Core 2 quad is however not at all the answer for gaming. If youre happy with current frame rates then changing the gpu is probably not worth doing either.

I think move to 2x2gb of ram, rather than 4x1gb, and get the sunbeam core contact cpu cooler. Total cost perhaps a fifth of your budget, but you can then clock the cpu much faster. If youre so inclined, overclock the gpu too. Pretty close to negligible cost, fairly time consuming, much much faster computer. Success all round
 
yes the frame rate in games is starting to slow down quite a bit now, so I m definitely thinking of going quad core. for the graphic card i m now thinking either 4890 or GTX275 and also getting 4 gb of ram. Would it be wise to upgrade to vista 64 to get the use of the whole ram? thanks a lot everyone so far for ur help:) much appreciated
 
To enable you to actually use 4gigs, you would need 64bit yes. And since your using vista, the more ram the better!
 
yes i think that i might need to get windows 64 as i would like to have at least 4gb of ram (use photoshop and cubase) and a graphic card for the gaming part. I dont think i need a top end graphic card but just want a decent one that can play most games on full. also, which processor would be good value for money to go for? cheers everyone
 
I think, if you call up Microsoft, they will send you the CD for a 64bit version of your OS and you should be able to use the key you have already. It costs £7 I think, but it's cheaper than £90.

I would go with these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-039-KS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-260-IN

And save the rest for a GPU later on. I would suggest a 260, but it's not that much of an upgrade, I reckon it would be worthwhile waiting a little bit.

If you sold your old CPU, RAM and GPU, you could get a 275, maybe a couple of 260's, I dunno.
 
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I'm pretty certain you don't want a quad core. If value for money is an issue you definitely don't. Graphics cards isn't my area at all, I'm too happy with my modded 8800GT. THe only difference between my dual core and quad core at the same speeds is that the quad refuses to slow down however many things it does at once, whereas it's possible to lock up the dual core (with considerable effort)

Games are not very well multithreaded so don't do any better on a quad. Dual cores clock higher, so a faster dual core outperforms a slower quad, and costs less, and is generally more responsive to use
 
My advice there would be to get that Vista 64 bit version from Microsoft, and when thats sorted get 4gb ram (2x2) and then upgrade the graphics to the latest version, maybe a GTX 285, that would serve you well into the future for at least another year ;)
 
yes i called microsoft and they will send me a copy of 64 for 17.50. I will then upgrade the ram to 4GB and get a new CPU. Dont think there is a need for a new graphic card yet as the 8800GTX is still doing a decent job eventhough i have a 24" screen. Still a bit confused on the CPU though; duo or quad? and which one to go for ? ty
 
The easy answer would be an i7 as thats the top performer and will be for a long time to come, but I doubt you have a mobo that can take that kind of chip? If you dont then its a Quad that will give you the best performance for now.
 
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