Upgrades!

[Buzzy Beetle]

I've never been much of a hardware person, but I want to get Buster some upgrades and (considering you people seem to know hardware better than I) I'd like to hear any suggestions or comments on anything I've picked out (with the help of my good friend 5R0)

The CPU x 1

The Video Card x 1

The RAM x 2

The Power Supply x 1

This is going to run me roughly $1310.81 before shipping charges (but after taxes), and I'm going to get them in installments (rather than all at once). To compare, Buster came to $1,723.99 when I bought it two years ago. Isn't that crazy? But we all know that technology depreciates in value and that upgrades are more expensive on their own... but since I'm not getting it all at once my method is justified.

Anyways! Comments!

[Clay Pigeon]

Get a slower clocked 8800gts and just OC it yourself. It'll save you some green, or rainbow, since your currency is all sorts of colors.

I'd also suggest getting faster DDR2 than 800 MHz, if you can. I believe ddr2 1066 MHz exists, but I don't know about 1333.

Im an AMD fan, so 800 is the best I could use anyway...

edit: DDR3 exists at 1333 MHz. Check what your motherboard supports, then purchase what you need.

[Gen.Ben]

If you want to be more future "proofed"

Get a quad core (Q6600). Newer games (Like Crysis) will be taking advantage of all four cores.

For the video card, nVidia's 8800GT (Pic, Link, Benchmark, Benchmark English, Benchmark 2) is releasing Sunday. The 512mb version will be around $250USD and it is about on par with nVidia's 8800GTX.

For the memory, Some motherboards(including both of mine) have trouble running 4 1GB sticks. If you want 4GB, go with 2 2GB sticks. Also, it leaves for upgrade down the road. This is what you want, http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... re=G.SKILL G-Skill memory is very good quality memory. Around the same as OCZ. Please note that you need a 64-Bit Operating system for windows to recognize all 4gb of memory

That power supply is alright quality. But it is not modular, meaning you can not remove the cords that you are not using. And on a 700-Watt power supply, that is ALOT of cords. So it means mess-tastic. Go for the higher quality Corsair modular unit http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... re=CORSAIR

-Ben

[Gizanked]

id agree with ben definately on the ram and PS, getting the most per stick is important for upgrading later, if unless yu odn't mind some 1gb sticks sitting around later.

and after building mine( especially with how large my heatinsk is) a modular PS is very nice indeed.

[Buzzy Beetle]

[quote="Clay Pigeon";p="47560"]Get a slower clocked 8800gts and just OC it yourself. It'll save you some green, or rainbow, since your currency is all sorts of colors.[/quote]

Would love to, but once again I'm not a hardware person. I don't know how, and while I'm sure there's tutorials online to do it, I'm not just about to go modding a $500 piece of technology I just bought and end up messing it up (I have luck like that).


[quote="Gen.Ben";p="47681"]If you want to be more future "proofed"

Get a quad core (Q6600). Newer games (Like Crysis) will be taking advantage of all four cores.[/quote] My CPU selection was a bit iffy, because I really WOULD like to take into account how successful Quad core is going to be and how soon. I already talked to 5R0 about this and I think I agree with him - I should stick with a Duo Core for now. Besides, my mindset is that more GHz = better, regardless of make. While I know that a Quad has twice the capacity as a Duo, that 3GHz is really, REALLY appealing to me, while the 2.6 GHz Quad Core is fairly far over the amount of cash that I feel comfortable paying for parts.

[quote="Gen.Ben";p="47681"]
For the video card, nVidia's 8800GT (Pic, Link, Benchmark, Benchmark English, Benchmark 2) is releasing Sunday. The 512mb version will be around $250USD and it is about on par with nVidia's 8800GTX.[/quote] I'll look and see if NCIX has this stocked come sunday. My current graphics card is a GT, and I'm pretty sure that they're better than GTS cards. I'll see what they can do for overclocking and yeah.


[quote="Gen.Ben";p="47681"]
For the memory, Some motherboards(including both of mine) have trouble running 4 1GB sticks. If you want 4GB, go with 2 2GB sticks. Also, it leaves for upgrade down the road. This is what you want, http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... re=G.SKILL G-Skill memory is very good quality memory. Around the same as OCZ. Please note that you need a 64-Bit Operating system for windows to recognize all 4gb of memory[/quote]
I didn't know they had 2GB sticks, but yeah. I would much rather have two of those than four 1GB. It's actually cheaper for me to get one package of the 2GBs than two of the 1GBs, so that works out. I've updated my wordpad file with the URLs and will get this instead.


