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Upgrading my PC.

Q

Qulzam

n00b
Joined
Sep 14, 2006
Messages
54
Upgrading my PC.

Current PC

AMD 3000+ @ 2.4GHZ
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
Inno3d Geforce 6600 256MB PCI-EXPRESS
256MB RAM
40GB HDD

Iam low on the budget so iam only going to get XFX Geforce 7950GT (Fortunately, its available here in Pakistan), 1GB RAM and 320GB Seagate Barracuda HDD

How better my PC would be for current games? i can also upgrade any ONE of these things, such as 7950 to 8800GTX, 1GB to 2GB or 2x 320GB Seagates in RAID0?
Which component should i get among these 3?

8800GTX, 2GB RAM or RAID0?
GPU, RAM or HDD?

Your help needed, Thanks.
 
One more thing, i have a 15" CRT monitor currently and upgrading to 19" Widescreen LCD.

Would it be any good? iam worried about Picture quality, i heard that CRTs>LCDs in every aspect except size.

I will buy SAMSUNG 940BW 19" Widescreen LCD, how is it for PC gaming from 15" CRT?
 
Are you considering upgrading to a new setup down the road (a few months, a year, etc.)? If so, you could get the extra hard drive (I would discourage using RAID 0), and put that in whatever you end up using in the future.

If you're just looking at the present, upgrading to 2GB of ram would probably be the smartest choice (if you can't touch the processor, since it will be the bottleneck). It sounds like you don't need the storage, and the video card will be outdated in a few months anyway.

EDIT: The biggest feature you're going to lose from going to a LCD is color representation. Ghosting isn't really an issue in my opinion (though I don't know how that particular display preforms, so you might want to check the Display forum). If you're going to be playing games, tearing might bother you, but that's about it.
 
Your CPU should be fine for a bit longer (a year?), depending on how demanding you are of your system. The 7950GT should last you quite a while, too, unless you plan on playing alot of dx10 games, lol. It'll take a while before you'll really need a dx10 card. I'd go for the 2GB. If you're on a 40GB, I'm guessing thats an IDE drive. The 320gb seagate should definately improve overall system performance. If you find you like CRTs for gaming better than an LCD, then just keep both hooked up for a dual monitor setup.
 
Thanks for your replies

How would be that setup?

AMD 3000+ @ 2.4GHZ (I can't upgrade my CPU, because i also have to buy a new MOBO for this and it will cost me a lot so iam sticking with it)

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe

XFX Geforce 8800GTX

2GB Dual Channel (1x2) ONLY KINGSTON RAM is available in my country, ONLY KINGSTON. BTW, can i buy RAM ONLINE? the best DDR400 RAM by OCZ or CORSAIR?

and SEAGATE BARRACUDA 320GB (Tell me if RAID0 improves performance with 2 of these).
 
I would not get the 8800. Unless you use a 30" LCD (or very high resolutions)it is a waste of money. I would go with 2 7600GTs in SLI. My 7600GTs got over 11K in 3Dmark05 my 7950 was about 10K.

You will notice a difference with Raid0, sometimes more and sometimes not so much. I use raid0 in every build I do and am very happy with it.
 
2 x 7600 GT are not good value for money either

I would recommend a dual core setup preferably an Opteron 165 or 170 or a 3800+ X2
a 7950GT (8800GTS at most) An 8800GTX would be a waste of money without going to a Core 2 Duo
2gb ram if you can afford it otherwise 1gb is OK
One 320GB Seagate 7200.10

You should be able to get 2.6 to 2.8 out of the Opteron or 2.4 to 2.6 out of an X2 CPU but make sure you have a good CPU cooler. The Opterons come with a reasonable 4 heatpipe cooler in the box.

If you can afford to buy an 8800GTX then you would be better of with a Core 2 E6300 and an 8800GTS
 
For a 19" LCD, the 7950GT should be good enough for current games. The 8800GTX isn't worth its price tag. Wait for the R600 to compete and lower prices of the G80 series. Stick with the 7950GT for now, since DX10 won't be needed until more games for it come out. While you can upgrade the cpu to a dual core, most games dont currently take advantage of dual core. See if you can squeeze more out of that 3000+, like 2.6Ghz. You won't get much performance boost out of a dual core unless you do alot of multitasking or play alot of source (source engine was updated to take advantage of multi-cores).

What's your budget? Where will you be buying your parts?
 
OK, iam going get 1GB SINGLE CHANNEL just now with 320GB Seagate Barracuda.

after 3 months, i will get 8800GTX (Prices will be down for sure, i think R600 would be there after 3 months) and another same 1GB RAM SINGLE CHANNEL.

Another problem, in Pakistan, only KINGSTON DDR400 1GB Kits are available, not any other.
Will KINGSTON still perform very nice with 2GB (1x2)?

