Hi
My current gaming PC is the following spec:
Asus P5Q/SE Board
2GB RAM
8800GT GPU
Intel E8400 CPU
Corsair 700 (i think) PSU
(and an Antec case, but thats not a problem)
Anyway, i wouldnt mind doing some upgrades to make sure it works amazingly with the next gen of games like Black-Ops etc. At the moment, with COD4, MW2 (because those are the only games i play), it runs very well.
The question is, how do you think i should upgrade it? I'm very out of touch with whats good and whats not. I would have thought the board, RAM and GPU need an upgrade, but i arent sure.
Fire away
I have similar setup to you, and am looking at stepping up to i7, however £500 for the CPU, board and RAM is a little much for me at the moment!
Up the RAM to 4GB. Noticable performance difference, even on 32bit machines.
get yourself either a ATI 5870 or better if you can, and buy at least a Q9600 CPU if you can afford it.
that would be all I would do and you should see a noticable improvement.
That will last you a couple of years extra!
*EDIT*
Sole reason for recommending ATI cards over NVidia is the power requirements. To run similar spec cards by both suppliers, ATI uses far less power compared to the NVidia equivalent, so it means you wont have to improve your PSU as well
Many thanks.
What do you think to the MoBo? my gut feeling is that its a bit entry level...am i right or wrong there do you think?
you are quite right, but it will handle the above well, however if you want to upgrade it, by all means, just if you do, get a mobo with DDR3 ram slots, that way you can effectively sell your old stuff as a full PC if you put it in a diff case..so you can recoup some cash!
Graphics card upgrades are still the single biggest factor - my GFX card is pretty decent, but the underlying PC is an antique. Still performs pretty well on modern games though! I'd certainly look to get a 5870 or similar, then more RAM. Running Windows 7?
Ive got a ver similar setup and tbh i can't see the point in upgrading it. For the money you are going to spend getting an extra 10-20% speed increase you could have been more than half way to buying an i7 (or in the case of the above post, almost all the way there!) You CPU still costs £160, so you're talking £200+ just to move up a couple of %.
Personally id save up and get a i7 920/930 with 4/6gb ram, a mobo, and if ive got the money get an ATI 5770, if not stick with the 8800gt and save up again. Total cost £630.
Black ops will be developed for the PS3/360 and will use pretty much the same engine as MW2. If you're happy with your current MW2 performance, then there's no real need to upgrade.
Of course you could just turn to the dark side, get yourself a console and a decent controller like the FragFX and not worry about hardware upgrades.......
It all depends on how much money you have to spend. Extra memory may give you a little boost, but I don't think it's going to be more than one or two frames per second.
I'd put the money on a new graphics card. Take a look at the new nVidia GTX 460 (1GB model). Bests the 5850 and is about £30 cheaper.
Whilst I agree with you there that it does beat the 5850, it also sucks up over 400W in power whilst being idle...whereas the 5850 takes up 125W....so without seriously beefing up his PSU and spending over £30 to get one that would handle it whilst it maxes out at 625W, what would be the point?Originally Posted by fafster
ASUS, EVGA, Zotac GeForce GTX 460 Cards Overclocked and Reviewed - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News
I think you've mixed up your load and idle figures! Under full load, with TWO cards, it's 433 watts.
It's actually a few watts lower than a 5850 when idle.
Surprised nobody has asked about the gaming resolution of his monitor. Aaron, if you are gaming at resolutions less than 1680 x 1050, then there is no point going for the AMD 5870 unless you have the $$. 5850 or 460GTX will be more than enough.
My tip would be
Another 2GB of Ram - £25
Decent cooler for the CPU (recommend Corsair H50 for closed loop water cooling and only £60) - Then you can overclock it
Nvidia 460 GTX - £160
Total around = £245
Sell the 8800 for around £25 to claw some back
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