More grunt for PC - suggestions?

FASTXR · 22-03-2007, 09:52 PM

My computer's served me well for a few years, but I think its time to give it a bit more grunt. Specs are:

P4 2.4ghz
1gb RAM (2 x 512MB sticks)
ABIT IS7-E2 motherboard (details here)
NVIDIA GeForce GT6600 video card
Antec True480 480W power

I want to be able to play some of the newer games without dramas (Supreme Commander, C & C 3 etc), as well as do a bit of Photoshop work on it.

I'm already looking at increasing to 2gb RAM, but would appreciate comments on other upgrades, particularly the CPU (Intel or AMD?).

All suggestions would be gratefully received.

pertuan · 22-03-2007, 09:59 PM

For playing games, I'd say upgrading the GPU is the most benificial. The 3d work is offloaded to the GPU so thats usually your bottleneck.

FASTXR · 22-03-2007, 11:02 PM

GPU? I'm guessing graphicsprocessing unit or something similar?

Ruger · 22-03-2007, 11:09 PM

Yer he means video card.
At some point doesnt the motherboard and cpu (namely bus speeds) become the bottleneck though. Im running pretty much the same as you except the AMD equivelent and looking to upgrade soon (same graphics card and 1gb dual channel ram).

pertuan · 22-03-2007, 11:30 PM

Yes... at some point the FSB (motherboard bus speed) will become the bottleneck. Looking at the config of the PC thats been described, there really isn't much that can be upgraded. I'm guessing that it runs on a 400MHz FSB, and AGP graphics.

Also, I think you're stuck with Intel chips if you choose to upgrade the CPU. The sockets are different from AMD chips. To be honest, after some thought, I don't think you would get any real value out of upgrading it. If you upgrade, you might get a year of use out of it before it refuses to run alot of games. Most economical option would be to get a new machine with a faster FSB, PCI-E graphics, and a faster CPU.

Those are my thoughts anyway....

Ruger · 22-03-2007, 11:33 PM

Fair enough mate
Whats a decent machine i.e mobo cpu ram and graphics for around 800-1k then?
Do motherboards still come in atx or will i need a new case. Same deal with motherboard power im running an antec truecontrol 550w with the p4 plug have they changed any of that?

pertuan · 22-03-2007, 11:36 PM

I haven't been looking at desktop parts for ages. I've been on a laptop since 2004. hehe. But seeing that you're in Sydney, I recommend MSY. They have the cheapest prices in Sydney apparently.

www.msy.com.au

But AFAIK, cases and mobos are still ATX and PSUs haven't changed. If you're just after internal parts then 1000 should get you something decent I think. You'd basically be after mobo, RAM, GFX, HHD and thats it.

Ruger · 22-03-2007, 11:55 PM

Damn overpriced laptops just because they double as frisby's they shouldnt be more expensive! :P
Yer MSY are the goods.
This is what im looking at.
Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe - 195
AM2 4200 - 199
256MB 7900GS Leadtek - 224
2G Kit OCZ DDR2 800 PC6400 Gold XTC - 345
Seagate SATA 320G - 123
$1086 but sounds like a decent system
as for not enough hdd ive got 600gb of storage in this one that will go over.
Any suggestions? what about the coolers i doubt they come with them are the stock ones alright?

pertuan · 22-03-2007, 11:58 PM

Stock HSF are fine as long as you're not overclocking and your case ventilation is adequate. I have never bought a third party HSF. The desktops that I've built in the past usually have at least 1 in and 1 out case fan.

Ruger · 23-03-2007, 12:04 AM

my current system is overclocked and running a fancy cooler (forgot the one was long ago now) but its running a well ventilated case (2 in, 2 out, 1 side 12cm and the psu also has 2)
How well do these new things overclock though? i remember the xp2500 bartons were the ducks guts mine was running at 3200 for about a year and a half before it started to get unstable and has been running at 2700 since then.

pertuan · 23-03-2007, 12:12 AM

I think they all have a lock on them now so you can't overclock anymore.

