12 replies to this topic

[kration]

The usual question - what's the best upgrade to get for my system?

It will mainly be used for MWO (as well as Far Cry 3 and Guild Wars 2).

MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 955 53 °C
RAM - 4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 669MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard - Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-MA785GT-UD3H (Socket M2)
Graphics - ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner)
(edit) PSU - OCZ StealthXStream 700W

I'm assuming the graphics card is the most obvious thing to change - I'll probably wait until the 'GTX 660 Ti' comes out later in the year (?)

As long as I change the graphics card will this set-up be OK?

I would be looking to spend about £200 on the card...

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Edited by kration, 19 May 2012 - 02:29 PM.

[Vulpesveritas]

Well, the 660ti is expected to be 50-100 euros higher than your stated bit, and will probably be about the same performance as a Radeon HD 7870, however it won't overclock as high in all likelyhood, as it's boost clocks limit OCing. Also, the 7870 is available now, will use less power on idle and sleep thanks to zerocore, and you can get aftermarket coolers on them which are going to be cooler and quieter than the stock 660ti cards when they are released, unless you want to wait longer for it. Also, the 7870 loves CryENGINE 3;




But even as yours is now it will play MWO, but you will be able to max everything out with a 7870, though it's a bit above your budget as well.
Best I see on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co...74&sr=1-3-fkmr0
If you can get it however, I recommend the HIS IceQ model.
The 7850 also overclocks well, and OC'd outperforms the 7870.
Fastest 7850: http://www.amazon.co...37442983&sr=8-1 (slightly above budget)
Fastest 200 euro 7850: http://www.amazon.co...37442962&sr=8-2

[DV McKenna]

Dabs, Scan and Amazon are your best bets in the UK to purchase from.

Two things i would upgrade on your rig Ram to 8 GB of good quality ram, and the GPU im assuming you have a decent PSU.

http://www.dabs.com/...b%20DDR3&src=16

Now onto the GPU, the 7870 would be perfect for what you require but is £50 above your budget, a number of reviews have pointed to the potential of the 7850 when overclocked.

http://www.amazon.co...37444624&sr=1-2

[kration]

DV^McKenna, on 19 May 2012 - 08:25 AM, said:

Two things i would upgrade on your rig Ram to 8 GB of good quality ram, and the GPU im assuming you have a decent PSU.

http://www.dabs.com/...b%20DDR3&src=16

Thanks for the replies.

I've got a 700w PSU so that should be enough?

Also, Would that RAM be OK in my MBoard? At £40 that looks like very good value.

Good tip re. the 7870. My budget of £200 can be stretched - I may wait for the GTX 660 to be released to see if prices fall a bit though.

Cheers.

[DV McKenna]

Memory should be fine.
700W PSU is ok but it really is more in depth than just the wattage, the brand and how many rails it uses give n idea of its stability and true output (But you should be ok)

[kration]

DV^McKenna, on 19 May 2012 - 08:50 AM, said:

700W PSU is ok but it really is more in depth than just the wattage, the brand and how many rails it uses give n idea of its stability and true output (But you should be ok)

Re. the PSU, it's an OCZ StealthXTream 700W.

[Vincent Vascaul]

I would just grab a 2gb 6970 or 6950 they are running around 150 euros right now (thats a rough guess they just dropped bellow the $200 mark a couple weeks ago.) More ram isnt needed but if you dont want to close every single program before you go play then yeah more ram would be good otherwise most everything should get you by for now.

Oh and the PSU should be fine.

[Suicidal Idiot]

I would not buy ANYTHING yet. Michael Dell's rule of thumb is: PC components drop in value 2% per week. Newer components come out, and older stuff gets cheaper. Also, your warranty starts when you buy.

The best way to go is to put together your dream system on paper, get extremely familiar with craigslist.org and NewEgg.com's Shell Shockers, and check out the prices every day.

For me, absolute musts on any PC components I now buy (day job is IT manager) is:
USB 3 - 10x as fast as usb 2 in my testing. backups.
SATA 3, 6gb/sec to access the ssd.
120 gig SSD - Shell shockers around $120 if you watch.
8 gig ram, minimum.
x64 Windows. req'd for more than 4 gig.

Optional:
1Tb Hdd, SATA3 6gb/s - move the home directory here, to not fill ssd with videos and mp3's. physics makes bigger hdds faster. (data swept per platter rotation is greater). Workstations (game pc's) need this

[Sug]

Ugh. This thread reminded me about my power supply.

I'm waiting until MWO comes out to drop about 250$ on a new video card but now i'm wondering if I'll need to upgrade my 600w Rosewill : /

[Suicidal Idiot]

Good stuff to keep in mind:

Power supplies: Crappy electricity means PS's die every year or so. So I keep at least one spare in stock constantly. I had a credit card acceptance prob last time, where I re-ordered, and ended up getting 2 x OCZ 850W PS's.

I put the extra spare into my new home gaming system temporarily to troubleshoot an expensive video card (v8800), and noticed a silent fan. The fan is variable by demand, and the PS is so overspec'd that it almost never runs fast enough to make any noise. So I have a silent PS that can handle anything I can stuff in my box, and know that it'll last about forever, due to lack of strain.

I think it was about $60 on a shell shocker.

Another thing about shell shockers, the day's goodies are all presented at about midnight pacific time. The prices are hidden until their specific release times. I check first thing in the morning, and write down the time of release on anything that looks interesting. I also write down what I'm willing to pay, so as soon as I see the price, I know if I'll buy.

Happy hunting!

[Vincent Vascaul]

Sug I would def. swap that out for something from SeaSonic or Corsair (my preferred brands) but thiw a good gold rated PSU it will pay for itself over its life with how much electricity is saves.

Edited by Vincent Vascaul, 19 May 2012 - 10:24 AM.

[Sug]

Yeah I'm probably gonna add the cost of a new PSU to my upgrade budget this summer. : /

[Vulpesveritas]

Vincent Vascaul, on 19 May 2012 - 10:24 AM, said:

Sug I would def. swap that out for something from SeaSonic or Corsair (my preferred brands) but thiw a good gold rated PSU it will pay for itself over its life with how much electricity is saves.

Sug, on 19 May 2012 - 03:29 PM, said:

Yeah I'm probably gonna add the cost of a new PSU to my upgrade budget this summer. : /

The name brand isn't what's important (outside of customer service, appearance, and warranty), it's the Internals.
Seasonic > Superflower > FSP > Topower > Don't get anything else.
Examples;
Seasonic: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817151087
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817703027
Superflower: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817121088
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182133
FSP: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817104127
Topower: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817342046