Replacing my old 6100

[maraca2020]

I have an HP Pavilion a1540n. I was thinking of replacing the horrible gpu and cpu

for the cpu I think i'm going to go with a

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103773

but my question is now the gpu



I was thinking 4850, 4870, or 9800. Any help would be welcome.


Thanks

P.S. I'm obviously going to need a new psu

 

[coozie7]

The 4850 and 9800GTX are about equal in performance and will play up to 16x10 at high to max settings depending on the game.
The HD4870 will play at 19x12 med/high or max depending game or high/max with the 1Gb version.
They`re all about 10" long and your should be looking at a quality PSU (Corsair OCZ PC Power and Cooling) of about 500W.
You may have to flash your MB BIOS, see here:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=HardwareDPC&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=2445

 

[maraca2020]

awesome thanks. I also want to know whether I should just throw out this system and build a new comp. Does this have anything salvageable, or is buying a new gpu/cpu a waste with an outdated mobo? Thanks.

 

[meodowla]

I think 4850 and 9800GTX+ are similar in performance...
Also.. Upgrading to Athlon64 X2 6000+ is a good choice.. if you wanna go little more higher, then there is Athlon64 X2 6400+ Black Edition.

But i recommend you upgrade your motherboard to something with AMD 790GX chipset.
Also, now AMD QuadCore(Phenom) prices are droped due to release of Phenom2 processors. So you could get some Quad-core.....and if you are not interested with Quad and stick with dual-core.. then also it'll be better to change motherboard.

And, ATi HD4870 would perform best in that configuration.

 

[maraca2020]

awesome thanks.

 

[maraca2020]

also, could the setup you listed above play gta IV? thanks

 

[meodowla]

GTA4 plays well on Quad Cores... It works well utilising Core power..
It'll work in Dual Cores... but performs well in Quads...

 

[maraca2020]

thanks!

 

[Onus]

I'm not sure your older board supports 125W (and higher) CPUs, so you may need to replace it anyway. Note this isn't a BIOS issue, but the power circuits on the mobo may not be able to handle that load so they'll burn up. It sounds like you may just wish to build a new PC, which will save the old one as a backup or media server or something.
If you get a new mobo, I'd definitely agree on the 790GX.

 

[maraca2020]

thanks, I'm looking into a i7 920 mobo combo + 4870X2. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Bluescreendeath]

thanks, I'm looking into a i7 920 mobo combo + 4870X2. Any suggestions? Thanks

nice. That's good. Make sure you have a good psu

 

[maraca2020]

how many watts would i be looking at?

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Watts is important, but so is amps. Make sure you have enough total amps on your 12v volt rails.

Watt wise perhaps a quality 800 watt or higher PSU for the 4870x2 (which is two GPUs in one). I'm not sure what the amps requirement for a 4870x2 is, but make sure it's sufficient, since it is just as important if not more so than watts.

 

[Onus]

I don't think you'll need more than 650W for a single card.
In fact, if you check here: http://ati.amd.com/products/certified/powersupplies.html#pstop, you'll see there's actually at least one 500W PSU that is certified for the 4870X2, namely the Enermax Liberty Eco ELT500AWT-ECO (but not the original Liberty 500W PSU).

 

[maraca2020]

thanks

 

[Bluescreendeath]

It is a single card, but it has two GPU cores. Benchmarks show that the 4870x2 basically uses the same amount of power as two 4870s in crossfire.

And the site doesn't give any info at all on the number of PCI-e connectors or the amps. Enermax isn't exactly a well known brand either. I say just go with Newegg and get a quality PSU just to be safe.

 

[Onus]

Actually, Enermax is quite well known, and generally well-regarded. Recent reviews of their newest units I've read have all been positive.

 

[maraca2020]

thanks. Any suggestions for mobos w/ i7? thanks. also will I experience microstutter?

 

[Onus]

Sorry, I've not done an i7 build yet.

 

[meodowla]

For mobo, i think something like MSI Eclipse would do.

 

[maraca2020]

thanks. Anyone have any opinions?