Want to get suggestions on improving my Rig.

[nmeseth]

Not sure what stats to post, so I'm wondering if someone can shoot me a nice list of information that you will need to suggest what I can improve (Including overclocking (without danger of overheating)

I can possibly fish up a cart history of what I purchased to build the computer.

how to get these stats on windows 7 would be nice, what path to take to get the program, because I'm not very familiar with w7.

I apologize for needing so much, and I thank anyone who spends their time helping me out.

Here is a list of the newegg basket/cart that I purchased before I built the computer.

Spoiler

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

DVD Burner

Monitor

Hard Drive 1

Hard Drive 2

New GFX Card -In computer

Old GFX Card -In a box somewhere

Motherboard

Power Supply

Memory/RAM

Processor

ATX Mid Tower Case

 

[wielander]

Not sure what stats to post, so I'm wondering if someone can shoot me a nice list of information that you will need to suggest what I can improve (Including overclocking (without danger of overheating)

I can possibly fish up a cart history of what I purchased to build the computer.

how to get these stats on windows 7 would be nice, what path to take to get the program, because I'm not very familiar with w7.

I apologize for needing so much, and I thank anyone who spends their time helping me out.

You could download PC Wizard. It will automatically scan all of the components of your computer when it starts up, and it's a useful application to have anyway.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html

 

[nmeseth]

Updated this with a good list, links to the newegg page as well included.

 

[wielander]

In what way do you want to improve the performance of your computer?


If you just want more processing power, your processor overclocks well. You should get an aftermarket cooler to run a decent overclock. I would suggest a Cooler Master Hyper 212+; it is quite capable and reasonably priced at $30.

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-RR-B10-212P-G1-Universal-Heat-Pipe/dp/B002G1YPH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285134135&sr=8-1


You won't be able to improve gaming performance without changing your graphics setup; your CPU definitely outmatches your graphics card at 1080p.


If you just want snappier performance in general computing and faster startups, shutdowns, and loading, you could add an SSD. You can get a very quick 60GB sandforce bootdrive for $128.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227542&cm_re=60gb-_-20-227-542-_-Product

 

[nmeseth]

What could I do to upgrade my graphics?

Spent quite a bit of money on the gfx card.

Would adding more RAM help me at all?

 

[nmeseth]

Looked into upgrading my hard drive,

How would I transfer the operating system to the SSD? How would I do that exactly?

Seems like it would be a worthy cause.

Moving my operating system drive to SSD would boost my overall performance, from what I know about computers.

 

[wielander]

To get better gaming performance you could try overclocking your graphics card. You should be able to get a ~10% improvement in performance. There isn't a lot else you could do except replace it with a higher performance card.

Adding more ram won't improve your gaming performance at all. Unless your system is running out of ram during operation, there isn't any point in adding more.

It's best to start with a fresh install on an SSD, but some SSDs come with external enclosures and software for transferring your OS and files.

 

[mattimeo005]

What could I do to upgrade my graphics?

Spent quite a bit of money on the gfx card.

Would adding more RAM help me at all?

Adding an SSD won't improve your gaming performance much either, it will simply make programs load faster. As far as benchmarks though, SSDs don't affect them much at all. SSDs are mainly for user experience, as you will notice stuff open and close much faster from the SSD than if you were opening from a standard HDD.

If you want to boost your gaming performance, you can either try to overclock it, as a previous poster mentioned, or you could also buy a second 5770 and work the two cards in crossfire. Though, with only a 500W PSU, you will probably need to upgrade there as well...

 

[nmeseth]

Best answer selected by NmESeth.