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Help needed with Computer upgrade.
Hey People,
I am planning an upgrade to my Comp this weekend or next and was after some feedback on what might be the
best upgrades to do to my gaming computer. As i am on my work comp atm i will try to list all i can.
Motherboard: Asus PK5C ( I thin thats what it is ) / I read up on it last night and It does support up to 1333Mhz DDR3 & 2 PCI-e x16 slots for SLi
CPU: Quad Core Q6600.
Ram: 4GB DDR2 800Mhz
Graphics: Nvidia 8600gts 512mb
HDD: 500gb HDD
Fan: 450w
Sound: On board sound
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium & Xp Pro
Now i really want to upgrade the graphics card, ram & fan. I have about $700 Australian to spend and was after what the best options would be. I am after the best graphics and speed that my budget will allow.
I am no expert but all this will be no problem for me to install.
Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks
Comments
Bump.
Anyone have any suggestions?
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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I would upgrade your gfx card with most of your budget. You will need a larger PSU as well. Your CPU should do you fine, esspecially if it is overclocked. You might want to invest in a Zalman cooler for the CPU if you plan to overclock it. I don't think you need more ram, as you really wont get any benefit just yet. Then again, ram is cheap. You could easily pick up another 4 gigs for like, 50 USD.
Anyway, if it was me, I would grab a ATi 4750 or a GTX 280, a 600-700watt PSU, and a Zalman Fan. That should leave you with cash to spare I would assume.
In order to determine what upgrades are appropriate for the video card, we'll need to know more about your power supply.
If you could take a picture of the side of the power supply with the power information and post it, it would be very helpful.
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Thanks for the replys guys. I actually might have to Solareus as the case i am running at the moment is fairly average
and i just love the look and size of the case you posted. I think i will go for a 260 - 275gtx card and upgrade the PSU and just leave the ram for now untill later on.
I cant post a picture as yet of the PSU till i get home but what do you guys think of the HD4850 and HD4870 cards?
Your ram is fine, 4gb is enough and RAM speed makes little difference in fps. Best bet is to dump money into a video card, and if you need it, a new PSU. Your PSU may be fine, 450W should power any single GPU set up if it's a quality PSU - but you may need a new one if it's a stock PSU that some manufacturer gave you because their PSU's always suck.
The Radeon 4870 is at an awesome price point now that the 4890 was released, and for above $200 the 4890 or the 275 are both good but you might have to wait a bit to get a hold of a 275.
Pretty much.
Whether or not you'll need a new PSU depends entirely on the amperage on the 12v rail.
The 4850/4870/4890 are great choices right now.
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I just looked up the prices for the 275. I'd definitely pick up a 4890 for that price range. The 4890 is like $20 bucks cheaper and faster at every resolution except 2560x1600.
As for the 4850 you asked about, depending on your monitor's resolution and what games you play you may do fine with a 4850 - they're only $120 now but still a good card. If you're only at 1680x1050 and not doing max settings in AoC or some FPS it'd do you good. This is the card I'm probably gonna pick up soon, cuz I'm cheap and not all that demanding, plus I'm only at 1280x1024 so it'll blow them out of the water for me
Thanks Noquarter & Tykero for the replies. I might have a look at the swap meet this weekend and see what prices i can get things for. I might take Solareus's advice and opt for a better case and PSU and take your advice and go with a 4870 as i have read some very good reviews.
Thanks again for all the replies.
If you have money left over from the GPU, why not take a look at the sound card? Also think about getting a gaming keyboard or mouse.
(prepare for rabid AMD fanbois attack)
You could save up your cash and go AMD, but this is probably inapropriate since your only upgrading and are an Infitel slave! My apologies but being an AMD fanbois I can't help myself.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
I am actually happy with my keyboard & mouse and have some very good logitech speakers but i think i will have to one day get a decent sound card. I don't mind the onboard sound for now though as i think i need some other things first.
My last computer was AMD & to be honest i don't mind what i use either way as long as its quick & reliable.
Be careful on the PSU. Higher wattage does not necessarily mean better.
What's important is the wattage on the +12v rail. It will be listed on the side of any Power Supply you purchase (if it isn't listed DO NOT BUY IT). You want a wattage of around 400 to 450 to be comfortable, which means 33 to 40 amps on the +12 rail. More won't hurt. Less might. As a power supply ages, it can lose some of its peak power. Additionally, power supplies tend to operate more efficiently and optimally when they're at loads of certain percentiles of their peak power (~50% is ideal in many cases).
A lot of power supplies will have inflated amperages in other areas in order to increase the total wattage of the power supply to make it seem better. Do not be fooled. Almost all of the power nowadays is drawn from the +12v rail. All the others (+3.3v, +5v, -12v, 5vsb) are, for the ordinary user, fairly negligible.
