Upgrading my PC

[tom_mcdaddy]

Hi. I am looking to upgrade my current system. I currently have...

CPU : AMD Phenom(tm) 9850 Quad-Core Processor - 2.5 GHz
Bus Type : PCI Bus
Motherboard : ASRock K10N78FullHD-hSLI
PSU : ATX 500TD
Memory : 2048 MB
Graphic Card : NVIDIA GeForce 8200 (integrated into the motherboard)
Disk Drive : Hitachi HDP725050GLA380 - 3.5" SATA 500 GB
OS : Windows XP


I am going to be doing video editing and 3D modelling/rendering so am looking at getting...

HIS Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2GB Graphics card
A solid state 256GB drive
Upgrading to Windows 8


Does anyone have any comments or suggestions? More RAM perhaps? Is there a way to utilise both the integrated NVIDIA GeForce 8200 and an additional graphics card? ANy help or suggestions would be very much appreciated!

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

I'd say upgrade to i7 3770k, You really need i7 for all that stuff.

 

[exban224]

Hi. I am looking to upgrade my current system. I currently have...

CPU : AMD Phenom(tm) 9850 Quad-Core Processor - 2.5 GHz
Bus Type : PCI Bus
Motherboard : ASRock K10N78FullHD-hSLI
PSU : ATX 500TD
Memory : 2048 MB
Graphic Card : NVIDIA GeForce 8200 (integrated into the motherboard)
Disk Drive : Hitachi HDP725050GLA380 - 3.5" SATA 500 GB
OS : Windows XP


I am going to be doing video editing and 3D modelling/rendering so am looking at getting...

HIS Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2GB Graphics card
A solid state 256GB drive
Upgrading to Windows 8


Does anyone have any comments or suggestions? More RAM perhaps? Is there a way to utilise both the integrated NVIDIA GeForce 8200 and an additional graphics card? ANy help or suggestions would be very much appreciated!

The GPU should be fine, but an AMD FirePro or Nvidia Quadro would have beeter performance at the price in those applications, at least as far as I know. The ssd should be good, if you just want to be able to speed up the program loading times. Windows 8... make your own decision on that, I would get a cheap copy of Windows 7 64bit, as I loathe the Win8. If you do get it, make sure to get a 64bit version, as the applications you are using would benifit. I would definitely reccomand more RAM, upgrade to maybe 4, 8GB?
There is no way to run the intergrated and new gpu at the same time for extra performance, as:
1. They are different architectures.
2. You can only do that kind of thing with AMD APUs.
The Mobo and CPU could be upgraded as well, as they could bottleneck the GPU, a possible Intel i5 or and AMD FX 83-- or 63--.

 

[AMKANMBA]

windows 7 would be alot better

 

[tom_mcdaddy]

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion. I was thinking about doing that, but a new CPU and motherboard to go with it could get a bit costly. I was hoping to improve my system without building a new one from scratch if possible. Any thoughts?

 

[exban224]

I'd say upgrade to i7 3770k, You really need i7 for all that stuff.

The 2GB of RAM would hobble the PC like cazy, though.

 

[tom_mcdaddy]

Hi. Thank you all for all the feedback and comments. Much appreciated.

I think I might look into;

- upgrading the RAM to 8GB+
- SSD drive
- install Windows7 - 64bit

For the graphics card, there is a "HIS Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2GB" on ebay which I could probably get for under £200.
I will look at AMD FirePro or Nvidia Quadro as well.

Does anyone have any comments? Does anyone recommend any other graphic card around the £150 to £200 mark?

 

[exban224]

Hi. Thank you all for all the feedback and comments. Much appreciated.

I think I might look into;

- upgrading the RAM to 8GB+
- SSD drive
- install Windows7 - 64bit

For the graphics card, there is a "HIS Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2GB" on ebay which I could probably get for under £200.
I will look at AMD FirePro or Nvidia Quadro as well.

Does anyone have any comments? Does anyone recommend any other graphic card around the £150 to £200 mark?

Just looked around, it seems that Firepro and Quadro cards only start giving an improvement in performance at a higher price. The 6950 is a decent option, is better for compute tasks than keplar (Nvidia 600) cards, and with that version you may be able to do a decent amount of overclocking. Just be careful on ebay, I have not heard a huge amount of good experiences from people who bought components from there. Good luck!

 

[AMKANMBA]

whats ur price range for an ssd?

 

[AMKANMBA]

ocz revodrive3x is excellent but is for 510$