Upgrade Help

Hey all,

Well it's been a year since I bought my £1k rig (excluding case and PSU) but I've been given the oppurtunity to upgrade as I've agreed with my dad to finally upgrade my brother's PC prior to summer's i-series LAN with parts from my own. Already done quite a bit of research into the viable options but thought other opinions are always helpful. So what do you guys think in terms of upgrading in this current setup:

Motherboard: ASUS Rampage Formula (x48) S775
CPU: Quad Core Q9450 (Not overclocked, would appreciate some tips on upgrading case/PSU/cooling in regards to overclocking as current idle temperatures at 2.6ghz are 40~45 degrees.)
RAM: 2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 PC2-8500
GFX: BFG 8800GTS 512mb OC
Case & Cooling: Akasa Eclipse with 2x120mm fans.
PSU: Tagan 580w (getting close on 4 years old)
HDD: 750gb and 250gb SATA drives

So any ideas? :)

Depends what you do and what OS you use. I think RAM and GFX would be the first things to look at. PSU also comes in close as you mention it's 4 years old... 40-45 degrees doesn't seem too bad for your CPU. What CPU cooler are you using? If you're using stock you should upgrade if you're going to overclock.

the graphics card could be upgraded to a 4850 or gtx260 or better depending on your budget... I currently have a cm-690 case and my q6600 idles around 35 degrees... maybe 2gb more ram... tbh your system looks pretty good and the only thing I would say if you have to upgrade is the graphics card and maybe the psu... anyways theres some ideas for ya :)

Ah it makes me feel warm and fuzzy when people agree with what I was thinking.. and not suggest things that are going to cost me big time ;)

I was thinking of upgrading my graphics card to a GTX275 after reading a variety of reviews and adding an extra 4gb of the same RAM (so cheap on scan) and then "upgrading" to Vista 64bit.

I thought the idle temperature would be lower as I'm using the Scythe Ninja II with it's optional 120mm fan. As my brothers case is a bit battered I thought I'd give him my Eclipse and invest in an Antec (902 probably) as well pick as pick up a new PSU as well.

Well depends what you do with your pc really. 8800GTS is enough mostly for most games. Upgrade it for more FPS though. 2GB RAM is slightly on the low side though but is still enough for most tasks. Upgrading to 4GB should be enough though, don't think you need to upgrade to 6GB xD Or you could buy that 4GB and sell that 2GB/give it to your brother.

Hmm the idle temperature should be lower then with a Scythe Ninja II, especially as you haven't overclocked it. Maybe it's not seated perfectly? As in the temperatures aren't that far off normal so maybe it's just placed slightly awkwardly or something xD

Upgrading to 64 bit is personally preference really. More and more things are becoming compatible with Vista 64bit but it's still sometimes a pain when you can't find drivers for 64 bit Vista or something.

And with the case it's really personal preference. Airflow shouldn't really be a problem in the Akasa Eclipse and neither should hardware size so yeah, it's just eyecandy at best to upgrade xD

Upgrades I would do in order of importance:
1.)New graphics card. One of the GTX260 216 shader versions or the HD4870 1gb can be had for under £160. There is the GTX275 and HD4890 1gb for around £200.
2.)More RAM. An upgrade to 4gb will not be too expensive as 4gb of 1066mhz DDR2 can be had for under £50 now. Of course your OS will only have approximately 3gb of RAM if you upgrade the graphics card as the GTX260 has 896mb of video RAM and the HD4870 1gb is the best version of this graphics card to get.
3.)PSU. If you upgrade the graphics card it maybe good to get a newer PSU.

Sounds like a plan. Think I'll upgrade to 4gb (2x2gb) and give my current RAM to my brother along with the graphics card and possibly PSU. Probably go with a GTX275 or 280 after some more reviewing and how much money I end up spending.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/750W-...ool-80plus-Eff

Looks like a solid upgrade. :)

Get a second hand 8800gts 512mb and SLi? Would be cheaper than a brand new graphics.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Infinite

Get a second hand 8800gts 512mb and SLi? Would be cheaper than a brand new graphics.

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He cant SLI on his motherboard, so he would have to buy another decent SLI mobo which would cost more than a 275/280 anyhow :)

Hawker

PS. on topic, I agree with everyone else, new GFX, RAM, PSU and youll be set.

Thanks for the assistance guys, think I'll get the following once I get the cash at the end of the month:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...rade-KEVIN.jpg

Now onto my brothers PC. His current spec will look like this:

Motherboard: Needs Upgrading
CPU: Needs Upgrading
RAM: 2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 PC2-8500
GFX: BFG 8800GTS 512mb OC
PSU: Tagan 580w
Case: Needs Upgrading
HDD: Needs Upgrading
DVD ROM: Needs Upgrading

He uses his PC souly for gaming, but is still a kid so doesn't really worry about high FPS, just that the game works well. So budget to mid range. Any help in filling in the blanks would be appreciated! :)

Depends how much of a budget you're willing to spend. If you have a low budget then the E5200 + P31/G31 Gigabyte board should be good enough. Or you could get a decent AMD board and put in a 7750 for future upgradability.

If you're gonna go more high end then that isn't my area of knowledge so I can't help you there xD

I'm building several specs to run past my dad so he can choose which one he can afford. Which will probably the cheapest so thanks for the good suggestions! :)