Homebuilt upgrade recommendations

[jfinet]

My First build last November has been a great system … thinking about treating myself to some simple upgrades at the one year mark … like more ram … second GTX460 … overclocking … or? … would like some comments on the upgrades that would produce noticeable improvement in performance … gaming … SL ... movies … and especially dealing with an ISP that is wireless to the house … thanks … jfinet


Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 … 1.65v … 9-9-9-24
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
MSI N460GTX CYCLONE 1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE CD/DVD Burner
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 Hard Drive -Bare Drive
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 Mid Tower Computer Case
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
ASUS VH222H-P Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Widescreen Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor
OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD2-2AGTE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus

 

[AdrianPerry]

Adding another 4GB RAM and another graphics card should show some noticeable performance increase.

You already have one of the best value for money after market CPU coolers as well so if you going to over-clock there's no reason to upgrade here really, make use of what you already have

If your looking for a performance increase, adding an SSD in could be the way to go.

 

[Onus]

RAM is dirt cheap right now; adding some may not make a big difference now, but it's really too cheap to pass up, and more RAM may help later.
As for the GPU, it probably depends a lot on the game(s) you play, and/or whether or not you're interested in a 3D setup. It's not a 3-tier jump, but a GTX560ti might still provide a worthwhile increase in performance, especially if you're considering 3D.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Maybe if you sli-ed you'd get some gaming improvement. Not sure the extra ram would do a lot for you.
The internet wireless thing...... Direct cable/optic is the way to go. Wireless strangles everything it touches. Having said that, the "wireless" boxes that you plug into wall sockets ( and then run cable ) are the second most desirable as far as connections go, but that's if you already have cable coming to your house. Change ISP's or live with it.

 

[jfinet]

I'm in the country ... only internet option is wireless ... 1.5 mb down and up ... no cable ... no DSL ... works ... but it is laggy sometimes ... fine for Black Ops multiplayer ... have not overclocked anything yet ... guess I will have to look at that ...

 

[megamanx00]

Add 8GB of RAM (go for it), add another GTX 460, and overclock your CPU if you haven't already . Do all that and you will see a pretty big increase in performance.

 

[Onus]

If by "wireless" you mean "satellite," the latency of your connection will be horrible. I'm surprised any multiplayer FPS gaming is anything but exasperating due to lag.
If it's something like an Aircard, lag won't be as bad but your connection quality must really byte big bonez; I'm not sure what to suggest.

 

[g-unit1111]

My suggestions:

- Add 8GB of RAM (or max it out if you want - it's not that much money)

- Get a new video card - swap the 460 for at least a 560 or AMD Radeon 6950 or 6970

- Get a second monitor (dual / triple monitors = major win!)

 

[jfinet]

It's not satellite ... local company has towers in area ... wireless from their tower to my roof transceiver ... what does dual monitors do for me ... in terms of game performance? ... never made that connection ...

 

[AdrianPerry]

It's not satellite ... local company has towers in area ... wireless from their tower to my roof transceiver ... what does dual monitors do for me ... in terms of game performance? ... never made that connection ...

Using more than 1 monitor just makes it bigger. Generally allows for higher resolutions and a bigger more "panoramic" screen.

2 Monitors generally aren't recommended for gaming since you will get a black line right down the middle of the picture where the monitors meet. 3 Is recommended so you have one central and one either side.

 

[jfinet]

Thanks for the input ... I am leaning towards more ram and improving video card (second 460 or new 560) and trying the overclocking for cpu ... what memory would you recommend ... I have 2x2 gb ... can I keep that and add 8 more with 2x4 gb of the same spec ... or do I need to dump old memory and get 12 gb matched set ... recommendations on which set would be appreciated ... memory specs leave me a little unencumbered with knowledge ... Jfinet

 

[g-unit1111]

I'd have to see the specs of your motherboard but picking RAM is mainly determined by what speeds it can handle, and if it requires dual or triple channel (dual = two sticks at a time, triple = three sticks at a time). It has to be a matched set. Consult your manual too - a lot of times they'll include a list of approved vendors and what the maximum capacity it can handle.

As far as brands go - Corsair is good (but get Vengeance, not XMS series), Kingston, G.Skill, Crucial, and Patriot are all good.

 

[jfinet]

My current spec is listed ... and my current set of 2x2 gb works ... can I add more to what I have ... or must I start over ...
(my current memory listed above was not listed with the mobo manual ... but worked fine after a little tweak)

 

[AdrianPerry]

My current spec is listed ... and my current set of 2x2 gb works ... can I add more to what I have ... or must I start over ...
(my current memory listed above was not listed with the mobo manual ... but worked fine after a little tweak)

Your motherboard has 4 RAM slots, and currently you have 2 populated (your 2x2GB sticks), so you can just add 2 more sticks in (2x4GB recommended) giving you 12GB total, or just add 4GB more (depending on budget), to give 8GB total. Either would work nicely but there's no reason to take out what you already have, just add to it.

 

[swifty_morgan]

you don't need ram/.