PC Upgrade

[mack92]

Need some help on an upgrade.

Currently I have AMD 3700 San Diego, EVGA mobo, EVGA 7800 GT GPU, 1 gig ram, 450 watt psu. Looking at upgrading to play Call of Duty 4.
Couple options I've concidared are; Keep current config and repalace vid card with 8800 gt, gts or gtx (if price comes down). Or go with Dual Core E2160 to OC, MSI P6N-SLI Platinum, Patriot Extreme 2gb ram, keep same vid card until 8800 gt, gts, gtx is sorted out. Going with any of the vid cards do I need to upgrade psu? What do I need to run the gtx? And how bad with the 3700 bottleneck any of the vid cards should I only choose to upgrade vid card for now?

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

Take the e2160 for it's ocing abilities oc it to 3.0 then get a 8800gt is a good budget choice. If you only upgrade vid card the 3700 will bottleneck pretty bad

 

[mack92]

Thanks for the reply. What about the psu if I go with the full upgrade, vid card and all, will my current 450 be good enough? If not, any recomendations?

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

yes it will be good ENOUGH. But get a 500W one anyways

 

[lunyone]

Thanks for the reply. What about the psu if I go with the full upgrade, vid card and all, will my current 450 be good enough? If not, any recomendations?

What is the make/model of your current PSU? What is the amperage on your 12v rail(s)? If you have a generic or tier 4 or 5 PSU, I wouldn't recommend running any upgraded GPU on it. When you give us the information asked above, we can make an informed reply to your questions. You can look at the link below to see where your PSU would fall under. I'd get at least a tier 2 or better, if I were you.
PSU Tiers
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

I'd recommend at least this PSU:
PSU - $76 shipped - $10 MIR = $66! Can run a single 8800gtx system.
CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W Active Power Supply Retail ***Free Shipping***
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006428

but these would be better choices:
PSU - $100 shipped - $10 for google checkout = $90! Good solid PSU for the $, hard to beat.
Corsair 520W SLI Certified Modular ATX Power Supply - CMPSU-520HX
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html

PSU - ~$125 shipped Good solid PSU, straight from OEM and cheaper than Newegg
ULTRA-QUIET PSU: SILENCER® 610 EPS12V
http://www.pcpower.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S61EPS

PSU - $106 shipped Solid PSU for the $.
Antec NeoHE 550 High Efficiency 550W Power Supply Retail ***Free Shipping***
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=269997

 

[mack92]

psu is Austin DR-B450E, not sure on the rails 18a - 1a looking at the psu. Not positive though as I don't mess with the psu much (this came with the case) I pretty much knew I'd end up going full upgrade but I wanted to confirm my decisions, by the looks of the reviews on the 8800gt it looks pretty dang good. Thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.

 

[mack92]

On a side note, have had this case and psw since 2003 and have never had one issue with it.

 

[lunyone]

On a side note, have had this case and psw since 2003 and have never had one issue with it.

Doing a quick google on your PSU this is what I found:
It's an Austin DR-B450E about 4 years old

Output: +5V@50A, +3.3V@28A, +12V@18A, -5V@0.8A, -12V @1A, +5VSB@2.5A

Now 18A is what is on your 12V rail, so I wouldn't upgrade your GPU with that PSU in. I'd get one of the ones that I listed in the previous post.

 

[mack92]

Thanks for all your help. Think I'm going to do the upgrade in stages, mobo, cpu, and ram first then the vid card and psu in another. I want to see more reviews on the 8800gt before I decide on it, looks good so far but since I can play COD 4 on my current system and it seems to run fine there is no need to hurry.

 

[Zorg]

Definitely upgrade that PSU.

 

[mack92]

How about these psu's:

OCZ Stealthxstream 600w
OCZ Gamexstream 600w and 700w

All have great rebates on New Egg

 

[Zorg]

How about these psu's:

OCZ Stealthxstream 600w
OCZ Gamexstream 600w and 700w

All have great rebates on New Egg

The Gamexstream is a tier 2 which is good. the stealthxstream isn't on the list, probably from the last update. Good prices though. Here is the list Official XS Tiered PSU Manufacturer Brand Listing Phase III.

 

[lunyone]

The Gamexstream is a tier 2 which is good. the stealthxstream isn't on the list, probably from the last update. Good prices though. Here is the list Official XS Tiered PSU Manufacturer Brand Listing Phase III.

Yep! I was just going to say the same

 

[mack92]

Just 1 more question before I dump the cash into the full upgrade. If I go with the just get by for now solution of a X2 4200 and a new psu, will that be good enough to go with the 8800gt, or spend a bit more and go with an Opty 175 dual core. Are the Optys unlocked?

 

[mack92]

Thanks for all your help, these forums really make it easier to make upgrade decisions.

 

[rolli59]

Optys are not unlocked but usually overclock better (better quality control) but for the price of the 4200 at newegg it would make a nice upgrade along with the 8800gt and psu.
You would not have to go thru all the hazzle of installing/activating Windows again

 

[lunyone]

The opty would be a better choice since they are better binned (picked) than just the x2's. I forgot to ask, but is your mobo/cpu a s939 or am2? I'm guessing at a s939, but don't know for sure.

 

[mack92]

Socket 939, I'm going to see how it runs COD 4 as is and upgrade if I don't like the performance. The least upgrade I would do is new psu and the 8800gt. Then go full upgrade when Phenom comes out to see if it can beat the C2Ds. But then again its hard to put money into a dying format (socket 939) but those 2 items can go over to the new system.

 

[lunyone]

Yes they will and you wouldn't be losing any $ on those when moving over too. Nice part about waiting a bit, is that the Phenom will be benchmarked and then you can decide which way to go.

 

[mack92]

Correct you are, thats what I did with my last 2 builds/upgrades, although I don't think I could go wrong with any of the Intel solutions, but it would be just my luck that Phenon turns out to be a giant killer. I've had AMD procs for the past 6 years and have been very happy with them, but AMD really needs to get it's act together to tople Intel this time.