Edit: Sorry if I'm just stating what you already know. I figure it's better to be clear than proper.
Good luck with your upgrades.
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If you do get a new PSU this list might be handy, slightly old but still a good referense for PSU quality: www.computer-juice.com/forums/f40/unofficial-power-supply-rankings-14076/ There's no way to put stability and quality into a number on the PSU so it's a good reference to have in addition to the +12v rating.
Now you don't need to get a tier 1 off that list - i wouldn't even recommend those as being worth the money. The tier 2 are great if you're doing SLI or have the money but those tier 3 ones are just fine for normal use, and even the tier 4 ones if you just need something cheap. I will say I got an Ultra Xfinity (tier 4) for $50 and it lasted a year and a half of 100% uptime (I never shut this PC off) - was kind of disappointed that it failed, but they have a lifetime warranty and they upgraded me to a Ultra X-3 modular PSU (tier 2) for free so it worked out well
Be careful on the PSU. Higher wattage does not necessarily mean better.
What's important is the wattage on the +12v rail. It will be listed on the side of any Power Supply you purchase (if it isn't listed DO NOT BUY IT). You want a wattage of around 400 to 450 to be comfortable, which means 33 to 40 amps on the +12 rail. More won't hurt. Less might. As a power supply ages, it can lose some of its peak power. Additionally, power supplies tend to operate more efficiently and optimally when they're at loads of certain percentiles of their peak power (~50% is ideal in many cases).
A lot of power supplies will have inflated amperages in other areas in order to increase the total wattage of the power supply to make it seem better. Do not be fooled. Almost all of the power nowadays is drawn from the +12v rail. All the others (+3.3v, +5v, -12v, 5vsb) are, for the ordinary user, fairly negligible.
Edit: Sorry if I'm just stating what you already know. I figure it's better to be clear than proper.
Good luck with your upgrades.
Just got home and checked the Power Supply. Its a cooler master 400w and the +12 is only rated at 14A and the -12 at 15A. By that list from Tykero i think this must be in the tier 5 range and needs to be upgraded.
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
.jpg)
Thanks for the replys guys. I actually might have to Solareus as the case i am running at the moment is fairly average
and i just love the look and size of the case you posted. I think i will go for a 260 - 275gtx card and upgrade the PSU and just leave the ram for now untill later on.
I cant post a picture as yet of the PSU till i get home but what do you guys think of the HD4850 and HD4870 cards?
Think ATI 4000 series cards are prety good @ the price, the only thing I have an issue is, how good are the drivers now. Drivers for ATI ahas always been a problem, I'm personally going to be switching to ATI card so I can do my spider configuration, so I'm leaning on getting a 4870 x 2 first , just to see how well it works. Won't sswitch till fall, most likely..
The case is nice and big, they have different models of it at the Antec website.
Well that is weird. I was just looking up the website as soon as your message came through. They have some great looking cases. At the moment my case is fairly small and i doubt will even fit a 4870 or a gtx260 as they look big from what i can tell.
It would be useful to know what types of games your playing. A recent FPS is going to need a better card than lots of other types of games.
Be very careful on your motherboard selection. I find newegg.com customer posts on the MB they sell very informative.
Quad core isn't useful in many games. You might be able to save money buying a Dual which would work just as well.
If you have 5.1 speakers, I'd suggest an audio card. Depends on the quality of the MB on board sound. Vista is also a major factor in your sound card choice.
I wouldn't bother installing XP. Haven't touched that boot in months.
If you really need a new case, going cheap on one isn't going to change your FPS much.
I'd be wary of buying an X2 card of any brand if you're going to have a soundcard, or use anyother pci expansion slot for that matter. I was going to go for a 4850X2 until I found out that although my mobo has two pciX16 slots, it is all about pipeline sharing. So If I use even an X1 slot it will knock down both X16 slots to X8 slots. It seems it will spread out the lines rather than concentrate what the motherboard has on what is being used.
Now I'm looking at getting a 4890 instead, so I can use both my motherboard and GPU to full potential.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
Yeah i have decided to go with a single card. I will go look at the prices of the GTX260/GTX280 and HD4870/HD4890 tomorrow and see what i think is the better deal. I have also decided on a corsair 750w PSU as the one i have now im fairly sure is average at best. ( Coller Master 450w )I will look at the 850w model also but i think in Aus they are going to be fairly exp.
Cooler Master is one of the better brands. You only need a beefy 750w powersupply if you are going to cram a LOT into your case. If you are only going with one non-dual video card why are you buying a 750+w powersupply?
Well i want to set up a new case anyway and figure i may as well get a better PSU as the one im using is actually only 400w and not 450w like i thought. I just think i should do it now so i dont need to later down the track.