System Upgrade Help

Hey Dagray.

If you're planning on OCing, the E6750 is an excellent choice and the Gigabyte mobos are also excellent and easy for overclocking as well.

If you're looking for really great, cheap RAM, NewEgg.com is having a sale on numerous (2x1G) RAM sticks. I just bought four sticks of Patriot DDR2800 (which the Gigabyte mobos can use) for $50/each after mail in rebate. http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145034 Be sure that you get it soon because the rebates end on the 30th.

If you're thinking of going SLi in the future, I would suggest getting an 8800 series card. The 320MB 8800GTS is a beast of a card for really cheap now-a-days and will have significant lasting power as a GPU for you.

Two things to check/be sure about:

1) Make sure that your power supply can handle the new hardware. You'll want at least a 450W PSU for the new 8800GTS (or whichever card) with appropriate amps on a 12v rail. Also make sure that your old power supply has any other appropriate connectors for the new mobo. I would suggest that you invest in a new/better PSU, unless the one you're re-using will work. You might try this one (works great for me): http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817341001

2) Also, if you're serious about overclocking, be sure that you buy a CPU cooler. The stock heatsink and fan that come with the e6750 won't provide sufficient cooling for an over-clocked processor and if you tried, you might burn out your brand spanking new CPU  

** If you bought the mobo, 2Gs of RAM and the 8800GTS you're total would be roughly $450. If that is way outside your budget I would suggest reading this article (http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/05/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/) and see which one is in your price range.

Good luck with your upgrades  

Thanks for reply

here's what I've narrowed it down to

1, Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (rev. 2.0)

2, Intel Core® 2 Duo E6750, 2.66 GHz (BX80557E6750SLA9V)

3, Heat sink Gigabyte Volar GH-PSU21-FB

4, RAM 2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-8500

How's it look?

Just have to look for a G/card, i'll check out the 8800

i'd need to check my PSU i think it's 450 or 500W

I think that so far it looks great but the performance that you get out of the new upgrades will of course be tied to how much you're budget allows you. Regardless of your GPU you should still have a much better computer at the of the day  . And really do make sure to check your PSU. If it isn't up to snuff you could either not have enough power for your parts or even the correct connections needed. I know that the 8800s need a 6pin 12v connector, although you can use two free molex connectors instead.

Thanks for the info

think i'll go for the XFX GeForce 8600GT Fatal1ty 256MB DDR3 PCIE TV DVI just because it cheaper

and my PSU is 500w

Can't wait to start building it  

Thanks again  

Good luck with the build  

no need for an aftermarket cpu cooler. you'd get more performance out of your money if you got a better gpu

True. I was just mentioning the cooler because he mentioned that he would like to try OCing, which could be dissasterous without a decent cooler.

But you do have an excellent point. 30-40 bucks on a cooler could mean a much much better GPU. It really depends on what you'd like to do and how much money you're willing to spend.

If your PSU is good enough and of decent quality, you should at least get this GPU, it will be better than the 8600gt for games.
GPU - $141 shipped Best Bang for the buck on DX 9
SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E1681...

If your budget is close to $700 than I/we could suggest a better build for gaming, but I don't know what your budget is for this build. We could fit a 8800gts 320mb into a $700ish build for you and would smoke the 8600gt/x1950pro out the window, but without a budget limit we can't help you there.

My 2cp's

Yes $700 would be my limit or £350 for me it the UK

What do you suggest?

Well shoot for $700 you can get a heck of an upgrade. I would suggest...

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L ($99)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128059

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6750 ($195)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115029

RAM: 2x1G Corsair XMS2 DDR2800 ($60 after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145034

GPU: EVGA 320 MB 8800 GTS ($290)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130082

Total after rebate: $644


Your HDD, DVD writer and all other peripherals will still work on the motherboard. However, I can't stress enough that you need to be sure about your power supply. If its not a quality PSU you might not only lose your PSU but it could take out some of your new hardware with it. If you're not sure about it, find a link to it online and we'll check that it will work with your new hardware.

The hardware config. that I just posted won't be able to take you to SLi land (but I think SLi is over-hyped and not really going to take off) but it will allow you to upgrade later to a Core 2 Extreme in the future when their prices drop, plus the board will let you tack on another 2G of RAM for cheap. The 8800 GTS is a beast of a graphics card and in all but a few cases preforms identically to its 640MB brother for 100 bucks less. Plus, if you upgrade to Vista for dx10 you won't need a new card to make the switch.

Finally. If you're serious about trying to overclock (which the mother board and CPU are both great at) make sure that you spend the money on a quality after market CPU cooler. Other than that, you might consider throwing in some case fans if your case doesn't have great airflow. Newegg's 'Power Search' makes find the fan you need a breeze.

Oh, and feel free to post your current rig hardware configuration so that we can double check everything. Good luck!

OK

Here's my PSU
http://www.qtec.info/products/product.htm?artnr=13981&s...

and case has 120 fan in front and back
http://www.wired2fire.co.uk/product_info.php?products_i...

The GPU i was looking at doesn't have a fan i thought this might keep noise down?
i tried to go for large fans in the case for this reason

I don't need a board for SLI

GPU looks great but at the moment i can't justify spending that much on the card alone but i would like it to support DX10

Wow, never seen so little information about a PSU on a website. Don't even know what kind of connectors you get with it. Is there any power information on the side of the PSU? There should be a 12Vx 12Vx (x is usually a small 1 or 2). Under these it should list the "amps" that they supply for each rail. Could you get these and let us know what they are? If your going to support Dx10 and don't have the $ for the 8800gts, than at the minimum I would get a 8600gts. They are around $150 or so right now.

I will try to get the 8800 but at the very lest i will be getting the XFX GeForce 8600GT Fatal1ty 256MB DDR3

About the PSU, does this help?
http://web.omnidrive.com/APIServer/public/OaRH3nkG88VY0Y2Ty2sC3ztf/PSU

If not can you recommend a reasonable priced PSU for the job

Apparently the entire collective knowledge of the internet has zero clue about your PSU. I couldn't find anything about what connectors it has, which makes knowing if it'll work all the more difficult  

ok can you recommend a reasonable priced PSU that would do

I've just read a review in a mag on the GA-P35C-DS3R "The cooler on the northbridge looks the part but is retained by two feeble plastic push pins" and it got quite hot and came loose during testing, can anybody comment on this if they have one?

The 8600gt is VERY feeble compared to 8800gts 320mb, less than 1/3 the performance.

As for power supplies http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817189005 is decent for 8800gts

See http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10...
Q-Tec is Tier5, not good!
I have a Hiper, try http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProdu...

Scan.co.uk has good selection PSUs. The 500-580W are at http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.ASP?CatID=33&Fi...

Mike.

Is this a good PSU?

http://www.corsair.com/products/vx.aspx

Should i get the 550w or 450w be enough?