PC upgrade ideas?

[Dufran3]

Hey all, new here, wanting to upgrade my pc for reasonable cost. But I'm not sure where my hardware stands compared to what is out there...don't want to spend $130 on a new vid. card when it doesn't really outperform the one I have. I hope you can help!

Current System Spec's:

MOBO: MSI Neo4 Platinum (HATE THIS MOBO, WANT TO GO ASUS)
PROC: AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 2.61Ghz
MEM: 4 GB Kingston Value Ram (although only get 3.25 recognized)
HDD: 2 Seagate 150GB drives SATA in RAID 0
VIDEO: ATI Radeon X1900XT
AUDIO: Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer Edition

I think that is it, I would prob. keep my drives, and sound card. Was looking at some ASUS boards, and also some Intel Procs. Wanted to switch to Nvidia vid card to. was looking at 8800 GT, but didn't know if it would outperform what I have.

PLEASE ANYONE WITH A SUGGESTION, PLEASE GIVE IT TO ME!! Thanks!

[Salamando3000]

First question I need to ask - for what reason do you want to upgrade? Particular game not running at an acceptable speed?

Also - you shouldn't be surprised that your pc is only recognizing 3.25 GB of RAM. With 32-bit OS's, it cannot access the full 4 GB of RAM.

[Dufran3]

Yeh, I can't really run the games I play at high settings. BF2142 doesn't run well, TF2 runs ok...etc...anyway, not surprised that it doesn't see all 4, just thought I would mention int.

[UnderwaterMadman]

An 8800gt would give somewhere between 20 - 30% in games where your CPU does not bottleneck you.

[Jest]

It probably isn't worth upgrading at all for you right now, at least not the processor/mobo. I'd say you could put a 4850 in there for about $170 and get a huge performance boost. If you want to switch to Intel/nVidia I'd say wait maybe a year or two. That will give some time for developers to get new stuff out the door that will really make use of Quad Core. GDDR3 ram will be much more inexpensive aroudn that time as well. So I would say just keep saving for now, wait for new announcements from Intel/nVidia and build a monster machine next Fall. For now a 4850 would be a great investment for running TF2 and 2142.

[Dufran3]

Next fall, ahh!! BF3 is supposedly coming out this fall, and there are tons of games in september...spore...etc...any reccommendations for a prompt "now" type of upgrade? I wouldn't mind just going to DDR2, ya know...anyway...thanks for the reply, and I will check that vid card out, but wanted to upgrade before this fall.

BTW, on the 4850, what manuf. is good for a that card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048&Description=4850&name=Desktop+Graphics+%2f+Video+Cards

[Jest]

Gigabyte, Sapphire, Asus, MSI. If you want to upgrade now what is your budget? I could help you put something together.

[Dufran3]

Would like to keep it low... around 600-700 or something like that...here is what i have just thrown together...


Product Description Savings Total Price
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/14-102-747-TS?$S60$
SAPPHIRE 100242L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747) Item #: N82E16814102747


-$5.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate (http://images10.newegg.com/UploadFilesForNewegg/rebate/SH/Sapphire3MIRSJul23Jul3108lt12.pdf) $179.99$174.99



http://c1.neweggimages.com/ProductImageCompressAll/20-227-298-02.jpg
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P10664GK - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298) Item #: N82E16820227298


-$20.00 Instant
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate (http://images10.newegg.com/uploadfilesfornewegg/rebate/SH/OCZ5MIRsJul16Jul3108lh15.pdf) $129.99$109.99


http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/13-131-322-TS?$S60$
ASUS P5QL-E LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131322) Item #: N82E16813131322



$109.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500 - Retai (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036) Item #: N82E16819115036
http://c1.neweggimages.com/ProductImageCompressAll/19-115-036-02.jpghttp://c1.neweggimages.com/ProductImageCompressAll/00-992-035-03.jpghttp://c1.neweggimages.com/ProductImageCompressAll/00-992-036-03.jpg

-$49.98 Combo
$244.97$194.99

[Dufran3]

Currently using AMD, so i might need a Intel compatible CPU cooler, not sure how well the stock fans run. Suggestions on that, or any of the parts I choose you wouldn't reccomend?

[Jest]

Those look pretty good. The fans that come with the retail C2D are quite good. If you are not going to overclock, or do some light overclocking, it will be fine. Just pick up some AS5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007 since the cooling pad they have on the chip already is kind of shitty.