Bill_R · 23-03-2007, 12:41 AM

I'd up it totally and go for a new motherboard, CPU, graphics card and memory. Just a new graphics card will help you out a little but you really don't have the punch there.

robjh80 · 23-03-2007, 10:08 AM

Games are probably the most intensive apps you can run on any home PC hence if you want to play the "very latest games" with lots of eye candy..........dig deep!!......it can get expensive.

Two of the most common PC buyer/upgrader quotes, "I want to play the very latest games" BUT "I dont want to spend too much money"...........the two simply do not go together, "which is it?"

You have not mentioned what sort of budget your looking at, do you just want to "upgrade" your current system OR "are you after a new PC", if the prior then yes "bump up to 2Gb of RAM", if the latter "how much do you want to spend?"

If you just want to upgrade what you've currently got then just remember not to spend too much on it.........otherwise your throwing away good money on old technology that you could otherwise put toward new parts.

Remember too that different games require different specs............"not the ones written on the sales box either, forget those!!".........they are just "untruths" to make you buy the game only to find that when you get the game home your system indeed wont play the game reliably.

Most importantly......."Do your homework before you shell out ya hard earned cash."
and "dont listen to Sales Noobs in PC stores too much either, they usually dont know jack......that's why their in sales" and dont buy a "Brand Name" PC, it will not do what you want!!........"Oh and stay away from big name chain stores"..........."Oh I think that's all, cant think of anything else, it's a minefield out there in PC land, lots of nasty characters out there."

Good Luck with it all.

jonk · 23-03-2007, 10:10 AM

Just replace the Video card, it'll give you more oomph game playing than anything else. RAM, CPU etc that you have are just fine. Up the video card and that's it, otherwise replace it all, don't spend anymore money on it.

FASTXR · 23-03-2007, 10:38 AM

To be honest I was just keen to see whether it was worth making some changes/additions to my current setup, or whether I should scrap it and go all-new. There are certain things I don't need (keyboard, mouse, HDD, monitor) and I figured that the mobo and CPU were certainties to get the flick.

I'd be happy to spend up to $1500 on something that will be future-proof (if there is such a thing!) for another 2-3 years.

Keen to get opinions on CPUs as well - are Intel and AMD much the same, or does one have an advantage over the other?

23-03-2007, 10:53 AM

www.staticice.com.au
www.pricespy.com.au << recommended
www.shopbot.com.au

I usually go for MSY tech

MrMattyMo · 23-03-2007, 11:41 AM

well even just a graphics card upgrade is not going to help you play supreme commander that **** is so resource hungry.

There is only one way to go. Get an Intel Core 2 duo. There prices are reasonable and they will f&*cking flog the *** of anything amd has. But if i was you id wait a little while before upgrading GC because direct x 10 is just around the corner and if you buy a big card now that doesn't support it youd be up shits creek in 9 months. Id say save. and wait till ATI release there DX10 cards.

pauljh74 · 23-03-2007, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruger

Fair enough mate
Whats a decent machine i.e mobo cpu ram and graphics for around 800-1k then?
Do motherboards still come in atx or will i need a new case. Same deal with motherboard power im running an antec truecontrol 550w with the p4 plug have they changed any of that?

The newer motherboards now use ATX2.0 power supplies. I think the plug that powers the motherboard may be longer/has more pins and there are SATA HDD power plugs and 6 pin plugs that are used to power the graphics cards - at least the ones that use more power/higher end cards.

As for FastXR, depends how much you want to spend. The cheap option would be to get a 7600GT in AGP as any better and you'd be wasting your money with your current hardware. I'd only go this far as you are probably limited in what CPU you can replace the current one with in your current motherboard and the memory in use with new machines now is DDR2, which is incompatible with your current system. If you buy more DDR memory, you can't carry it across to your new PC when you eventually upgrade fully. The graphics card choices are much wider in PCI Express - there isn't much in the AGP format now for gamers at least.

