Upgrading 8600GT

[Rammiel]

Hi guys, i'm here trying to choose a new GPU for my PC after my old one gave it's life on the battlefield (some capacitors now have some funky haircuts, not funny though). I have some doubts about compatibility issues with new hardware which i'm trying to overcome before buying anything so i'll be very grateful if you can provide me some insight in this matter.
I have an Intel c2d 6550, Abit IN9-32x MAX, 4GB RAM DDR2-800 (2x2GB), XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256mb (unusable now ) and a 21" LCD running at 1680x1050
The mobo is almost new, just with a few months of use on me (i got it REAL cheap from a friend who had never used it after mine died).
I use this PC for gaming and some university stuff (the latter might be negligible, haha). This PC is also unlikely to get any other upgrade besides this needed one and a PSU coming with it. My budget for the upgrade is around 300 US$ for the GPU, even though it is highly crippled due to insane taxes on this country (Argentina), consider hardware values around 1.5-2 times higher than US. I know i can get a GTX 460 for 300US$ here, but i wouldn't like to spend money on a GPU that can't be fully used on this PC. I can consider ATI solutions too if there isn't compatibility issues with the mobo (SLI certified, chipset nVidia, bla, bla).
Of course, SLI and overclocking are options, although i might need some advice there as well.
Thanks in advance, if you need to know any other stuff about this and the use, ask me please

 

[jjb8675309]

Hi guys, i'm here trying to choose a new GPU for my PC after my old one gave it's life on the battlefield (some capacitors now have some funky haircuts, not funny though). I have some doubts about compatibility issues with new hardware which i'm trying to overcome before buying anything so i'll be very grateful if you can provide me some insight in this matter.
I have an Intel c2d 6550, Abit IN9-32x MAX, 4GB RAM DDR2-800 (2x2GB), XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256mb (unusable now ) and a 21" LCD running at 1680x1050
The mobo is almost new, just with a few months of use on me (i got it REAL cheap from a friend who had never used it after mine died).
I use this PC for gaming and some university stuff (the latter might be negligible, haha). This PC is also unlikely to get any other upgrade besides this needed one and a PSU coming with it. My budget for the upgrade is around 300 US$ for the GPU, even though it is highly crippled due to insane taxes on this country (Argentina), consider hardware values around 1.5-2 times higher than US. I know i can get a GTX 460 for 300US$ here, but i wouldn't like to spend money on a GPU that can't be fully used on this PC. I can consider ATI solutions too if there isn't compatibility issues with the mobo (SLI certified, chipset nVidia, bla, bla).
Of course, SLI and overclocking are options, although i might need some advice there as well.
Thanks in advance, if you need to know any other stuff about this and the use, ask me please

get an aftermarket cpu cooler and try to overclock to around 3.0 ghz or more if you know what you are doing and have decent cooling. Then upgrade your gpu to something of the likelyhood of a gtx 460 1 gig or a hd 6850, personally i would go with a 6850 as it requires less power, what is the make and model of your power supply? it does not make a difference if the igp is nvidia and you are running a single ati or nvidia card, as long as you are running one card it doesnt matter which you choose, imo

 

[Rammiel]

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to buy a new PSU with the GPU, most likely a Thermaltake TR2 W0388RU 600W ATX that isn't SO insanely priced around here. I googled a little around there, seems that's possible to OC this CPU to 3ghz with stock cooling, even though i've asked for some coolers that are on discount (COOLERMASTER Hyper 212 and a handful more that are available). If overclock were out of the list (i'd like to avoid it if possible, but i could begin to try with the uGuru features as sandbox until i find something not risky for a noobie), what would you suggest?

 

[jjb8675309]

sounds like a good plan, I would personally go for a more reputable name in a psu (even if it is less wattage) or at least something 80+ certified, otherwise you truely do not know what you are getting. I have a hyper 212 and for 30 bucks it is amazing. I have my amd phenom II X4 955 @ 4.0 ghz on stock voltage it never goes past 49 C on a full load, amazing. In your case yes you probly can hit 3.0 ghz on stock fan but for the small investment I would get the hyper 212 and some artic silver thermal paste. I think getting the, psu, a 6850, and a hyper 212 would be a great investment. Also you will be able to carry over the graphics card, psu, and cpu cooler into a future build. Also the 6850 would be great to crossfire down the road with a new build. Overall with these upgrades you should be very pleased with the gaming expirience. As far as the psu goes, get a seasonic, antec, or corsair with an 80+ certification. You can google PSU calculator to find out how many watts your system will require at full load. Also get a psu with at least 1 pci-e connector for the 6850 (2) for the gtx 460, but overall I think the 6850 is the way to go, if not the 6870. Both a great value imo


sometime down the road you will probly want a quad core or better so when that happens it will be time to build a new machine, but there is still not a whole lot of games that truely utilize quads or more, although the numbers are increasing. Get some more life out of your machine with these basic upgrades that will help you when it is time to refresh the motherboard, processor, ram, etc again.

I am not familiar with the uguru sandbox thing you mentioned, as for overclocking I do it in my bios, watch your heat envelopes, and in testing use something like prime 95 to see where temps max out at and if it is stable. There are numerous guides that will help if you are a bit green to overclocking via toms or google.... good luck and happy gaming!

the higher you can oc it the better but in some cases you will not see a performance increase, but most of the time if cpu=<3.0<3.5<4.0 etc

 

[Rammiel]

As far as PSU related, all i can find in the same range price is Cooler Master Silent Pro M 500w or Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 600w. Anything 80+ certified costs almost like any of those GPUs. I'm a bit confused with those PSU calculators, they give a number close to 350w, don't know if there is anything else i should know. Anyway, i've read that i should check 12v rails to see if they can provide enough power for GPU+CPU. Is there any calculator that takes that into consideration?
I'm not really interested in using any parts of this PC on an upgrade, most likely this rig will be kept by my parents when i convince them i need a new one.

 

[jjb8675309]

As far as PSU related, all i can find in the same range price is Cooler Master Silent Pro M 500w or Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 600w. Anything 80+ certified costs almost like any of those GPUs. I'm a bit confused with those PSU calculators, they give a number close to 350w, don't know if there is anything else i should know. Anyway, i've read that i should check 12v rails to see if they can provide enough power for GPU+CPU. Is there any calculator that takes that into consideration?
I'm not really interested in using any parts of this PC on an upgrade, most likely this rig will be kept by my parents when i convince them i need a new one.

yeah 350 sounds about right so get an 80+ certified psu with enough amps on a 12v rail to run whatever video card you are running and you should be set, personally I prefer the psus with the single 12v rail.

 

[Rammiel]

Another 350 bucks doesn't sound good on my budget. Another option i've been given is OCZ sXstream 600w on the previous price range. Is it any better than previous ones?

 

[jjb8675309]

Another 350 bucks doesn't sound good on my budget. Another option i've been given is OCZ sXstream 600w on the previous price range. Is it any better than previous ones?

I was saying yes to 350 watts not dollars but in all honesty I would stay away from ocz, go with a 500w or more from a quality manufacturer such as antec, corsair, coolermaster, silverstone or seasonic that is 80+ certified, which means it will at least give you 80 percent of the wattage that it lists otherwise it is a toss up..... and that should be more then enough power and will provide more than enough amps on a 12v rail for your gpu

here are some choices that will more than fit your needs and allow you some headroom for overclocking:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171052

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256061

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093

hope this answers your questions...

 

[Rammiel]

Thanks, i'll check if i can get any of those around here, and how much it will hurt, haha. I'll let you know.