Upgrade options, suggestions please?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
F

Farflame

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2005
23
0
18,510
I'm looking to upgrade my computer a bit but don't want to spend much more than about £200. Most importantly, I want to upgrade the graphics card because it's mostly used for games and I feel that the graphics are the biggest bottleneck at the moment.

The important info is....

Mobo : Asus A8V-E Deluxe
Processor : Processor x86 Family 15 Model 31 Stepping 0 AuthenticAMD ~1800 Mhz
Current Graphics Card : NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Memory : 2GB

Everything else (HD etc) is adequate.

So, does anyone know what's the best GFX card I could put into this motherboard, or have any recommendations around the £100 - £150 mark, and will it be a major upgrade to my current graphics?

Also, what's the best processor upgrade I could go for, as I feel the processor is starting to struggle a bit aswell.
 
blade85

blade85

Distinguished
Sep 19, 2006
1,426
0
19,280
what sorta games do you play?

cause quite honestly the 6600 GT is by no means a bad card.

Personally I'd think it was your cpu holding it back.

but if you really want to get another card, try looking at the prices of the x1950 pro or if your looking for a lower priced card then a 7600 GT or even a 7900 series card. The options are endless. You just need to check what sort of performance boost you want (keeping in mind that your cpu will bottleneck the cards a fair bit)

check the performance difference here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphics/charts.html
 
pauldh

pauldh

Illustrious
Jan 1, 2004
11,814
0
40,810
That's an A64 @ 1.8GHz .....A64 3000+. His CPU is way stronger than the 6600GT. Something along the lines of a 7900GS or X1950 pro should be a nice upgrade and I'd think within his price. (Don't know UK pricing) SHoot, if he can stretch it to a X1950XT or better yet 320MB GF8800GTS, then go fo it. That 3000+ should be good for 2.2GHz or more if he wants more cpu power. Just gotta watch the power supply.
 
aBg_rOnGak

aBg_rOnGak

Distinguished
Feb 23, 2006
481
0
18,790
That's an A64 @ 1.8GHz .....A64 3000+. His CPU is way stronger than the 6600GT. Something along the lines of a 7900GS or X1950 pro should be a nice upgrade and I'd think within his price. (Don't know UK pricing) SHoot, if he can stretch it to a X1950XT or better yet 320MB GF8800GTS, then go fo it. That 3000+ should be good for 2.2GHz or more if he wants more cpu power. Just gotta watch the power supply.
Click to expand...


Are you sure that cpu is that powerful?At least concerning 6600GT?I asked because I do not know about this....Farflame,if you could afford to buy X1950Pro or 8800GTS 320Mb,I suggest you to overclock your cpu.If it's core is Venice,you can't OC much compared to the other core (sorry,can't remember,03:16 right now)but,using stock HSF,I believe you could reach at least 2.3GHz.The other core could reach 2.4GHZ on stock cooling.Just IMO

Edit:There are three core actually,the other two are Winchester and Newcastle...but I really do not know which one is the better OCer :oops:
 
F

Farflame

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2005
23
0
18,510
I'll be honest when I say I'm not much of a techno person, so I'm not very comfortable with overclocking etc. I can just about manage to change a graphics card, but that's about my limit really.

I feel the graphics are the bottleneck, but that's based mainly on the performance of Supreme Commander which I received yesterday. I know it's a new game and is probably asking alot of any PC, but it does seem as though the graphics are the weakness on my machine. Towards the end of the game, when there are lots of units around, the game starts to feel 'heavy', but if I zoom right in, it runs very smoothly, which suggests to me that zooming out and looking at lots of units is causing more problems than the CPU trying to track all the units etc.

I don't mind stretching the budget a little bit, but once I start hitting the £300 / £400 mark I may aswell start thinking about a new machine altogether? But yes, if a £300 GFX card is likely to give me a significant boost, I'd be happy to pay that.
 
pauldh

pauldh

Illustrious
Jan 1, 2004
11,814
0
40,810
If you are uncomforatable overclocking, don't do it. Even without overclocking, the A64 3000+ has more gaming power than a Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz, and way more power than any of the Athlon XP's. You currently meet the recommended(not just minimum) CPU requirement for practically all if not all games. It would bottleneck the highest end cards, but there is plenty of performance in it to sport a higher Graphics card.

The 6600GT was a good card in it's time, but it's a budget level card now. It's by far bottleneck for gaming on your system. Check your prices, but from best to worst avoiding the extreme high end, look for a

8800GTS 320MB
X1950XT 256MB
X1950 pro
7900GS

All these are in the $140-300 range in the USA. The 7900GS uses the least power so it could run on a smaller power supply.

SHoot, to be honest an X1650XT or 7600GT is even a huge jump above the 6600GT and those are just a bit over $100.
 
F

Farflame

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2005
23
0
18,510
Thanks guys, that answers my questions, I'll go for a nice new card, it'll improve things alot I'm sure. I already have a big power supply, so I don't think that's a problem. I assume since I already have a PCI Express card, then any PCI Express (such as those recommended) will fit in my machine?
 
