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Looking for upgrade advice

Forum Homebuilt Systems : General Homebuilt - Looking for upgrade advice

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Pendragon1769   09-21-2009 at 06:42:30 PM

hey all, i am looking for some advice for upgrading my system, i have 600$ to spend and not to sure on what would give the best performance boost. any help is greatly appreciated. here are the specs

Intel E6600
1 Geforce 8800
4 gigs of ddr2 800
MSI P965 platinum Motherboard
150gig western digital HD
750w power supply

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Bronze Home Brew badge obsidian86   09-21-2009 at 06:47:34 PM

jus a q9550 with good cpu cooler and a gtx 275 or sli with another 8800 if you can find one maybe add a bigger hdd


Message edited by obsidian86 on 09-21-2009 at 06:53:16 PM
------------------------------ I took a step back to look at the bigger picture and realized i needed better glasses
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Bronze Home Brew badge tecmo34   09-21-2009 at 07:12:56 PM

^+1...

A Q9550 will be a very good upgrade for $230 roughly. It is the best Q9xxx CPU IMO. I would go with the Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB hard drive for $50, which leaves you $300 for a video card. What is your resolution you are gaming at? A GTX275 is a good choice or the GTX260 Core 216 might be good enough.

I agree with adding a new HSF, such as the Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283V for another $45.

------------------------------ Recommended Builds by Usage
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Pendragon1769   09-21-2009 at 07:46:22 PM

im currently gaming at 1680x1050. i will pick up the q9550 that sounds like a solid choice. how would 2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150436 work? or would 1 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130476 be better?


Message edited by Pendragon1769 on 09-21-2009 at 07:49:30 PM
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Bronze Home Brew badge tecmo34   09-21-2009 at 08:10:59 PM

I would get one 4870, since your board supports Crossfire. The 4870 will be strong enough at your resolution. You can add a second 4870 down the road, if you find you are being bottlenecked in games.

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Step-by-Step Guide to Building a PC
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Bronze Home Brew badge obsidian86   09-21-2009 at 08:42:51 PM

that xfx aint too good it vents into the case maybe this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product


Message edited by obsidian86 on 09-21-2009 at 08:45:19 PM
------------------------------ I took a step back to look at the bigger picture and realized i needed better glasses
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Pendragon1769   09-21-2009 at 10:26:41 PM

nice card might have to look into getting that one, are there any other opinions from the community on vid card upgrades?

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Bronze Home Brew badge obsidian86   09-21-2009 at 10:45:35 PM

wait 48 hours, when ati launch the 5xxx series to buy a card

------------------------------ I took a step back to look at the bigger picture and realized i needed better glasses
 Reply to obsidian86
Silver Home Brew badge shortstuff_mt   09-22-2009 at 05:50:13 PM

You're on the right track, but there are some upgrades you could make. The Samsung F1 drives are the older models. Swap that out for a new F3. It's actually cheaper and considerably faster than the F1.

 

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM $49.99

 

The motherboard you picked runs its PCI-E slots at 4x speed when more than one GPU is installed. You want to be sure to pick a motherboard that runs at 8x speed. Your RAM is also very overpriced. I would get this combo instead:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.259125 $449.97 (i5 750, Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P, and 4GB G.Skill Trident DDR3 2000 RAM combo)

 

I would wait until tomorrow and see what the new ATI GPU's offer. If you stick with the 4890, this card is cheaper and offers better cooling:

 

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100269VXLE Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail $194.99 - $20 MIR + an extra $10 off with promo code VGA9161 (ends tommorrow)

 

I don't know what OS you run. If it's not 64-bit this would be the perfect time to upgrade. You can get 64-bit Vista with a free upgrade to Windows 7 in a combo with the above GPU.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] 14-102-848


Message edited by shortstuff_mt on 09-22-2009 at 05:51:12 PM
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Pendragon1769   09-22-2009 at 05:55:58 PM

yea i noticed i had an F1 in there when there should have been the F3, im acutally using the RC for win7 (64bit) and will pick that up when it launches. thanks for the heads up.

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