Good afternoon (well it's afternoon over here in Japan),
I found a great deal on a new GPU, the R6850 for less than half the normal price. I bought it but before I installed, I looked at my Windows Experience Index and realized my biggest problem is my cpu and ram (both showing 4.7). I mostly use the system for gaming. Currently my system is;
CPU = Intel Core 2 duo 4300 @ 1.8 GHz
RAM = 8 GB DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) UMAX
MOBO = MSI p6n sli platinum lga 775 nvidia nforce 650i atx intel c55+mcp51
GPU = Nvidia GeForce 9800GT
Windows 7 professional 64 bit
So there are 3 basic questions here.
1. Is my ram rating tied to my cpu (they always stay the same).
2. Can I just upgrade the cpu without doing a whole rebuild (I would prefer this if possible). I looked at the CPU list on the MSI website and I can use some of the Core 2 extremes. I live near Akihabara so it is possible to find used CPU's for decent prices. At what price point is it better to get a whole new mobo/CPU/ram upgrade vs just a CPU upgrade.
3. If I cannot upgrade CPU enough to get a decent system, what is the best I can put together for around $300 (I have been reading the best value listing and I am a little confused, the most reasonable CPU seems to be the core i3-2120).
Thank you so much for the help and I can supply any extra information that may be needed for a decision.
I found a great deal on a new GPU, the R6850 for less than half the normal price. I bought it but before I installed, I looked at my Windows Experience Index and realized my biggest problem is my cpu and ram (both showing 4.7). I mostly use the system for gaming. Currently my system is;
CPU = Intel Core 2 duo 4300 @ 1.8 GHz
RAM = 8 GB DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) UMAX
MOBO = MSI p6n sli platinum lga 775 nvidia nforce 650i atx intel c55+mcp51
GPU = Nvidia GeForce 9800GT
Windows 7 professional 64 bit
So there are 3 basic questions here.
1. Is my ram rating tied to my cpu (they always stay the same).
2. Can I just upgrade the cpu without doing a whole rebuild (I would prefer this if possible). I looked at the CPU list on the MSI website and I can use some of the Core 2 extremes. I live near Akihabara so it is possible to find used CPU's for decent prices. At what price point is it better to get a whole new mobo/CPU/ram upgrade vs just a CPU upgrade.
3. If I cannot upgrade CPU enough to get a decent system, what is the best I can put together for around $300 (I have been reading the best value listing and I am a little confused, the most reasonable CPU seems to be the core i3-2120).
Thank you so much for the help and I can supply any extra information that may be needed for a decision.