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Best upgrade for my PC???

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Best upgrade for my PC???

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quitoman   07-14-2008 at 07:43:48 AM

What would be the most ideal upgrade for gaming on my PC?

I have:
2.2GHz AMD Athlon X2 4200
1.5GB PC3200 RAM
350 Watt stock PSU (my upgraded one fried)
Geforce 8800GTS 320mb

My computer seems to be a little bit bottlenecked so what would you guys recommend to improve gaming speeds? Better PSU or Cooling so I can overclock more? more RAM? Maybe even new GFX card? I am only going to do one upgrade so what would help games the most?

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shoota   07-14-2008 at 07:52:05 AM
- 0 +

video cards almost always help the most in games. look at a 9600gt or 8800gt without upgrading ur psu. gonna be a stretch anyway with that little power. but you need to give us more info such as mobo, psu specs, games u play, budget, etc.

------------------------------ GA-965P-DS3 - e6420@3.3 - 2GB OCZ Reaper pc-6400 - WD Raptor X - 9600gt - OCZ GameXStream 700W - SB Audigy 2ZS Platinum - Thermaltake Tsunami Dream black
 Reply to shoota
quitoman   07-14-2008 at 08:09:01 AM
- 0 +

well my mobo cant upgrade the processor and i doubt more ram would help on xp. if i bought a high quality psu could i overclock my gpu about 100mhz? or would a cooling system do a better job of that?

 

sorry im typing on a ps3 lol

Reply to quitoman
quitoman   07-14-2008 at 08:12:41 AM
- 0 +

i dont have a budget but price per performance is what im shooting for. i play games like crysis.

Reply to quitoman
shoota   07-15-2008 at 08:05:30 AM
- 0 +

dude ur stuck. i wouldn't spend any money on this rig if i were you. i'm not sure what you mean about ur mobo not being able to upgrade the processor but a 100 mHz OC is practically nothing and certaintly doesn't require a new PSU.
In everyone's current PC life they have to take a step back and realize that putting more money into a dying system for minimal gains is foolish. It would be much wiser to save a little and spend a little extra to build a new system that will blow ur old one away. I think that time for you is now.

And it may not be that hard. Cheapest way: reuse ur case, psu, hdd, dvd/cd drive, video card, and other peripherals. Then just get a decent mobo, cpu, and ram. And upgrade the rest as you can. That's what i always do. here's an example:

solid MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128337

OC'able CPU (u have many options here): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819116052

Very good ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227231

That's about a $200 upgrade and you'll be much better off in the long run.

------------------------------ GA-965P-DS3 - e6420@3.3 - 2GB OCZ Reaper pc-6400 - WD Raptor X - 9600gt - OCZ GameXStream 700W - SB Audigy 2ZS Platinum - Thermaltake Tsunami Dream black
 Reply to shoota
yipsl   07-15-2008 at 12:13:58 PM
- 0 +

How did your upgraded PSU fry? If you're using something like a Raidmax 350 that came with a barebones, you're in dangerous territory. Get a decent PSU by Antec, Cosair, Thermaltake or Seasonic.

Even better, get a UPS to protect from surges and make sure any PSU you use has active PFC. You might have problems with your current so if you overclock your card with the stock 350 watt PSU, you could run into spikes that it can't handle.

As for bottlenecks, one way around that is to game at a higher resolution. I'm CPU limited too, but won't be when I get a 1920 resolution 24" this fall. If you're stuck at 1280 x 1024, that's where the bottleneck is. Your CPU can't keep up with the graphics card at that resolution, but at a higher res, the CPU will be able to keep up.

------------------------------ Phenom 8750, ASUS M3A78T
4 gigs Kingston DDR2 800 two 1T SAMSUNG HD103UI
Sapphire 4870x2, Sony BDU-X10S BD-ROM
Antec Neo 650 PSU Antec Nine Hundred, Acer H213H 1080p LCD
Reply to yipsl
quitoman   07-15-2008 at 12:18:20 PM
- 0 +

thanks for the advice, but if I'm going to buy a new motherboard shouldnt I buy one with SLI or CF?

Reply to quitoman
shoota   07-15-2008 at 06:00:56 PM
- 0 +

Sure you can get whatever motherboard you want. You just said you wanted the best price/performance so i showed you the Gigabyte. Sli and CF setups get expensive quick but you know what you want so good luck. have fun!

------------------------------ GA-965P-DS3 - e6420@3.3 - 2GB OCZ Reaper pc-6400 - WD Raptor X - 9600gt - OCZ GameXStream 700W - SB Audigy 2ZS Platinum - Thermaltake Tsunami Dream black
 Reply to shoota
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