What to upgrade?

Simonnn · 19 Nov 2007 at 23:07

As its approaching Christmas I'm being asked to start thinking of any ideas for presents, don't really have any other ideas at the moment so only thing can think of is maybe upgrading something to the computer, I've got the following spec which isn't that old but theres things I could upgrade. I Mainly use the computer for games (I've got Crysis which I have to run on pretty low settings) and a lot of design work, Photoshop, 3D modeling etc
What would be the most effective on the following spec to upgrade? I know RAM is a cheap upgrade, any suggestions on what I'd benefit most from?

Case: Antec Sonata II Piano - 450W Smart Power PSU

Graphics: Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3

RAM: GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2

Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.13GHz with an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Cooler

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA_965P_DS4

Thanks

plasticmekon · 19 Nov 2007 at 23:39

I'd do the GPU first without question.

Get yourself an 8800GT now if you can find one or see what happens on 3rd Dec wrt the new GTS'. The difference in Crysis should be pretty damn good!

Simonnn · 20 Nov 2007 at 13:15

Thanks, Im not all the clued in when it comes to graphics cards, there seems to be several different 8800GT cards ranging from £140 to £205, whats the main differences, which ones are better?

syke · 20 Nov 2007 at 13:18

The difference will be clock speeds mostly, depends how much you want to spend on the upgrade.

The BFG/EVGA 8800GT at about £175 is a good one to get.

semi-pro waster · 20 Nov 2007 at 13:20

Well the £145 one has only 256mb Ram so I'd discount that straight away, that leaves you with the 512mb versions which vary from ~£170 to £210. For these there isn't too much of a difference other than the bundles and the overclocks, I think Gibbo said in the Graphics Card sub-forum that EVGA had a large amount of stock on the way so you might want to look at them.

Simonnn · 21 Nov 2007 at 09:32

Thanks, do you think my current PSU would still be fine upgrading the graphics card or woudl that be worth considering?

toothe · 21 Nov 2007 at 09:38

dont think you'll need a new power supply. the 8800gt are quite good on power. although if you have something bigger it will be a little cleaner and stable.

PeteLucky7 · 21 Nov 2007 at 09:45

If you have 64bit Vista then you can't go wrong with another 2gb ram for 35 squids.

closeratio · 21 Nov 2007 at 10:23

You might want to check that your power supply has a pci-express power connector on it though, as the 8800GT needs one of these to work.

Simonnn · 21 Nov 2007 at 14:36

PeteLucky7 said:
If you have 64bit Vista then you can't go wrong with another 2gb ram for 35 squids.

Its only 32bit Vista I think, have to check at home, if so will another 2gb not do anything?

I think I do have the pci power connector from PSU, think my existing card needed it

semi-pro waster · 21 Nov 2007 at 18:27

Simonnn said:
Its only 32bit Vista I think, have to check at home, if so will another 2gb not do anything?

It will work but you will only see about 3.5gb of it in Windows due to an inherant limit on the ability of a 32bit OS to address 4gb of Ram.

closeratio · 21 Nov 2007 at 19:49

semi-pro waster said:
It will work but you will only see about 3.5gb of it in Windows due to an inherant limit on the ability of a 32bit OS to address 4gb of Ram.

I've been wondering ever since i found out this drawback to a 32bit OS, but is it intentional that the 32bit versions of xp and vista can only utilise 3.5Gb of RAM, or is it actually physically impossible to code a 32bit operating system that can utilise more than 3.5gb of RAM? Just curious

semi-pro waster · 21 Nov 2007 at 20:09

closeratio said:
I've been wondering ever since i found out this drawback to a 32bit OS, but is it intentional that the 32bit versions of xp and vista can only utilise 3.5Gb of RAM, or is it actually physically impossible to code a 32bit operating system that can utilise more than 3.5gb of RAM? Just curious

It is a limit inherant to 32bit systems for Ram, it simply cannot address more. It isn't just Microsoft trying to get you to upgrade or anything like that, just a natural limitation of any 32bit OS. If I could remember any programming I could probably explain in more depth but since I can't you could always do a quick search and see what turns up.

crowhorse · 21 Nov 2007 at 20:40

Simonnn said:
Thanks, do you think my current PSU would still be fine upgrading the graphics card or woudl that be worth considering?

I'd say go for the GPU too.... your 450W PSU should be able to handle a single card with the rest of your setup because the Antecs are reasonably good... so get the 8800GT