upgrade recommendations - moderate gamer

[straz]

current sys 64bit vista
athlon 3200+ venice
4gb ram
nvidia 7900gs
24" mon.
wd rap raid


wondering if migrating from my agp sys above to the sys below is worth it...
biggest interest would be improvements for gaming performance on WoW, an RTS game or two, and various popular windows apps

64bit vista
intel core 2 e8500
8gb ram
ati 4850
24" mon.
wd rap raid


thanks in advance

 

[Zenthar]

Just the CPU and video card alone (+motherboard of course) would be a great improvement for sure, but I suggest you cut-down to 4GB of RAM and get a 4870 instead.

 

[shoota]

you're gonna see a HUGE improvement

 

[kamel5547]

I second Zenthar .

The resolution of a 24" requires more graphics fire power, the RAM is overkill unless you have some serious applicaitons (3-D modeling) or an aversion to closing any program once its been opened. Given the choice I'd take the card over the RAM in this case.

 

[eklipz330]

i third zenthar, save the extra $100 you get from cutting to 4gb of mem and get a 4870

and your gonna be struck by the improvement

 

[IH8U]

I've gotta say it, drop the raptor RAID. You will not notice any improvements over a pair of normal SATA hard drives that are raided (1 or 2 seconds for load times). Besides you can save some serious money by just raiding a pair of 320 GB (or 250's if you are cheap like me)SATA 3.0 drives. use the money you saved there and with the RAM for a 4870, and slightly larger monitor.

 

[Zenthar]

I've gotta say it, drop the raptor RAID. You will not notice any improvements over a pair of normal SATA hard drives that are raided (1 or 2 seconds for load times). Besides you can save some serious money by just raiding a pair of 320 GB (or 250's if you are cheap like me)SATA 3.0 drives. use the money you saved there and with the RAM for a 4870, and slightly larger monitor.

I would second that as well, but if you look at the original message, it seems the OP already has Vista 64, the 24" Raptor and the Raptor RAID.

 

[iluvgillgill]

cut the ram to 4Gb and leave the raptor and raid.you wont see any improvement in everyday use unless you always copy massive HD video between 2 harddrive(which must be raid to see get the extra performance)

and use that money saved on a 4870 or even better the GTX280 OR better still 4870X2 for ultimate performance.

really spend money on those raptor is totally waste of money.

 

[straz]

ok, cool.

(yes the HDDs are already being used but i was incorrect they are not raptors. i must have just typo'ed that and copied it down. they're sata caviars wasn't planning on changing them.)


i was leaning toward a better gpu over the additional ram but i didn't want to sway the votes or type out several different options.

thanks for your confirmations.



BTW i put a quick newegg wish list together and feel free to criticize it...

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9126906


(sorry in advance if linking that is against forum rules i will double check)

 

[mark $]

Looks good, only other changes I would do is maybe get the Open Box: Asus Rampage Formula for $200, if you plan to overclock or add another graphics card later.

 

[Wanker79]

That might be the first time I've ever seen anyone suggest an open-box motherboard. Personally, I'd be hesitant to purchase a product that someone else found unusable. It very well could turn out to be a very good deal, but I don't think I'd want to take the chance.

 

[iluvgillgill]

i would take the new product compare to second hand. maybe its just me!

 

[mark $]

I only suggested it because it's normally a $300 x48 board for 209 I believe it was...

 

[straz]

guess the final battle is the 4870 vs. the 9800gx2