Upgrade Advice

[Fleksor]

Looking to do a few upgrades for my gaming rig. Image posted below is what i have gotten down so far, i would just like everyones opinion to see if i've made the right choices. Thanks.

P.S All i do is game, game and more gaming, so please keep that in mind when giving advice




All my buying will be done from www.ebuyer.com.

Cheers

 

[aevm]

Your video card should be the #1 priority for gaming. If that can be upgraded, do it, even if you have to dump the sound card and maybe even the CPU to save money.

What kind of motherboard, case, PSU and CPU do you have right now?

 

[Fleksor]

I upgraded the video card not long ago.

Current Specs:

CPU: E2140 @ 3.0Ghz | MOBO: MSI P35 Neo-F | PSU: Corsair HX520W Modular | GPU: Sapphire HD4870 512MB | RAM: 2GB Corsair 667Mhz

 

[aevm]

Nice!!!

I'd start by adding two more GB of RAM.

The upgrade to E8400 will not make much difference in games. If you play CPU-limited games (like FSX, for example) you should get a quad (Q6600 for example).

If you do upgrade the CPU to E8400, get a better cooler than the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 so you can reach 4GHz or close and really see an improvement.

Here's an excellent (but expensive) cooler:
Noctua NH-U12P
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147097
You'll need to check if it fits with your MB and case.

These are also pretty good and cheaper:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144345 OCZ Vendetta 2
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148075 Scythe Ninja

 

[evongugg]

The CPU is a good upgrade.
For 4 GB or more of memory you need a 64-bit operating system.
I would get the Asus Xonar for sound card.
Arctic cooling freezer pro is a good heatsink.
Here are some better ones, though.

Top 5 heatsinks:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-cooler-charts,1967-12.html

Top 5 Low Profile Heatsinks on Frostytech

http://www.frostytech.com/top5_lowprofile_heatsinks.cfm

 

[evongugg]

The Arctic Cooling Freezer pro has MX-2 preapplied. You don't really need Arctic Silver unless you choose so.

 

[Fleksor]

The arctic silver is for use on other pc's.

Yes i know i need a 64-bit OS.

I think i can reach 4ghz easy with AF7.

Asus Xonar is a bit expensive, seing as my setup is only 2.1.

 

[aevm]

4GHz easy? I don't know... I did find somebody who got 3.8 Ghz with E8400 and AC Freezer 7, so it's probably possible. All right, try it and let us know.

If you get Vista 64-bit, try to avoid X-Fi cards. They have some driver problems on Vista.

 

[Fleksor]

Yeah i'm having a big problem deciding what sound card to get, x-fi are pretty **** i'm told, but the only others are £80+ any suggestions?

 

[aevm]

Sorry... I tried www.scan.oc.uk, www.misco.co.uk, www.overclockers.co.uk and www.ebuyer.com, no luck. You guys have totally different brands of sound cards than what we got in North America, apart from Creative. I like HT Omega for example but I don't know if you can find that in the UK.

 

[bdollar]

have you tried sound on that mobo? do you need a sound card. i have heard lots of negative on sound cards lately and some pretty positive stuff on the newer mobo's. might be worth trying out before buying a soundcard??

 

[Fleksor]

Yeah i've ditched the idea of a soundcard. I think i wanted a soundcard because i'm using £14 headphones atm and they sound pretty dire, i think a decent speaker system will sort it out.