Upgrade advise!

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vochtige

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Hey guys!

Long time no hear (from me).

It's been almost a year ago that i posted here. Now i have (again) a question for you all!

At the moment i'm running a prebuild system, wich i liked because of the price!

this is what it contains:

-amd phenomx4 9550 2.2ghz
- 4GB ddr2 667mhz
- asus ati 4850 512mb (single slot)
-a 400W supply

so: what do you guys think? Could i upgrade my GPU for better performance? or do i have to get some 8GB ddr2 800mhz ram?

what would be the max gpu for this cpu?

greetz!
 

borisof007

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Hey Vochitge,

Your CPU is great, that can be OC'd to get some good performance if you needed some extra room too.

However, your RAM, Power Supply, and I'm not sure what motherboard you have, probably need to be upgraded, but can you provide some more detail?

What's the specific brand, total wattage, and total amperage across the 12v rails for your power supply? What available connectors do you have from your Power Supply to connect GPU's?

What is your motherboard (make and model)?
 

vochtige

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Hey! thanks for the reply.
I couldn't give much more information, because i was on my notebook!

I don't know what you exactly want to know about the psu, but i'll give you all the info i could find!

the medion prebuild psu: brand: fsp group inc. with 1 6-pin connector!
DC output:
+3.3v => 15.0 A
+5v=>21A
+12v1=>20A
+5Vsb=>2.5A
-12v=>0.5A
+12v2=>16A
(+3.3v&+5v=130W max)

and, from my old homebuild system i still have a Xilence 600w (2 6-pins)
DC output:
+3.3=>25A
+5v=>30A
+12v1=>20A
+12v2=> 20A
-12v=> 0.5A
+5vsb=> 3A


About the brand off the mobo i only can say it's a MSI one with 4 dimms for only ddr2 memmory. i believe it's an am2+ (? correct me if i'm wrong. but i can't upgrade to a phenom II). i have 2 dimms free for use. and the mobo is a micro ATX

the brand off the ram is called SWISSBIT (don't know it)

i only know that my gpu is asus and my hdd is WD and the bluerayreader is LG :p

do you have enough info?

btw: running vista 32x (have a w7 64x for hands), resolution is 1600x1050
 
4GB of RAM is perfectly fine for most situations (even gaming). So that's not an issue by itself.

An Overclock on that CPU would probably provide some decent benefit as boris already suggested.

With your monitor resolution of 1600x1050 the ATI 4850 512MB could certainly be upgraded. Frankly in MOST circumstances, your GPU is your biggest limiting factor in overall gaming performance. With newer game titles the ATI 4850 512MB would become a limiting factor if you're wanting to play with higher graphic settings, but is certainly capable otherwise.

A newer generation card with 1GB of RAM doesn't hurt. But to make the upgrade worth while, you'd probably want to jump to something like a GTX 460 ($200- $230). However a 400W unbranded Power Supply is not a great idea for going that route.

Also, some of the Phenom II X4 processors will work on AM2+ motherboards, and they are much better performers than the original Phenom series. Here's an example:

Phenom II X4 920 @ 2.8Ghz AM2+ $160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103472&cm_re=phenom_ii-_-19-103-472-_-Product

Of course, for the same price you can get a much better one that fits AM3 :(

Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.2Ghz AM3 $160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Ultimately, the real question would be "What are you playing and what kind of performance do you get NOW?"
 

vochtige

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I'm not getting bad performance out of my system. But i play allot of battlefield bc2. there i have to play with 20-40 fps.
I always have to play on little servers , like 16-24 people. if i play on a 32player server, i get huge framedrops!

NFS shift gives also bad performance. The problem is: i don't know if it's only the gpu, or also the cpu.

I'm gonna try out medal of honor. let's see what my pc does.

BTW: would it be bad upgrading my gpu? i'm hoping the 6770 ati will double my fps.
 

I disagree with almost everything above. 4gb of ram is fine and if the PSU can handle an HD4850 it can also handle even an HD5850 as it uses slightly less power. His CPU is the one thing he actually should be considering replacing(outside of the card) and the only reason to consider replacing the motherboard is for a CPU upgrade which you aren't suggesting...
As for overclocking it will help but those original Phenoms didn't OC that well and it isn't going to get up to levels that are sufficient for the more CPU intensive current games. We need to know the exact model of the motherboard to tell you what processors it can handle though.
 

vochtige

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the phenom 9550 is almost THE LOWEST quad you can find. i know there is some 1.9 ghz amd quad underneath it!

I know that this cpu isn't so WOW! I have to say, in February my pc will be 2 years old. the warranty drops off. so i can start tuning it up!

But if you guys say: go get a newer cpu and try out what that gives. i'll stop asking for suggestions. because i don't really want to spend so much money on an old system.

2 years ago, i could say this system is good. it's still good! runs newest games fine, but only with lowered details and lowered frames/sec. actually i bought it to play gta4 with. and it runs great (despite the 512mb ram...)


and i think that the secret behind the 400W psu is that my amd phenom uses only 90w at top. the WD 1000TB is a green series and i use only 2 dimms of ram.
 

vochtige

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:( can't tell. isn't written on the mobo. it only sais: MSI.

I guess it's a mobo build for medion. i'll do my best to search up what mobo it is!
 

vochtige

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hehe dxdiag told me: MS-7501

and yeah, forgot about cpuguid :p (sorry) long time

how stupid can i be!