Better to make the switch to Intel Core2Duo or AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core, along with 2GB DDR2 memory and maybe a PCI-E 8800GTS 320MB graphics card for around $450 (for the graphics card). I'm waiting for more DirectX10 cards to appear before upgrading my graphics card. Currently the Nvidia chipset 8800 series are about the only DirectX10 cards out there, so I'm waiting for the mid range models to come out in the next few months. I presume the Nvidia will be named something like 8600GT and sell for about $300-$350 on release. ATi is about to release DX10 cards too.

pauljh74 · 23-03-2007, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

To be honest I was just keen to see whether it was worth making some changes/additions to my current setup, or whether I should scrap it and go all-new. There are certain things I don't need (keyboard, mouse, HDD, monitor) and I figured that the mobo and CPU were certainties to get the flick.

I'd be happy to spend up to $1500 on something that will be future-proof (if there is such a thing!) for another 2-3 years.

Keen to get opinions on CPUs as well - are Intel and AMD much the same, or does one have an advantage over the other?

The Intel Core2Duo appears to have the edge currently, but you should compare similarly priced models, not ones with similar GHz ratings.

You probably won't be able to future proof it for 3 years, but you will be able to limit your next upgrade to just a graphics card update and perhaps a little more RAM or as I just did recently - changed out my Socket 939 Athlon 64 3000+ for a 4200+ Dual Core and the rest of the 18 month old PC remained the same. Graphics card is next

FASTXR · 14-04-2007, 09:06 PM

Hey guys,

Sorry to dig this thread up but thought I'd run a system past you that I'm now considering:

* ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe mobo $189 Link
* AMD Dual Core 6000+ cpu $321
* 2G kit OCZ DDR2 800 Gold RAM $345 Link
* ASUS 8800GTS 640mb video $619 Link

I know I could do this cheaper but I figure if I'm going to do it I may as well do as good as I can now to save mucking around later.

Any thoughts/comments appreciated.

savagE · 14-04-2007, 11:03 PM

Only go for that RAM if you want to overclock. Also the Intel Core duo's have much better architecture than the AMD's.

Get a 6600 core duo
Asus p5.... mobo
2gb of OCZ stuff (depends if you want to overclock)

That Graphics card is sweet, no need to change.

For more help, just consult or just search through their suggestions.
http://www.tech-pc.co.uk/forum/

Bill_R · 15-04-2007, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Hey guys,

Sorry to dig this thread up but thought I'd run a system past you that I'm now considering:

* ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe mobo $189 Link
* AMD Dual Core 6000+ cpu $321
* 2G kit OCZ DDR2 800 Gold RAM $345 Link
* ASUS 8800GTS 640mb video $619 Link

I know I could do this cheaper but I figure if I'm going to do it I may as well do as good as I can now to save mucking around later.

Any thoughts/comments appreciated.

Looks like a good setup. I'm not sure on the "fanless" motherboard but I have no experience with them to judge them. Love the AMD CPU. If you run Vista then 2 Gig of RAM is the way to go - Vista starts to work better with 2 Gig. 8800 cards are the wtg for Vista now too but hang in there to get driver issues sorted out - you'll need a few months at least b4 you can get the best out of it.

You have SATA with that board - do you have SATA drives?

bathurst77 · 15-04-2007, 02:20 PM

I would not recommend swapping between AMD and Intel CPUs/motherboards if your upgrading an existing PC. Whichever you have now stick to the latest/fastest version of or you can get problems with the HAL that can lead to major headaches and instabilities with windows and you may have to reload your OS and programs.

jaikai · 16-04-2007, 11:24 AM

http://www.overclockers.com.au/

Have a read through the forums there... especially the "what/ where should I buy" section.

JAIKAI

FASTXR · 16-04-2007, 11:42 AM

Pardon my ignorance, but is there an easy way to compare Intel and AMD cpu's? Do you compare by price or processor speed/power?
I'm just curious as to which Intel chip would be a direct competitor to the AMD dual core 6000+.

I've also ben reading a few articles and it seems that the AMD dual core chips are rated higher than the Intel equivalents. Would most of you agree with this?