• TY2D2
  • TY2D2
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  • From: California
  • Registered: 2006-07-24
  • Posts: 4,574

Topic: Need a hardware upgrade...

Looking to upgrade my machine, as I am falling out of date...


I need new:


RAM, 2 GB minimum.
Video Card, 8800GT/GTX or 9600GT?
MotherBoard, of course.
CPU, dual core would be nice xD.



My case, HDDs, DVD, and PSU can be reused.


I will not be giving a price range. Just give me some options with links to newegg and a price quote for the items you selected and it would be highly appreciated. What I am looking for is the best bang for my buck at a reasonable price.

Reasonable is negotiable*

Don't go crazy with the price and get me 4 videocards though, thanks.

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  • Athlon
  • Athlon
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  • From: Coventry UK
  • Registered: 2008-01-23
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Re: Need a hardware upgrade...

What size is your existing power supply?

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  • TY2D2
  • TY2D2
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Re: Need a hardware upgrade...

400W

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  • From: Bruges, Belgium
  • Registered: 2007-10-03
  • Posts: 86

Re: Need a hardware upgrade...

hmm i think that's not enough for the geforce 8 series, i don't know about the 9xxx's
and go for the 8800gt instead of the gtx, you'll save a lot of bucks with only a little bit less power

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  • Twigs
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Re: Need a hardware upgrade...

Well, it all depends on wether or not you want to overclock. If your going to run at stock speeds then not a lot of point in getting high performance ram, so any 2Gb kit would do. If your running (or planning to run) Vista then I'd reccomend 4 Gb. Why not go for Quad core? You can get a Q6600 for a less than a C2D6850.

Motherboard again depends on what use you want, and which features you require. SLi? Crossfire? Built in wireless? Choice of graphics card is also going to affect choice of mobo, the bigger the graphics card then the more it will impact on how much room it takes up in the case. Some get very close to the onboard chip coolers, ram slots etc. May end up meaning you also need a new case to get everything to slot in and have enough room.

I'd really reccomend a new PSU as well. I currently use the 580w Hyper Type-R modular PSU, with an AMD 64 3500, 2Gb Kingston DDR400, 40Gb OS drive, 250Gb media drive, 500Gb backup drive, 2xlite on DVD RW, 2x7900GT in SLi.

I could do with upgrading myself, but since it still plays crysis, CoD4 etc then I'm happy. Dont need the full eye candy effect!

My advice though would be to measure up your new case to be sure of its internal dimensions, then look at how everything is going to fit. If possible, go to local shops as they should let you see the merchandise out of the box and get a feel for how close everything is going to sit.

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6 Reply by Suriander (edited by Suriander 2008-04-16 10:10:42)

  • From: Here.
  • Registered: 2008-02-18
  • Posts: 458

Re: Need a hardware upgrade...

Umm, basically you are describing everything I laid out in another thread concerning me building a new computer.  The cost is currently at $376.95 after rebates.

Suriander wrote:

I'm planning on making a new computer, with a final price of less than $400.  Some parts will be salvaged from my current computer.  After rebates, it will cost $380.95, not including S&H.  I'm not really planning on going hardcore with it, just something to last me the next year or so.

What I need to buy -

-Case - Black MicroATX   http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a … 6811144162
-Motherboard - GIGABYTE AM2 MicroATX   http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a … 6813128043
-Video Card - 9600GT   http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a … 6814127333
-CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition   http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a … 6819103194
-RAM - OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB)   http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a … 6820227124

Hope you like a microATX computer!

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7 Reply by Athlon (edited by Athlon 2008-04-16 16:47:54)

  • Athlon
  • Athlon
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  • Registered: 2008-01-23
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Re: Need a hardware upgrade...

Whats your current computers spec? Could be it may only need a little upgrading to see you through another year or so. As for 4 gig of ram beware, vista only clocks 4 gig (Vista 32) and that includes all memory present on your system includeing whats on the graphics card. If your power supply looks cheap and, say, came with a cheap case chances are its not 400w even tho the sticker says it is. You'll know if its not up to the job tho as Nvidia cards have a nice feature which powers them down and warns you if their not getting enough juice. Don't be afraid to look through E Bay for 8800 gts cards (320 or 640) You may pick up a real bargain because everyones jumped onto the 8800 gt band wagon. Also be aware the 8800 gt has a single slot cooler which throws the air into the case not out of it. They run pretty hot so if you have poor case ventilation you could be in trouble come the summer months.
Finally remember not to believe to much hype, chances are your system may only need a few cheap upgrades to make it fly again (more memory and a cheap second hand 8800 GTS) Games like BF2, 2142, and Quake wars are graphic intensive not cpu intensive. Easiest way to see what
you system is just by type Dxdiag in your run box from start in XP like so:

Time of this report: 4/16/2008, 21:36:34
       Machine name: HAL
   Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.longhorn_rtm.080118-1840)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: -=BAD=- Athlon
       System Model: Asus P5E3
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 10/30/07 19:31:08 Ver: 08.00.12
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E6850  @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
             Memory: 2046MB RAM DDR 3
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce 8800 GTS 512
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0600&SUBSYS_050210DE&REV_A2
   Display Memory: 1247 MB
-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
            Description:  (Creative SB X-Fi)

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