F

Farflame

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2005
23
0
18,510
Had a bit of a problem here, I ordered from the link which Foz gave above, but the order has suddenly been cancelled because that price was wrong - apparently the manufacturer had issued the wrong price and the real price for that card is now closer to £300, which is starting to get a bit expensive. So I've had a look around, and spotted what I think is basically the same card, but the 320mb version here....

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-88GTS3

For a much more reasonable price (under £200 all-in).

Is that the same card, just a bit slower? Should I be thinking of spending an extra £100 for the other one, or is that just throwing money away?

Oh and I saw a few reviews talking about these cards having an 'unfixable' BSOD problem. Is this something that's been addressed?
 
cleeve

cleeve

Illustrious
Mar 7, 2003
12,012
0
40,790
The 320mb 8800 GTS is still an amazing card for the price. Unless you're playing games at unholy 1600+ resolutions you won't be able to detect the difference in power with the human eye. Even then, it'd be close.

Go for the 8800 GTS 320mb. Compared to your 6600, it's such a giant leap forward you'll be incredulous.
 
GSTe

GSTe

Distinguished
Oct 6, 2006
656
0
18,990
Had a bit of a problem here, I ordered from the link which Foz gave above, but the order has suddenly been cancelled because that price was wrong - apparently the manufacturer had issued the wrong price and the real price for that card is now closer to £300, which is starting to get a bit expensive. So I've had a look around, and spotted what I think is basically the same card, but the 320mb version here....

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-88GTS3

For a much more reasonable price (under £200 all-in).

Is that the same card, just a bit slower? Should I be thinking of spending an extra £100 for the other one, or is that just throwing money away?

Oh and I saw a few reviews talking about these cards having an 'unfixable' BSOD problem. Is this something that's been addressed?
Click to expand...

No its not worth the extra £100..... this is even a bit cheaper:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=546948
 
F

foz

Distinguished
Feb 10, 2005
176
0
18,680
I thought that price was pretty cheap, I only recommended this 640mb version because of the price. The 320mb version is still a great card. All the different brands will perform the same so you can select by price. Check the warranties ,that is also a good deciding factor. The performance difference is not worth the extra £100 (The only diff. is playing games above 1600x1200)
 
F

Farflame

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2005
23
0
18,510
Ah excellent, and even cheaper, I'll go for that one then :D

I won't play games on a higher reso, although I do have a very good monitor which can handle that, but I'm happy to play on a smaller reso and ramp the graphic quality up as high as possible. I can't wait :D
 
F

Farflame

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2005
23
0
18,510
Hmm I'm not sure, there's lots of '12v' stuff on that page but I don't know which one I'm looking at. None of the figures look very high at the moment, for example 'Typical Gaming 12V1 draw' shows 5.7A. The model, as much as I can see from here, is a Qtec 550W Dual Fan PFC. Can't read anything else from here :?
 
F

foz

Distinguished
Feb 10, 2005
176
0
18,680
I found out on Google that your power supply has 16 amps on the 12volt rail.
(I couldn't find anyone with anything good to say about the Q-Tec)
I entered your system into the calculator and saw you need 18.7 to 24.1 amp of 12volt. Look at the very bottom of the page "recommended psu ratings"
You will need a new power supply.
I have seen good reviews for the Silverstone Strider 600 £89 with VAT
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=282260
Review:
http://jonnyguru.com/PSU/ST60F/
A little overkill for your current system, but it never hurts to have a little extra power
This Silverstone Element ST50EF-PLUS 500W is £62 with VAT is also a good
choice.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=355398
Review:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=23
 
F

Farflame

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2005
23
0
18,510
Yeah, had a good look around and I can see your point. To be honest, I don't mind upgrading the PSU, because my current one is quite noisy (and it sucks according to many reviews), so it's no big deal. I'll probably go for the second one you mentioned as the reviews say it's very quiet, and loud PSU's really bug me.
 
F

Farflame

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2005
23
0
18,510
My new GFX card arrived today (the GF 8800 320mb), but because I didn't order the PSU until a few hours later, that's one day behind and won't be arriving until tomorrow. Just wondering, should I risk installing the new card with my old PSU (as discussed above)? Will I risk damaging anything, or am I just going to get shutdowns etc? Since I'm not very good with these things, I'm sort of tempted to do the card tonight, and then the PSU when it arrives tomorrow, rather than try to do both at once.

By the way, a big thumbs up to scan.co.uk. It arrived one day earlier than they promised and I got text warnings and messages showing me which stage the order was at. Very good, I'll use them again :)
 
F

foz

Distinguished
Feb 10, 2005
176
0
18,680
I know its tempting, and it just might work, but I would really wait till tomorrow. You should only gamble with money you are willing to burn.
Are you willing to burn a 8800GTS(and possibly your whole system)?
Good Luck waiting till tomorrow, it would be hard for me too! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom