Where should I upgrade?

DublinDude

DublinDude

DublinDude

Associate
Joined
1 Oct 2007
Posts
325
Hi folks,

I have a reasonable system that a I built myself. I want to speed it up some what but I am not sure where. It is a games system but I do use it for everyday use aswell.

I am thinking of upgrading the graphics card and memory?

My current setup:

Memory
OCZ Gold XTC DDR2 PC6400 4096MB KIT,
w/two 2048MB PC6400 XTC, CL5-5-5-15

Graphics Card
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3, HDCP,
PCI-Express, 2xDVI-I, 320bit

Processor
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
Socket LGA775, 8MB, BOXED w/fan

Hard Drive
Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB SATA2
16MB 7200RPM

Motherboard
ABIT IP35-E, P35, Socket-775, ATX,
SATAII, GbLAN, DDR2, PCI-Ex16

Sound Card
Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty
Pro, 64MB, EAX ADVANCED HD

Power Supply
Corsair Powersupply 620W Black, ATX/EPS,
120mm Fan, 8xSATA, SLI, WxHxL 150x86x150

Case
Antec P182 Special Edition

Monitor
22" Samsung SyncMaster 226cw

Mouse
Razer Lachesis

Keyboard
Elipses II

OS
Vista Home Premium 64bit

I would love to hear your opinions.
 
Last edited:
GFX card increase will help. A good cooler on the chip will allow you to oc this past 3ghz. Also a faster hdd might help
 
Greenlizard0 said:
Memory is probably fine. Do you overclock? I'd probably go for the graphics too though not sure what moniter you have?
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I don't overclock..yet! I want to learn! I have updated first post to include monitor. I use a resolution of 1650*1050.

mpj88 said:
GFX card increase will help. A good cooler on the chip will allow you to oc this past 3ghz. Also a faster hdd might help
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Yea, I will need to look into cpu coolers but I havent a clue! I was thinking of going for a raptor or velociraptor drive but some people recommend and some don't.
 
the difference between a raptor and a samsung f1 320/640 is hardly noticable plus there is the matter of the extra noise. The only upgrade from these would be ssd's but they're quite expensive! On the cooler side the freezer pro seems to have quite good reviews.
 
mpj88 said:
the difference between a raptor and a samsung f1 320/640 is hardly noticable plus there is the matter of the extra noise. The only upgrade from these would be ssd's but they're quite expensive! On the cooler side the freezer pro seems to have quite good reviews.
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Yea thats what I am starting to hear from some people about the raptors! I currently have a 500gb spinpoint and was looking at the F1 1TB.

I will look at that cooler, thanks!
 
the 320 or 640 are faster because they use higher denisty 320gb platters so only need 1/2 platters.
 
Big difference between the Raptor's and Samsung drives! Most of the people who say otherwise haven't used both.

I have tried both and the Raptor is a lot faster, so much that I couldn't go back to a 7200rpm drive as a main drive again.

If you can afford it, do it. Best performance you can get untill SSD comes mainstream/affordable
 
VTR said:
Big difference between the Raptor's and Samsung drives! Most of the people who say otherwise haven't used both.

I have tried both and the Raptor is a lot faster, so much that I couldn't go back to a 7200rpm drive as a main drive again.

If you can afford it, do it. Best performance you can get untill SSD comes mainstream/affordable
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hmm, I hear a lot of people saying that. And a lot saying the opposite!! Its hard to know what to do!! I wouldn't touch SSD just yet!
 
I'd go for a new hard drive (640gb or 1tb) and a new graphics card. In terms of gaming, I'd say that your graphics card is definitely the weakest link in your spec. A 4850 or 4870 would sort you out very nicely :)
 
Namistai said:
I'd go for a new hard drive (640gb or 1tb) and a new graphics card. In terms of gaming, I'd say that your graphics card is definitely the weakest link in your spec. A 4850 or 4870 would sort you out very nicely :)
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Hmm, seems the sites I normally shop from are out of them cards. Are they being replaced shortly?
 
VTR said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-209-WD

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...oling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)


Would be a nice upgrade and enable you to get 3.2Ghz+ on your CPU :)
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Hmm there seems to be a lot of mixed and conflicting views on them velociraptors and raptors in general. I was originally looking into them but a lot of people have turned me off. (noisey, pricey, not significantly faster)

With regards to that cooler thingy, is it just a matter of replacing the current fan/heatsink with that?
 
The older raptor's used to be quite noisy but even those destroyed any other IDE drive by a fair margin on speed! The newer raptor's are even faster and a lot quieter. Don't even notice this one in my rig where as the old 74GB was loud. They are pricey though there's no denying that, depends if you can justify the spend really. After using one of the older Raptor's as my primary drive for years though there was no way I could use anything slower as an OS drive on my new system. I had one of those Samsung F1 drives as a backup/storage drive but I also had Windows installed and configured on it. One day I booted off it by mistake and couldn't believe how much slower it was. I'd highly reccomend getting one :)

Regarding the cooler, yes it would just be a replacement for your existing fan/heatsink. They're nice and easy to install and a great cooler for the price.
 
VTR said:
The older raptor's used to be quite noisy but even those destroyed any other IDE drive by a fair margin on speed! The newer raptor's are even faster and a lot quieter. Don't even notice this one in my rig where as the old 74GB was loud. They are pricey though there's no denying that, depends if you can justify the spend really. After using one of the older Raptor's as my primary drive for years though there was no way I could use anything slower as an OS drive on my new system. I had one of those Samsung F1 drives as a backup/storage drive but I also had Windows installed and configured on it. One day I booted off it by mistake and couldn't believe how much slower it was. I'd highly reccomend getting one :)

Regarding the cooler, yes it would just be a replacement for your existing fan/heatsink. They're nice and easy to install and a great cooler for the price.
Click to expand...

Thanks a million for your advice. I am learning lots from this forum!! Are the velociraptors faster and quieter than the raptors? or is it all just a fancy name!! Great name though!!
 
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