Upgrading PC - Need Suggestions :)

Im planning to spend a few hundred bucks upgrading my 3yr old computer. These are the specs, tell me what you think.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz (old)
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 (new)
RaM: 3 gb (1G Samsung DDr2 800mhz - old) (2x 1 gb Kingston DDR2 800mhz -new)
Video Card: EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT Superclocked 55NM 650MHZ 512MB 1.9GHZ GDDR3 (new)
Power Supply: Enermax 485W (old)

Will my power supply support it?
Can i keep my current cpu and still see an improvment with new motherboard?
How well will it work on playing latest games? =P

 

• Processor is fine as is.
• You may want to look into a 750i (This means buy a motherboard with a nvidia chipset) board to allow further upgrades in the future (SLI, Tri-SLI, etc) You want to spend a little more money on a board that allows upgrade by running multple identical cards.
• Memory wise, with DDR2 technology, you want to use identical sticks of memory placed in the correct DIMM according to your manufacturer specifications. Randomly installing sticks of memory will sacrifice dual channel capabilities.
• As far as the power supply is concerned, you'll do fine with the 485W. I ran quad core setup with an SLI setup and 4 hard drives just fine with a 550W. If the PSU is old, you may want to upgrade and spend a bit more money on a quality power supply.

Some of the current games are graphics intensive so a powerful videocard would be the best. I would consider looking into the GTX 200 series cards rather than the 9800 series cards.

BTW, if RTH suggets getting ATI instead, just laugh at him.

 

Thanks! what motherboard is a 750i?

 

id agree with knoc, id upgrade the PSU to a 550 or 600 just to cover your ass.

The 9800's are huge cards and im sure they draw some pretty high power. a 550 watt PSU would only set you back like 70 dollars anyway. I think the 9800 uses 6 pin power connectors, which an old PSU might not have.

I upgraded mine to an OCZ fatal1ty 550 watt and i haven't regretted it. its way quieter.. and my old PSU was starting to buzz and shit; plus new PSU's are usually modular so its super easy to wire stuff.

I'd also just watch for a deal on tigerdirect or newegg and pick up 2x2gb sticks of DDR2 dual channel ram, if you wait for a sale you can get 4 gigs of ram for like 40 bucks.

In terms of the graphics card... i'd also probably just spend another 20 dollars and get a 9800 GTX+ instead of just the 9800. Eeer... actually if it were me, id probably spend 60 dollars more and get a Radeon 4870 with 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. Atleast with a gig of graphics memory you will be able to run everything at max anti-aliasing.

 

750i is inferior to the P45 chipset, your choice has a good mix options and has especially good overclockability and has the option for crossfire if you need it. Instead of the 9800 GT(X) and GTS 250, I would personally recommend the HD 4770 which matches or exceeds the GTS 250/ 9800 GTX+ 512MB while being available for $99 plus MIR. Oh and like fearless said don't mix different amount of memory, just get a good 2 x 2GB set of memory, DDR2 RAM not going to get much cheaper.

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16850

 

your cpu and board are good...the board will give you lots of room to expand and upgrade to a faster quad core cpu later on when money become available.

your ram setup is not ideal...ram does not like to mix companies and they always like to be paired together...so i would recommend getting 4GB (2x2gb) matched ddr 2 ram.

i'm a little out on the video card as i'm partial to nvidia cuz i had some really bad experiences with some older ATI All-in-wonder cards so i'd recommend the nvidia cards...but ATI's new 4770 has peaked my interest and its benchmarks are pretty impressive for a $100 video card (read here for specs: http://jonpeddie.com/reviews/details/what_can_you_get_for_a_hundred_bucks_these_days/ )

for power supply i look more at the amperage that the power supply is supplying vs the watts, so i would check the specs on your power supply to see what it can supply and also to see if it has the 6 pin pci-e power plug. i would then use something like this to determine whether your current power supply can handle your new setup (http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp)

 

^ look up the meanings of impartial and partial, might help you from sounding dumb one day in an important conversation

 

happens when you don't proof read your post prior to posting

 

Your motherboard and video card is new so i dont think there is anything to upgrade.

Perhaps install more rams and install Vista 64bit. BTW my powersupply is 350watt it can run my 8800GT 512mb , and i can play Age of conan.

Try this http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest Can you Run THis

 

if ur gonna get a new board... i suggest the GB UD3P over Asux p5q... about the same price... but better OC board... MUCH better OC board lol...

 

you should get a 1 TB external hard drive. I have one, it works very well. It frees up space on your computer

 

i would recommend getting a aftermarket heat sink something like the thermalright ultra extreme so you can get better overclocking its only about 60-70 bucks more

 

imo leave it as it is, its a waste of money.. if it runs your stuff then w/e

 

^ upgrading can save money.... over buying a brand new computer

the only thing i would agree with is the PSU..... needs to be bumped up to at least 550W....

 

well i'm starting to think that perhaps buying a new comp is cheaper than upgrading ur current comp with how prices have fallen in recent years.

 

or just keep your current one as it is, more ram is all you need, the other stuff is just bling.


and you know what they say about bling.....