I will buy from a computer market in Pakistan :D .
 
hoppeler said:
2 x 7600 GT are not good value for money either

I would recommend a dual core setup preferably an Opteron 165 or 170 or a 3800+ X2
a 7950GT (8800GTS at most) An 8800GTX would be a waste of money without going to a Core 2 Duo
2gb ram if you can afford it otherwise 1gb is OK
One 320GB Seagate 7200.10

You should be able to get 2.6 to 2.8 out of the Opteron or 2.4 to 2.6 out of an X2 CPU but make sure you have a good CPU cooler. The Opterons come with a reasonable 4 heatpipe cooler in the box.

If you can afford to buy an 8800GTX then you would be better of with a Core 2 E6300 and an 8800GTS
Click to expand...


Did you read my post? I have Used BOTH the 7600GTs and the 7950. The 7600GTs beat the crap out of the 7950. And the 7600GTs can be found for less than $80.
 
OP, if you're on a budget, simply upgrading to 2 gigs of RAM, a larger hard drive, and a 7600GT or higher video card would do you great.

See my signature. I play DoD:S maxed and AoE3 almost maxed at 1280x1024 (native res) on a 19" LCD. Widescreen might take a little more power than my 7800gt though.
 
OK, iam going get 1GB SINGLE CHANNEL just now with 320GB Seagate Barracuda.

after 3 months, i will get 8800GTX (Prices will be down for sure, i think R600 would be there after 3 months) and another same 1GB RAM SINGLE CHANNEL.

Another problem, in Pakistan, only KINGSTON DDR400 1GB Kits are available, not any other.
Will KINGSTON still perform very nice with 2GB (1x2)?

I will buy from a computer market in Pakistan. :D
 
Qulzam said:
after 3 months, i will get 8800GTX (Prices will be down for sure, i think R600 would be there after 3 months) and another same 1GB RAM SINGLE CHANNEL.
Click to expand...
The problem with your setup is your processor. You won't see much of an improvement in CPU intensive games. At that point, you're just wasting money.
 
markkleb said:
Did you read my post? I have Used BOTH the 7600GTs and the 7950. The 7600GTs beat the crap out of the 7950. And the 7600GTs can be found for less than $80.
Click to expand...
I used 2x 6800Ultras before and now a single 7950GT, in 3DMarks 2x 6800Ultras are faster but in games a single 7950GT is faster than 2x 6800Ultras/7600GTs. Btw by using a single 7950GT, I can drop in another one later and it would be faster. IMO it is better to buy a single card first at the same price of two cards and later add another one when the price comes down, if you buy two cards, you need to upgrade both next time.
 
OK, now iam ready to get this setup


AMD 3000+ @ 2.4GHZ
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
XFX Geforce 8800GTX
Kingston 2GB Dual Channel (1x2) Only KINGSTON is available in Pakistan, will it still perform the best?
320GBx2 Seagate Barracudas in RAID0

Now finally, tell me, how good this setup is for 2007-2008?
 
That should be good for 2007, and maybe even good for all of 2008.

It depends on how demanding the games are that come out.

wise choices:
2Gb of ram = great!
8800GTX = great!
2x320Gb harddrive = good, but you probably don't need to use Raid 0. I wouldn't risk the data integrity for the small speed boost. Generally speaking Raid 0 isn't needed.
 
All of your comments found to be much helpful to me, my Final PC is going to be:


AMD 3000+ @ 2.4GHZ
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
XFX Geforce 8800GTX
Kingston 2GB (1x2) only Kingston here in Pakistan, discuss on it a bit, only DDR400 1GB single kits are there, 2 of them= 2GB Dual channel= BEST?

Seagate Barracuda 320GB or 500GB

Howz that rig 2007/2008
 
Kingston is fine. If you have no other choice, then theres really nothing to discuss, lol. Yes, 2x1GB sticks in dual channel is the best you can do. Do they have low latency sticks, their HyperX line? Those would be the best, but only improve performance by a tiny margin, but help in OC'ing. Kingston is actually one of the best brands, imo, especially for DDR.

An 8800GTX is overkill for a 19" wide, imo. The GTS should be much cheaper and still capable of feeding the 19"; and so is the 7950GT. Again, with current games, the 7950GT is really all you need. For future proofing, the 8800GTS would be better. You don't really need the 8800GTX with only a 19", but thats just my opinion. The GTS should last you a year or two, depending on the games that come out, and the GTX will last you even longer.
 
you could always get an eVGA 7600 gt, and 2 gigs of RAM now, and use the stepup program before the end of the 3 months.

I'd get the gts instaed of the gtx too.
and an opty 165.
 
i'm kind of surprised at the varying levels of suggestions here.

simple question: What's your budget?

My advice: stick with the 7950, only get 1G of memory, and forget RAID. for the money on those upgrades, you could get a great dual core CPU, and extend the life of your entire rig for years

Opteron...................................$160
Gig of Kinston Ram...................$100
250GB, 16mb cache WD HDD....$75

for $330, you'll have one sweet little dual core gaming rig.


zv
 
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