PC Upgrade

[Deleted member 11215]

Looks like i made a good move .

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

Cheers Wil Congrats But i dunno when will someone join my Directx 10 Clubhouse

 

[Deleted member 11215]

Just added another 512mb of ram to the order my pc should be excellent now .

 

[cnbd_novice]

Just added another 512mb of ram to the order my pc should be excellent now .

Sounds good Will, I will be more than delighted to get my hand on a system like yours.

Cheers Wil Congrats But i dunno when will someone join my Directx 10 Clubhouse

Isn't Matt(the_gas) already a "member" of that club with his masterful Radeon HD 2900XT?? Another thing, wouldn't high-end DX9 cards such as Radeon X1950 Pro/XT or GeForce 7950 GT in fact be more succesful than low-end DX10 cards such as GeForce 8500 GT *cough* when playing DX9 games??

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

Matt ? I thought he was waiting for next generation dx 10 cards ? No i dont think he has it already, or he would have bragged

Well yeah, maybe your right about that second part, but i get very powerful performance in dx9 games even with the 8500GT, like i can play ANY dx 9 game at 1024* 768 at generally high settings

 

[Deleted member 11215]

Just a shame my pc is quite noisy at the moment do you think it could be because of my psu?

 

[MasterBlaster76]

If I only want to upgrade one thing (other than RAM), what should it be, CPU or GPU? Upgrading to dual core would mean a new MOBO, my current one is Asus A8N SLI deluxe, so a new GPU would be cheaper than new MOBO/CPU, but I'm not sure what would give the best increase in performance.

Do all MOBOs support Nvidia and ATI graphics cards and is there any point in multiple GPU card slots? I've never used the SLI on my current MOBO as it means having to buy two cards at once. Buying a 6600GT 128mb a couple of years ago and then adding another identical card now wouldn't make much difference, would it? So I'm dubious about the value of SLI and its cousins.

All I want is a system that can run Crysis/Bioshock and beyond at reasonable settings (doesn't have to be maximum).
Also, while you can't get the full benefit of DX10 cards without Vista, will they run on XP without any problems (compatibility and performance-wise?)
One other thing: I've been told to avoid cases with built in PSUs. Is this good advice?

Anyone got any suggestions?
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Asus EN8600GT Silent 256MB DDR3 PCI Express Dual DVI £79
Gigabyte Gforce 8800GTS 320MB DDR3 PCI Express Graphic Card £165
Gigabyte Geforce 8500GT 256MB DDR2 PCI Express Graphic Card £52
ASUS EN7900GS 256MB DDR3 PCI Express £85

Are any of these any good? All prices are exclusive of VAT

Asus EN8800GTS 640MB DDR3 PCI Express £222. If I splashed out on this, how long would it likely be 'future proof'?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

You best go for the 640 mb one, but i think that the 320 mb one should also suffice.

One cant really say how much future proof a thing will be. Technologies come out everyday, and no one knows when a new game would come out which would bring even the best graphics card to its knees.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

What about cases with built in PSUs? Good idea or not? Also, would my processor slow down a better GPU in any way? Would I need to get a new CPU as well to get the most out of the GPU?

Can you suggest some AMD X2 compatible Mobos? I'm looking to spend less than £100, closer to £50 than £100. Is it true that AMD X2s are better for gaming than Intel chips?

Is EZ Cool a good name for PSUs? I've found one 650watt for £25 ex VAT, is this too cheap?

I'm looking to spend about £200 on my current system, should that be enough to get it up to speed? When I say that, I mean able to run the latest (and future) games at reasonable levels, I've never minded turning some stuff down if I can get it running smoothly.

 

[sd92]

You guys know a lot more about computers than i do, so i have a question for you...i updated my computer a while back, about a month after Vista was released and its a Sony Vaio FE41Z...is this a top quality machine, and are the specs good??
I love it personally, as it has a big enough screen, as is still light and very portable...great machine...what do you guys think?

 

[siddharth2002]

Stick with XP till Vista Sp1 is out.

 

[omkarjere]

Why don't you buy a DX10 Mid-Range card. Probably Geforce 8600/8500 or Radeon X2600.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

Radeon X2600 has probably very badly failed lol.

 

[Almost_Austwick]

You guys know a lot more about computers than i do, so i have a question for you...i updated my computer a while back, about a month after Vista was released and its a Sony Vaio FE41Z...is this a top quality machine, and are the specs good??
I love it personally, as it has a big enough screen, as is still light and very portable...great machine...what do you guys think?

Nice machine and if it's the same as the one I googled then its decent specs for a laptop and will run Vista and Areo well.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Why don't you buy a DX10 Mid-Range card. Probably Geforce 8600/8500 or Radeon X2600.

Do you mean me?