What should I upgrade on my system?

[AxemAxem]

Hey all,

I was hoping to get some advice on what I should upgrade on my system. I do a fair bit of gaming as well as lots of video editing + 3D motion graphic design (After Effects, Apple Motion, etc).

Here are my current specs:

Gigabyte P35C-DS3R Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
3GB DDR2 RAM
Geforce 8800GT 512MB


I want to spend around 300-400 on upgrades, and was wondering what would be best. I'd like to be able to have more than 3GB ram, but will I need to upgrade motherboard as well as processor in order to do so?

 

[WR2]

Hello AxemAxem;
What OS and power supply do you have in your system?

 

[AxemAxem]

Windows 7 Ult 32bit and Antec Truepower Trio 650W

 

[WR2]

With a 32bit version of Win7 upgrading to 4GB of RAM would only add about .5GB of usable RAM.

Your PSU is good for a substantial video card upgrade. What resolution monitor are you using?

 

[AxemAxem]

I use an 46' 1080p LCD TV for monitor. If I wanted more RAM all I would have to do is change operating system to 64 right?

 

[WR2]

You can do an in-place upgrade from 32 to 64bit. You'd need a complete clean install.

Your DDR3 slots are limited to 4GB. Your DDR2 slots can take 8GB but an 8GB kit of DDR2 is like $155 where a 8GB DDR3 kit would be $85

What RAM sticks do you have installed? Going to 4GB 3.5GB usable for 32bit Win7 should be easy.

8800GT 512MB w 1920x1080 res isnt an idea match for gaming. This one would be a good match: MSI N460GTX Twin Frozr II SOC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 7 Video Card $150 & $20 rebate

 

[AxemAxem]

2 x 1GB
2 x 512MB

Not sure exactly what brand/etc. if needed i can open my pc up and pop them out to check

 

[ko888]

2 x 1GB
2 x 512MB

Not sure exactly what brand/etc. if needed i can open my pc up and pop them out to check

Or you can run CPU-Z and click on the SPD tab and select each Slot # in turn making a note of the Module Size, Max Bandwidth, Manufacturer and Part Number.

 

[WR2]

CPU-Z does the trick nice & easy

 

[AxemAxem]

Ohh cool thx! here we go:
2 x OCZ DDR2 1GB PC2-6400 (400mhz) - OCZ2G8001G
2 x Samsung 512MB PC2-4300 (266mhz) - M3 78T6553BZ0-CD5

 

[WR2]

Well.. all your RAM is running @ PC2-4300 which isn't ideal.

The budget option is to add 2GBx1 PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM
Your RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227123

This looks to be a decent match:
$35 WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400C5-2048K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161030

 

[AxemAxem]

Hmm, i see! Thanks so much for the help so far.

What if I did a clean install of a 64bit system, upgraded to 8GB DDR2, and got the GTX460? Would that be a significant improvement?

A friend of mine suggested that I upgrade mobo/cpu + get 4GB DDR3 and wait on upgrading the gpu until later. these were their suggestions:

CORE i5 650 3.20G 4M DUO CORE
GIGABYTE S.1156 INTEL P55 ATX 4DDR3,2PCI-E X16/3PCI/2PCIE X1

If you had to choose between these two upgrade options, which would u go for?

 

[WR2]

Is your case big enough for the new video card?

 

[AxemAxem]

Not sure...I took some pics since I couldn't ID the exact case type. Hope this helps:

http://www.hybridmovement.com/mikepc