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Mar 31, 2007, 02:05 PM
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#1
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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Upgrade advice
Hey everyone, I was looking at possibly upgrading my computer soon, but I was wondering what you think I should go for first. I play games, so that's what I'd be upgrading for.
My current system:
Pentium D 820 (yeah, I know, this isn't the greatest gaming processor around...)
GA-8I945PL-G Motherboard
ATI X800 XT 256MB
1GB PC2-4300 DDR2 Ram (2x512)
Raptor 10k HD (this was probably overkill when I bought it)
Creative X-Fi sound card
I was thinking video card might be the first upgrade, but the RAM could also use some boosting (thinking 2 1GB sticks). I wasn't sure if that'd be worthwhile though, if I'd get bottlenecked by the CPU and mobo.
Thanks for any help!
Last edited by Ivy Mike; Mar 31, 2007 at 07:57 PM.
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Mar 31, 2007, 06:10 PM
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#2
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,960
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wow those are some pretty old and low end components..... give me your spending budget and ill put together something good. and also, the radeon X series is pretty much discontinued so you would be better off with some X1K card
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Mar 31, 2007, 06:45 PM
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#3
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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Lol, so you think everything needs to be replaced? In all honesty I'm probably gonna wait until I feel there's a game out that I MUST upgrade for to see it in all its glory, but I was just looking at what parts should be replaced first or if it wouldn't matter cause it's all outmoded anyway. I'd probably spend something like 1500 upgrading everything (cpu, mobo, vid card, mem).
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Mar 31, 2007, 07:24 PM
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#4
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Real captial of Canada: Toronto
Posts: 4,834
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Being a PCIE board you are pretty good to go video card wise. The only thing is that you are CPU limited.. P4s being your highest supported processor. If you are planning on buying a new processor then you might want to consider getting it soon as Intel is planning on dumping the P4 line pretty soon. Just be sure to check Gigabytes site for supported processor on that board. Specifically, depending on the version of the board you may or may not be able to use every P4 that's out there.
Last edited by Tipstaff; Mar 31, 2007 at 07:30 PM.
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Mar 31, 2007, 07:27 PM
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#5
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,960
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if you can deal with headaches from staying with your old system.......i suggest waiting until mid 08 to upgrade, then you will see DDR3 1600mhz, PCI-E 2.0, intel socket B (LGA 1366) and all that good extra stuff that will come as well...... i mean Core 2 is going to be obsolete and things like Penryn and Nehalem will be replacing it..... the output is going to be on the 45nm scale and roughly 4 times as powerful as existing Core 2s
anyways ill be putting something good together for $1500
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Mar 31, 2007, 07:29 PM
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#6
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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Well, if I was gonna do a new CPU, I'd probably get a new mobo so I could do Core 2 right now. What I'm possibly thinking though is just doing a video card and ram upgrade then maybe wait another year+ and upgrade the cpu and mobo at that point. Video card wise I could get an x1950 now which I assume would get bottlenecked by the Pentium D, but when I upgrade the new processor later on, it shouldnt be an issue of course...But maybe thats a waste?
Thanks for the help from both of you btw. 
Last edited by Ivy Mike; Mar 31, 2007 at 07:40 PM.
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Mar 31, 2007, 07:42 PM
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#7
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,960
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Mar 31, 2007, 07:46 PM
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#8
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,960
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im wondering, is the system listed above the one you planned on getting or what you have right now?
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Mar 31, 2007, 07:52 PM
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#9
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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The stuff I listed in the first post is what I have now - bought it late December 2005. Sorry if that was confusing.
That is some cool hardware. I'd need a new PSU, and I'd probably tone it down on the video card, but thanks for the suggestions.
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:13 PM
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#10
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,960
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:16 PM
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#11
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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Cool. What PSU's do you guys like around here?
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:16 PM
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#12
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Xtreme
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can
Posts: 3,512
Rep Power: 40
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First thing I would likely do is buy is a new videocard. Even with the Pentium D 820, it will be the biggest jump in performance. PCIe 2.0 will be backwards compatible with PCIe 1.X so card you buy will work for sometime yet.