[UnderwaterMadman]

I got a 1.8 -> 3.0 overclock using the stock fan on my c2d. If you want to upgrade later on just make sure the cooler you get does not need a backplate, you wont want to tear the whole thing apart just to put on a new cooler.

[dothog]

Fuzzy dice, maybe an 8-ball gear shift. Who knows? Go crazy.

[DrFoo]

First of all I would recommend against the ram upgrade. If you already have 4 gb of compatible ram you are not going to see much of a performance increase with faster ram. Also as far as cpu coolers go here are a couple that I like:
Arctic Freezer 7 Pro (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134)
Scythe Ninja 1100p (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185038)
I have the scythe and it is almost completely silent and keeps my processor reasonably cool (idles at about 40 degrees in a 22 degree room on my heavily overclocked quad core). My friend bought the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro and he likes it so far. It is also pretty much the most popular cooler on newegg. It is noisier but smaller.

[Dufran3]

The 4GB of RAM i currently have isn't compatible, have no choice but to get new RAM

[DrFoo]

Oh ok then yeah of course get new ram. I would recommend trying to find deals on 2x1 gb and buy 2 of those instead. You could probably save $50 that way (losing the ability to expand later, but you shouldn't need more than 4 gb for another 5 years). Here (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227139) is one right now for only $20, but the rebate is only one per household. Even if you bought that twice and sent in one rebate you would still save $30.

[52club]

That MB is a 5 egger over at newegg. Just wondering why you hate it so much.

[Dufran3]

The MSI Board, oh gosh, where do I begin. I have 2 computers that have that board, each board has been RMA'd at least 3 times.... bro-in-law has this board also, 2 RMA's. Had my two boards for about 2 1/2 years. Mobo dies w/out any signs of problems....all the sudden, restart and keyboard/mouse aren't detected... and never will be again....haha...suck

BTW Dr Foo, thanks for the comments and advice, however the linked RAM is DDR2 800 not 1066


Any other comments?

Would the upgraded machine outperform my current specs?? By a lot, a little?? What do you guys think?

[plasticbathmonki]

What OS are you using? 4 gbs of RAM might not be worth the trouble if you are using XP.

[Dufran3]

will go do Vista w/ the upgrade

[ofacto]

If you going with the HD4850, Visiontek is the only company to offer a limited lifetime warranty so that may be one worth looking at.

[Dufran3]

thanks, read up on it, apparently it runs hot, trying to find a good VGA cooler for it.

[Dufran3]

Found a VGA Cooler, the Accelero Twin Turbo by Artic Cooling. http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=166

Anyone have any other suggestions? Really appreciate the input so far!!

[Dufran3]

Do you think this upgrade would allow me to run Vista x64?

[Dufran3]

Placing my order tomorrow....any last suggestions??

Should I try and get a Quad core instead of the dual core...is this proc. better?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

it's a 2.4 instead of a 3.1

Or maybe this board instead of the one I previously posted?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131225

[DrFoo]

I really like the Q6600. If you like to overclock I would definitely go with that. I have mine at 3.4 ghz (which is probably close to the highest speed you could get the dual core to) with a reasonable voltage increase. It will help a lot with multitasking and once programs start supporting 4 cores you will obviously be at a huge advantage. As far as the other motherboard, it probably doesn't matter a whole lot, but I do know the P35 chipset is very good for overclocking (and is actually what is in my computer).

[Dufran3]

Really, the 2.4 Quad over the 3.1 Dual Core? Wasn't planning on OC'ing it, no experience in doing that.

[SOSTrooper]

I'd recommend just getting the Core 2 Duo CPU without going through overclocking and such. Most people dont need the quad cores to operate their computer. When the time comes where you NEED a quad core, then upgrade to a quad core. For now, stick with Core 2 Duo.

[Dufran3]

Thanks for the advice, really appreciate all the help I'm getting here at CAG! Thanks guys! Actually, my wife convinced me to hold off the upgrade until the week of August 15th. So I will have some extra time to think it over, and get some more valuable advice from all ya!

Anything else? :-):hot:

[Dufran3]

K, getting ready to order this bad boy on Monday, making sure I have the best motherboard for my system, and for my buck...which of these would you guys suggest??

ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275)

ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131182)

ASUS P5K EPU LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131277)
ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131196)

Let me know what you guys think about these

[joemoedee]

If you don't need Wi-Fi on board, save the money and go with either the Pro or EPU. If you're looking to overclock, it seems the EPU has a few more available BIOS options vs the Pro.