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/directron_2125_2021060756 it looks like this mobo, but the ram dimms aren't sorted the same why. on the pic it's orange, green orange green. at my mobo its 2x orange 2x green next to each other.

cpu-z says: medionpc, ms-7501 2.1
amd 780G chipset.

could 780 chipset run amd phenom II ? that would be a great thing! (the older ones with ddr2 support)

http://www.directron.com/k9a2gmfih.html
 
Look at your CPU support page. Your motherboard supports most 95W AMD CPUs

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=prodcpu2&prod_no=1671&maincat_no=1

I would say to go with a Phenom II 945 X4 and perhaps overclock it a little. That would be a pretty decent upgrade. It's too bad your board doesn't support crossfire or you could have dropped in a second 4850. Anyway, yeah CPU first, then Video Card. More RAM would be at the bottom of the list.
 
Read the entire label carefully on that FSP PSU. It isn't a bad brand (for its age; I wouldn't buy one today), but chances are that "400W" rating is PEAK, and CONTINUOUS is only 350W.
I agree with jyjjy that your CPU is a weak link. Its four cores may be nice for multitasking, but it is a slow performer in demanding games that only use two cores.
If you have the budget for it, a complete rebuild may be in order. Especially if it has non-solid capacitors on it, I don't have a lot of faith in the longevity of cheaper [MSI] motherboards.
 

8Vidia

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Lot of Ram wont help .. MHZS of ram is Important ... even 2 or 3 or 4 GB would be fine for gaming ... every mobo which has PCI e slot will accept 4850 or higher ... but make sure what is ur mobo's PCIE slot version 1.0 or 1.1 or 2.0 ? & if its lower than 2.0 you have to get 2.0 CARD & not 2.1 .... i think 4850 is 2.0 so you can get it .. & enjoy of it . 665 MHZ is low for new VGA card ...get atleast 800MHZ or higher if your Mobo supports . cheak the site fo ur MOBO for all details .
 

deweycd

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Actually if you are running a 64 bit OS then more ram will help. If you install greater then 4GB then the game can use 3-4GB (many do) and the rest can be used by the OS or other running programs. Speed of ram will not make as much difference as size. I will agree that the 12GB in my system is quite excessive, but I can tell the difference between 2GB, 4GB, and 6GB. I have a hard time telling 6GB and 12GB without getting into virtual servers. 4GB is a good amount to have otherwise your HardDrive will be used for virtual ram which slows things down.
 

8Vidia

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i realy saw no diffrence betwen 2GB & 4GB . i realy have experienced it . but i saw big diffrence B2win 800 & 1333 MHZ . thats just an example . but yes size does matter but MHZ & DDR is most important thing sometimes . MATCHING or something else ...
 

8Vidia

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MAX ram that highest game wants is 4GB .. more will not help . but there are few works that higher size ram should handle it ONLY . like add formats of guitar ( something like that , doesnt matter )
 

vochtige

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So, today i went to a computerstore and saw 2x2GB 800mhz Ram. i thought by my self. would 800mhz be better than my 667? will it be a huge diffrence?

i didn't bought it! because i don't know how long i'll be safe with my 4gb ram. and does speed matter when i don't overclock?
 
It might make a small difference (assuming your mobo recognizes it correctly), but nothing compared to what a CPU upgrade would do for you. Quite frankly, I'd consider it a waste of money.
 
Yeah, don't worry about the ram, just upgrade that CPU. The HD4850 should still be decent for your resolution so try it out with the new processor. If you still want an upgrade a 768mb GTX 460 is a good choice and well priced these days. It uses almost exactly the same amount of power as the HD4850 but is approximately 60% faster at stock and can also overclock a large amount(30%+)
 

8Vidia

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800 MHZ is good but its not that big upgrade , why dont you go for 1333MHZ DDR3 ? because its best , matchable MHZ with almost all new hardwares , 1600 is good but 1333 is high Enough to solve all ur needs . & ur ram ( 600 MHZ ) is little low IMO for new hardwares . go for 1333 MHZ & then it will work for 2 another new systems for u ( will work for too long with no problem ).
 

vochtige

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if i went for ddr3, i had to buy a new mobo. and of course i would buy a new cpu.

But, i'm thinking that this rigg should keep me busy for at least 1 more year, don't you guys think? the GHZ is a little slow, but it still has '4- cores'.

i'm justing thinking to search for a new gpu.

That gtx 460, would that be a good upgrade? i'm still waiting for that ati 6xxx series to come out. i want at least that my fps doubles in battlefield bad company.

and what about a gtx 465? is it the same?

=on&prod[4509]=on&prod[4605]=on]http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2010-gaming-graphics-charts-high-quality/compare,2464.html?prod[4555]=on&prod[4509]=on&prod[4605]=on

thank you

http://azerty.nl/8-971-290506/palit-gtx-460-sonic-grafische.html this one is the cheapest and the most little one with 1024mb gpu ram. is this the gpu you mean? and should i go with asus?
 

8Vidia

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ur problem is not ur ram only , for new VGA u surly need new PSU atleast 500 & new CPU . & i say this again 640 MHZ is realy low , but 4G is fine . dont get more ram . if u wanna upgrade just get 800MHZ or 1333MHZ , but buy 4GB because its enough . IMo u should first get better system , 4850 doesnt require high end system . but ur PSU & ram may bottleneck it . first make basic needs of new VGA card then u may see that there are higher available option than 4850 which may be usless after a year .
 
Assuming you will build your next system in ten months, then only buy things for your current system that you can re-use, otherwise you are wasting money. This means the PSU and GPU. I would not trust the "600W" Xilence you have. A modern PSU has full range active PFC (no little voltage switch) and 80+ certification (typically bronze or better). Quality brands include Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, and Enermax. Some OCZ are at least okay, as are the NEW (but not the old!) Coolermaster. For almost any single video card, a 500W-550W PSU is enough; the exceptions are the GTX480 and HD5970, which need 600W-650W.
 
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