Going with a Core 2 Duo and a new motherboard will also be beneficial but not near to the extreme of the videocard.
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:18 PM
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#13
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Xtreme
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can
Posts: 3,512
Rep Power: 40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kris23
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really no point in going with nice good ram when you are using such a craptastic motherboad  . His current ram will work fine if he doesnt overclock. Sure 2GB is beneficial but not near to the extreme as other things. |
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:19 PM
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#14
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Like a Fish
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Southern California
Posts: 19,380
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivy Mike
In all honesty I'm probably gonna wait until I feel there's a game out that I MUST upgrade for to see it in all its glory
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Crysis  . |
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:34 PM
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#15
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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Heh yeah, I was thinking Crysis and Bioshock are probably games that will necessitate upgrades...
Lowfat, are you saying the ECS 650i is craptastic or are you referring only to the one I currently have (well, I think mine DEFINITELY is subpar at this point). And what vid card would you recommend upgrading to?
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:37 PM
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#16
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Like a Fish
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Southern California
Posts: 19,380
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well....ECS is a subpar company. and IMO, if you want, just wait around until the 8600GT/GTS is available in order to get the dx10 capabilities....of course, you'll also need to get vista in order to take advantage of dx10.
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:40 PM
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#17
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,960
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crysis will tear your computer apart and toss away its remains away like
nothing man
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:45 PM
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#18
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,960
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yea....ECS isnt too good of a company, the main reason for the board is its SLI and future compatibility for the price there isnt too much bios options from what i seen
the EVGA 680i and intel Bad Axe 2 are the better boards to get as of right now...
the bad axe 2 (xbx2) is the best Crossfire mobo, and the evga 680i is the best sli board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121059
i think the intel bad axe has better RAID than the EVGA board |
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Mar 31, 2007, 08:59 PM
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#19
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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When is the 8600 supposed to be released - will it be before the next ATI card? DX10 would be nice but I realize that that's gonna require upgrading to Vista, which I'm not really excited to try yet. So I wonder if picking up a DX10 card is really worth it at this point.
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Mar 31, 2007, 09:51 PM
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#20
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Xtreme
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can
Posts: 3,512
Rep Power: 40
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The 8600GT is suppose to launch April 16th from what I have heard. And even if you won't be using Vista for a while the 8X00s are still very good DX9 cards.
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Mar 31, 2007, 10:16 PM
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#21
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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OK, so if I went for an 8800 right now, what do you think would be best out of the 3 different 8800 models - 320 GTS, 640 GTS, or 768 GTX?
No word on the new ATI cards? I've been pleased with my past few ATI cards, so I wouldn't mind sticking with them.
Also, if I threw in 2GB of Ram, I'd consider doing this...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146569
I'm hesitant about buying 533 ram, but unless I upgrade the mobo, I'm pretty limited right now.
Last edited by Ivy Mike; Mar 31, 2007 at 10:26 PM.
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Mar 31, 2007, 10:25 PM
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#22
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Xtreme
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can
Posts: 3,512
Rep Power: 40
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how big of a monitor are you using? Personally i think the 320GTS is the best bang for the buck.
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Mar 31, 2007, 10:40 PM
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#23
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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19inch - 1280x1024 max res. With an 8800, would I need a PSU greater than 420w (it came with the RaidMax case I have)? And would it be worth getting an overclocked eVGA 8800 320 such as here...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130040 |
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Mar 31, 2007, 10:53 PM
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#24
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Xtreme
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can
Posts: 3,512
Rep Power: 40
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420W should be fine for a 8800GTS 320mb, however I don't know how good Raidmax PSU's are. and the GTS 320mb will definately be fine for 1280X1024.
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Mar 31, 2007, 11:53 PM
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#25
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,960
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i think you should upgrade your PSU anyway, the stuff that comes in cases are usually really low tech and may blow up ur hardware if pumping more than they can dish.......
juts to be safe.... also cant any DDR2 higher than 533 work in that mobo? i mean it probably wont run at rated specs but it should run at that level.....
hope someone else can confirm this as i have no expreience with DDR2
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