Need advice for upgrading

[ivieteora]

Hi, I'm looking to upgrade my (gaming) PC, as I have money to spare and some games don't run that well.
Here is my current setup:

Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit)

LG W2361V-PF Full HD TFT LCD 23" HDMI Gaming monitor

XFX HD 5850 1GB DDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Display Port Out PCI-E Graphics Card

XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular PSU - 13.5cm Fan 6x SATA 4x PCI-E

Seagate ST31000528AS 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Socket AM3 3.2 GHz 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black

Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Ballistix Memory Kit CL7 (7-7-7-24) 1.65V

CM Storm Scout Case

Asrock 880G Extreme3 Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard


Basically I definitely want to upgrade the RAM and graphics card, and want a SSD, but despite being a computer scientist I'm a noob with this sort of thing. Also could really do with some more fans or something in there, and I imagine some of the other parts need an upgrade.

I don't particularly have a budget but I was thinking maybe in the region of £500, and I don't really mind where I get it from but have used ebuyer in the past.

Also is it worth trying to sell old parts or should I just keep them as spares?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chaz21]

Look here for ideas on upgrading your GPU:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
I'd go with memory like this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/248449-kingston-8gb-2x4gb-ddr3-1333mhz-hyperx-blu-memory-kit-khx1333c9d3b1k2-8g
and an SSD like this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/264770-crucial-64gb-m4-ssd-ct064m4ssd2-ct064m4ssd2
that may give you some ideas.

 

[ivieteora]

Cheers for the reply, I'd had a look at the GPU comparison after posting, the 7850 and 7870 seem to be good and around the right price range. The thing I don't want to do is spend a lot on a new GPU if my CPU or something would hold it back.

Quick question about the memory, is that meant to replace my current ram or be in addition to it?

Links:
7850 - http://www.ebuyer.com/352912-powercolor-hd-7850-2gb-gddr5-dvi-hdmi-dual-mini-displayport-pci-e-graphics-ax7850-2gbd5-2dh
7870 - http://www.ebuyer.com/349749-sapphire-hd-7870-ghz-edition-2gb-gddr5-hdmi-dvi-dual-mini-displayport-11199-00-20g

 

[Chaz21]

Well you don't really want to "mix" ram (brand, speed, latency, etc) and I couldn't find a "match" for what you have now on ebuyer.com. With your motherboard limited to 16gbs and your setup already using 2 slots (4gbs) I couldn't see any other way for you to "max-out" if and when it becomes feasible to do so (if ever). Today 8gbs is usually more than enough for whatever most of us want to do, but most of the new motherboards are supporting 32gbs. I'm guessing there must be a reason - even if it's in the future.

Both of the GPU's are good ones. A look at the spec's will tell you why 7870 is so much more than the 7850.

 

[ivieteora]

Lol, well tbh I couldn't tell why the 7870 was worth so much more money, but from looking at the comparisons on the forums I could tell it was a lot better.

So if I buy a 7870 and the ram, there should be no bottlenecking problems? Also could you help me at all with the heat problems, I see you can buy fans but I'm not entirely sure where they would go in the case. I'll have to see with the new gpu but my cpu runs at only a few degrees below the recommended max temp without any overclocking. Would I be better off buying a new cpu heatsink then?

 

[Chaz21]

I'd get something like this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/298308-cooler-master-hyper-tx3-evo-rr-tx3e-22pk-r1
and then add some case fans if necessary.
I don't see any bottleneck with your setup.

 

[ivieteora]

Okay thanks, a couple more questions.

Is the only difference between these two cards that one is already overclocked, so I should buy the cheaper one?
http://www.ebuyer.com/349749-sapphire-hd-7870-ghz-edition-2gb-gddr5-hdmi-dvi-dual-mini-displayport-11199-00-20g
http://www.ebuyer.com/349750-sapphire-hd-7870-ghz-oc-edition-2gb-gddr5-hdmi-dvi-dual-mini-11199-03-20g

Also, I've been looking at case fans, and have noticed that a lot of the more popular fans are supposed to be quiet with low RPM, I just want to verify before I buy that I should be getting the higher speed fans.

Cheers.

 

[Chaz21]

For fan help/ideas look here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/331629-28-cooling-roundup-2012

On this one:
http://www.ebuyer.com/349749-sapphire-hd-7870-ghz-edition-2gb-gddr5-hdmi-dvi-dual-mini-displayport-11199-00-20g
Core Clock = 1000 MHz
Effective Clock Speed = 4.8 GHz

On this one:
http://www.ebuyer.com/349750-sapphire-hd-7870-ghz-oc-edition-2gb-gddr5-hdmi-dvi-dual-mini-11199-03-20g
Core Clock = 1050 MHz
Effective Clock Speed = 5 GHz

Now, I'm no big gamer but the cost increase for such a little improvement doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

[ivieteora]

Thanks for all the help.