Upgrade and Computer-Building Advice Thread

[nothingman]

Been out of the game for almost 9 years. Need advice.....
Here is what I have so far.


a. ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3
b. AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
c. ATX
d. CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W
e. GPU is up in the air. I am considering these two GIGABYTE GV-N460OC2-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB and the GIGABYTE GV-R577SO-1GD Radeon HD 5770 1GB

2. Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

3. 1x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

4. 1x ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner

4. I play on a 32 inch TV as my monitor my Resolution is 1360 x 768

5. This is another area I'm considering several options but this is what I kind of like NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK

6. My budget is about $1200.00



Let me know what y'all think.

[aliquidparadigm]

If you want to overclock your CPU, get an FX motherboard not a GX, otherwise, you've selected the computer parts rather well. That case is functionally awesome.

Beyond that, the only other thing I might suggest is that you get a 6850 over a 5770, as the 6850 is built more towards the future, whereas the 5770 is only going to be particularly good in current and older games. You should also go with an ATI/AMD card because your motherboard is AMD, which (whether you go with an FX or GX) means Crossfire will be an option in the future. The GX has on-board video, which may also be able to be used in Crossfire--I haven't looked much in to such a thing because it's very, very minor.

Overall, you should be able to get all that and still have another $200+ left over for blackjack and hookers.

[tacenator]

Hello,

I am upgrading my trusty XP Pro to Win7. I need to upgrade the video card. I am not a gamer, but use for multi-tasking and basic business stuff. I edit a newsletter and do need decent graphics, but not anything special. Looking for low price to medium price for best graphics. Can you recommend card for me? I will be upgrading the RAM to 2-4 GB (suggest?). Also new monitor.

Link to product page (system stock):
http://snipurl.com/26eqly [h10025_www1_hp_com]

Hardware
Base processor
Pentium4 530 (P) HT 3.0 GHz:

800 MHz front side bus
Socket 775

Chipset
Intel 915GV

Motherboard

Manufacturer: Asus
Motherboard Name: PTGD-LA
HP/Compaq motherboard name: Goldfish3-GL8E

Memory
Component Attributes
Memory Installed 1 GB (2 x 512)
Maximum allowed 4.0 GB* (4 X 1 GB) requires the replacement of the installed 512 MB DIMMs

*Actual available memory may be less
Speed supported PC3200 MB/sec
Type 240 pin, DDR2 SDRAM
DIMM slots Four
Open DIMM slots Two

Thank you.

[aliquidparadigm]

Bad news: your board only supports PCI, which means no new video card.
Good news: based on what you said you're using it for, you don't need to upgrade your video card anyway. None of the stuff you referenced uses a GPU for anything other than actually displaying things on your monitor: all the rendering of everything you referenced is done on the CPU.

Windows 7's requirements are also lower than what your current system has... or at least is capable of. You may want to consider installing more RAM, but it'll be nigh impossible to find RAM for that system at this point.

[saintjimmy]

Just get 2 packs of these sticks (4 sticks total) and you should be good to go with Windows 7:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134181

[tacenator]

aliquidparadigm said:

Bad news: your board only supports PCI, which means no new video card.
Good news: based on what you said you're using it for, you don't need to upgrade your video card anyway. None of the stuff you referenced uses a GPU for anything other than actually displaying things on your monitor: all the rendering of everything you referenced is done on the CPU.

The Win 7 Upgrade adviser says I need to upgrade video to utilize Aero??

Tom

[Stubby]

so don't use aero
it isn't needed to run win 7

[Tiresmoker]

1. Make and model: HP dc5850 small form-factor
a. Quick specs here: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/q...a/12900_ca.pdf
b. CPU: : AMD Phenom X4 840, 3.2 GHz quad-core (upgraded from factory dual-core)
c. Case Form Factor: micro ATX?
d. PSU: 240 watt, this is my limiting factor,
e. GPU: on-board

2. RAM: 6GB, PC2-6400 (mobo supports 8GB)

3. Disk Drive(s): 1TB Sata 7200 RPM

4. Optical drive(s): DVD RW, unsure of specs

4. Image Quality: 1080p

5. Case+: require low-profile card and HDMI output.

6. BUDGET: $150 max

7. O/S: Win7 x64 Enterprise

This PC is hooked up to my 60" HDTV and is used for watching Netflix, occasionally ripping DVDs, and also for running VirtualBox VMs (hence the upgraded CPU+RAM). it's not my main machine . I'd like to play a few games from time to time, including rFactor (racing) and maybe some of the newer FPS or something like Splinter Cell or maybe even Madden football. The HDMI output is my real priority, as it will simplify the audio/video connections in my entertainment center.

I realize my PSU is very limiting. Is there anything available that will offer some noticable improvement over the on-board video?

So, what say you video gurus?

Thanks in advance,

-Dave

[saintjimmy]

Well, I can think of 3 choices:

ATI Radeon HD 5670

ATI Radeon HD 6450

nVidia GeForce GT 430

Out of the 3 of those, I recommend the 5670 the most, as it's the most powerful of them. The nVidia GT 430 is in-between, and the ATI 6450 is the lightest on power, yet can still accelerate full 1080p video.

[aliquidparadigm]

I can't safely suggest you purchase any of the video cards available if you're going to be using that PSU. In fact, you've already exceeded the safety buffer for the PSU having upgraded to an X4 840.

That said, if you want to risk installing a video card, go with this.

If, however, you'd like not to risk pushing your PSU too far and potentially damaging literally every part in your computer, you could purchase a better PSU and a video card to go with it within your $150 budget. Newegg always has PSU/GPU combos for sale; currently can find a couple combos with a 5670 and a 500w PSU for $115-120. Both deals come with mail-in rebates which make them $85-100 respectively. I cannot stress heavily enough the importance of having an appropriate PSU in your PC; it makes more sense to spend $85 on a PSU and GPU and not be in a position to destroy your PC than to spend $50 on a GPU and potentially lose all of your equipment, thus requiring you to spend another $400 to replace it.