upgrades, what to go for

[Nick Smith]

i've gone of the idea of a monitor for the while, as i want to improve my pc's performance, and im tempted by the idea of vista and a dx10 card

so, this is what i have so far:

a scythe ninja cooler + some as5
Corsair 520W Modular PSU
an extra 1gb of the same ram i have in my PC at the moment
vista...
and a dx10 card (the best i can afford in around 1 month)

i reckon my budget will be around £300, and these parts should come to around that depending on the amount of cash an 8600gt is released for...

so, does anyone have any reccomendations on what to change? (if anything)

Thanks

Nick

[aidanjt]

Vista takes a performance hit in gaming because of the userspace driver model. Although RAM is good, RAM is always good, the scythe wont matter unless you're overclocking, the PSU you have will power an 8600. I'd definitely retired that monitor of yours though lol

[staffsMike]

PSU = £68
RAM = £60ish
dunno how much that cooler is. But if you get an Artic Freezer (£12) you would have just about enough in the pot for a 320mb 8800 if you could squeeze an extra few pennies

what do you want vista for?

[Nick Smith]

Vista takes a performance hit in gaming because of the userspace driver model. Although RAM is good, RAM is always good, the scythe wont matter unless you're overclocking, the PSU you have will power an 8600. I'd definitely retired that monitor of yours though lol

haha, i love my packard bell monitor....10 years and still going strong as ever!

the scythe is for overclocking btw

the PSU im upgrading due to wanting a modular power supply and my current one having a blower right above the CPU HSF, causing it to have a massive increase in temps which is not good for overclocking

and yes, RAM is good

[Nick Smith]

what do you want vista for?

DX10 , i heard that it doesnt run in XP...

[staffsMike]

No games use it yet..

the lower 8600's (even the good one) are only midrange...at 1680 x 1050 they probably wont deliver max settings in games.

[Nick Smith]

No games use it yet..

the lower 8600's (even the good one) are only midrange...at 1680 x 1050 they probably wont deliver max settings in games.

good point...might scrap that idea then and go straight for an 8800gts

[aidanjt]

All fair points (except the monitor)

It's a real pain in the ass that Microsoft is refusing to release DX10 for XP though.

[staffsMike]

Yep I think thats a good Idea.

Since ocuk were trying to sell 8600GTS's for £158 yesterday the 8800 320mb is still by far the best deal.

[staffsMike]

Why would they release it for XP when they can make you buy Vista for the privilage of DX10 games lol ..this is mircosoft after all..

[Clunk]

I have to say that my experience of vista hasnt been good so far and its mainly because of drivers, or lack of reliable ones, especially for Nvidia cards.

[Nick Smith]

I have to say that my experience of vista hasnt been good so far and its mainly because of drivers, or lack of reliable ones, especially for Nvidia cards.

ill wait then

cheers guys

[aidanjt]

Well it's a completely different driver model, good DX10 drivers aren't going to come out overnight.

[Nick Smith]

another good point...

might wait for a service pack or 2 first before i go for vista

[Clunk]

Well it's a completely different driver model, good DX10 drivers aren't going to come out overnight.

The cards have been out 5 months or so, they should have working drivers by now.

[aidanjt]

Yeah, though Vista RTM has only been out 2 1/2 months. It took ATi nearly a year to sort out their drivers for XP and it wasn't anywhere near as much of a change in driver architecture and DX API changes.