Need help from the pros :S

[Maroc]

I just need a couple questions answered to help me come to a decision on what components to buy to improve the performance of my PC. Im currently thinking of buying a graphics card and a bit of good quality ram to go in my outdated system.


EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB AKIMBO Superclocked GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
2x Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA663)


My system specs:

CPU: Pentium D 950 @ 3.40GHz
MOBO: Intel D945GCZ
RAM: 2gb Kingston PC2-4300 (266MHz)
GPU: XFX Nvidia 7300 GT
PSU: 600W Don't know brand. :S


The questions I wanted to ask are:

1) Will my CPU and MOBO really bottleneck the graphics card to an extent where it's not even worth getting?
2) Would the 4gb of ram give a significant boost over the 2gb of "bad quality" ram I have at the moment?
3) Is 4gb of ram overkill? I do plan on using my computer for games such as CS:S, COD4, UT3 etc..

Any suggestions on better ways to improve the performance of my PC will be highly appreciated.

 

[jitpublisher]

1) No. Of course a faster processor will scale very nicely with the 8800GT, but you will see a whopping big improvement over the 7300GT
2) If you are running XP, you won't see a huge improvement. It'll benchmark better, but in the real world it'll only be a small gain. RAM is cheap though, I'd go for it.
4) 4 gig is a little overkill for XP. Unless your OS is 64 bit, you won't be able to use but about 3.2 gig of it. If you are using Vista, 32 or 64 either one, I would definetly get 4 gig.

 

[Maroc]

Thanks for the reply. What OS do you think would be best for my situation? As I said I only play games like CS:S, COD4, UT3 and what not, nothing graphically amazing. Although I would like to have the option of playing games such as Crysis..

And remember, I'm trying to get the best performance boost possible so keep that in mind when replying.


- Maroc.

 

[chuckm]

If you go with 4gig of ram go with 2X2. Crucial has just released 2 gig ballistix;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148183

 

[Shadow703793]

@OP: To gain full access to 4GB+ RAM you need a x64 OS. Doesn't matter if its Vista or XP.

 

[Zenthar]

Do you go toward the AKIMBO for the extra cooling, if so, you might want to consider the MSI, heard the cooler is good too. You could also see if for a little more you couldn't get a GTS instead, it comes with better cooling AND has a little more "guts" .

 

[johnnyq1233]

What about the PALIT 8800GT+ with 1024 MB GDDR3 has I think the Zalman cooler on it....2 slot footprint!

My son finished CRYSIS on a p4 530 (3.0GHZ) with 2 GB of DDR2 @ 1280x1024 everything at mid/high!
Didn't see any frame rate probs using a X1650 PRO 512 ddr3 vid card!

 

[imrul]

yea... i used to play age of empires 3 @ 320x240, all settings maxed out, using a p4 524 3.0 ghz with integrated graphics (ati x200)

 

[johnnyq1233]

1280x1024 is the native resolution on my sons lcd panel, it's not wide screen.
But damn that game runs smooth as silk and looks sooo nice!
On board graghics is not for gaming back then..
My sons x1650 pro is an ATI card, his FOXCONN p945 board didn't have on board graghics!

 

[johnnyq1233]

I'm sorry the processor my son has is the 630 not 530..fat finger error....

 

[blacksci]

If your just worried about performance in a os go xp, yeah vista isnt as slow as it was, but its still a little slower, granted you wont see the diff more then likely, but thats the way it is. Id go for 4 gigs of ram, with the prices these days, it doesnt hurt, and your comp could see 3.5 gigs, plus you will have 1.5 gigs more then if you went with 2, and you will giggle with glee when we finally see games eating 2 gigs up with no prob, which is just around the corner.