Upgrading - What to get?!

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Hey OverClockers community,

I've been a watcher of your site for about a year now, just looking at the nice deals you've got on, and now with the sight of the Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB on sale for a bit, I'm ready to kick in and buy that thing, just one thing is, I'm also thinking of other things to upgrade.

Current rig -

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Hard Drive: 711 GB Total
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600GS
Motherboard: San Francisco 2
PSU: 480W

I was wondering these things

- Would the new graphics card be able to fit and run fine with my PSU and Motherboard
- How much could I buy a nice new motherboard with support for my processor and with crossfire (For the graphics card if I want another) support


I'd rather my first question be answered because I really am thinking about buying right now because of the price drop.

Thanks,

Matt
 
This seems to be your motherboard:

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/item/index.php?i=spec_sanfrancisco2&ppn=PB81X06201

The 48701GB should run fine on there, but your PSU might not be up to the job, and your case might not be big enough.

Also, most motherboards on the market (or at least 90% of the decent ones) are full size ATX, and your case appears to be micro-ATX, so upgrading the motherboard is a bit tenuous.

How much gaming do you do? What resolution do you run? You might be better off going for a Radeon 4670, which is a quick little card that doesn't require a lot of power and is perfect for upgrading OEM PCs.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-175-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1274
 
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Hmm, this has been the case before, someone was saying I might have a micro-ATX PSU, but from the measurements they said that was a full size ATX one mine fits, unsure about if a motherboard does, but the real question is, would I be able to chuck in my micro-ATX into a bigger case until I get all the parts for upgrade?
 
Ok, good good. That's handy, I'll look into that, and I run 1680 x 1050.

Just the one thing with upgrading my PC case, I wont have my card reader in my new case :/
 
I have just enough room for it, I think I'm going to buy it, if there isn't room, I'll just buy a new case, shouldn't cost too much.
 
That does look like a nice case thepeganator, I was wondering, how hard is it to change from one case to another.

Also, I was thinking of getting another fan, I have a CPU fan, the fan on the PSU and the fan that is on the graphics card, I was wondering, how hard is it to fit in another fan to boost cooling power?



Edit: Oh also, I just bought the graphics card I wanted ^^
 
It's not that hard, usually takes me about an hour if I do a good job.

If you get that case I would still advise getting another fan, you can't have too many if you set them up right :)

If you're not changing case you'll need to check if you have any space for more.
 
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Yes.

The screw holes that micro-atx motherboards use are the same as atx, but without a few of the lower ones.

If a case supports one atx standard, it will support everything in the atx standard below that too.
 
Oh ok, good good.

I think I'll get that for my birthday then xD, 14 days away :D

Also, what motherboard would I be able to get for a cheap price that supports crossfire?
 
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