As for the OS, I'm pretty sure that my version of XP won't support 4GB of RAM, but I refuse to 'upgrade' to Vista. Quick google search tells me that XP comes in a 64-bit version... but I'm not feeling so keen come formatting again... at least not yet. I should be ok for now though, eh? I mean, having 4GB ram on an older XP system won't make it refuse to boot up, right? >_>

[quote="Gen.Ben";p="47681"]
That power supply is alright quality. But it is not modular, meaning you can not remove the cords that you are not using. And on a 700-Watt power supply, that is ALOT of cords. So it means mess-tastic. Go for the higher quality Corsair modular unit http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... re=CORSAIR

-Ben[/quote]

Ah, see, this is something I simply wouldn't have known, and I'm all for non-clutter (in fact, I'm very concerned about my compy overheating for some reason. No idea why, but I REALLY don't feel like letting it fritz out on me). I changed my saved URL to this one as well, so I'll probably be getting it instead of the one I have linked above.

BTW, thanks for linking using NCIX. Them being in BC gets rid of PST charges =3 Cheaper top of the line product! Great site indeed.


Also, am considering buying another hard drive after all of the above. Does anyone have a suggested make or brand or whatever?


Thanks again for all the feedback, guys!

[Clay Pigeon]

Would love to, but once again I'm not a hardware person. I don't know how, and while I'm sure there's tutorials online to do it, I'm not just about to go modding a $500 piece of technology I just bought and end up messing it up (I have luck like that).

You wouldnt have to do any hardware modification... Nvidia came out with their own program for OCing and adjusting fan speeds. Their performance application for the nvidia control panel isnt hard to use.

[Clay Pigeon]

Also, if you are worried about overheating you may wish to look into thermalright's line of cpu coolers.

[gator]

[quote="Gen.Ben";p="47681"]If you want to be more future "proofed"

Get a quad core (Q6600). Newer games (Like Crysis) will be taking advantage of all four cores.

My CPU selection was a bit iffy, because I really WOULD like to take into account how successful Quad core is going to be and how soon. I already talked to 5R0 about this and I think I agree with him - I should stick with a Duo Core for now. Besides, my mindset is that more GHz = better, regardless of make. While I know that a Quad has twice the capacity as a Duo, that 3GHz is really, REALLY appealing to me, while the 2.6 GHz Quad Core is fairly far over the amount of cash that I feel comfortable paying for parts.
[/quote]

I think the Q6600 and E6850 are actually the same in terms of cost, so unless you have to buy a newer or upgraded motherboard to use the quad, the cost difference shouldn't be a factor.

As far as some current games:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/di ... html#sect0

That said, how long are you planning to stick with the upgrade? I think games will eventually get better multithreading to lend itself to utilizing more than 2 cores, but for the near term (say 1 year), dual core will probably yield better performance on the majority of games.

I really wouldn't get hung up about the GHz numbers. As you'll see in those comparison charts, the games were E6850 bested the Q6600, it was only by about 10-15% even though the E6850 has a 25% higher clockspeed than the Q6600.

[Gen.Ben]

The quad core Q6600 is auctually $310 ($280 if you spend over i think it is $500 at NCIX) as
opposed to the E6850 sitting at $320

As for the OS, I'm pretty sure that my version of XP won't support 4GB of RAM, but I refuse to 'upgrade' to Vista. Quick google search tells me that XP comes in a 64-bit version... but I'm not feeling so keen come formatting again... at least not yet. I should be ok for now though, eh? I mean, having 4GB ram on an older XP system won't make it refuse to boot up, right? >_>

Nope, It will boot up just fine.

Your BIOS will even recognize all 4GB. It's when you get into windows it will only show up at 3.1-3.5GB of memory. Still plenty. It will be good when you upgrade down the road to 64 Bit Vista and then you will have another GB waiting for you there

BTW, thanks for linking using NCIX. Them being in BC gets rid of PST charges =3 Cheaper top of the line product! Great site indeed.

No problem

It's what I use it. It is a great site! I get less than 2 day delivery

Also, am considering buying another hard drive after all of the above. Does anyone have a suggested make or brand or whatever?

A Seagate or Western Digital Drive will do nicely. Make sure you get a SATA drive, with a 7200 RPM speed and at least a 16MB cace for disks over 250GB.

[Gen.Ben]

8800GT Released last night!!

For links to who is already in stock, check out this thread http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1235769

[Gen.Ben]

WOOT! JUST ORDERED MY 8800GT!! Hurry only a few more left at NCIX!

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26780

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26778

[Buzzy Beetle]

Bah, double post. Where's the delete button?

[Buzzy Beetle]

[quote="Gen.Ben";p="48153"]WOOT! JUST ORDERED MY 8800GT!! Hurry only a few more left at NCIX!

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26780

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26778[/quote]

Oooh, I would kill for some funds in my paypal account right now...

It's ok though. I'll get something soon; run it by 5R0 and hear what he thinks.
Thanks a bunch, Ben! =D

[Gen.Ben]

No problem