I've had the thing for more than 3 years (well most of it anyway) and its as fast now as its ever been, but thats just not enough anymore
I've more or less decided to keep my old PC for another year - but it needs a little boost
its current state:
CPU = pentium 4 630
MB = asus P5ND2-sli deluxe linky
Memory = 4 x 512Mb 533MHz (generic)
HDD = 2 x 120Gb SATA (raid array)
Graphics = 2 x GF 6800ultra 256Mb SLI (16xPCI-E, but running at 8x each)
Sound = SB X-Fi (PCI)
OS = Win XP pro (sp3)
I'm trying to get hold of a bit quicker CPU (without paying much) something like a s/h 672 or 840
but I really need a newer graphics card - any recommendations ? (I'd want to keep it for any future upgrade/ new PC)
also is it worth swapping the memory for 667's or even 800's ? (you can get them quite cheap now)
the MB can use 667's and can over clock them up to 800 aparently - but I'm a bit out of my depth with this
cheers
-Robert
Depends what you want to upgrade it for.
Upgrades usually fall into two categories
Speed; for graphics and games etc.
and efficiency; for running several applications at the same time.
To improve speed, how fast the pc runs a single application, you need to update your cpu.
To improve efficiency, how fast your pc runs several applications, you need to update your ram.
Your graphics cards will be able to run most graphics ok without too much of a lag. things ok.
Speed of memory, how fast the memory chats to the cpu, will improve efficiency, so your suggestion of swapping to 800's will be an improvement on
efficiency not necessarily speed.
Also bare in mind XP only uses a max of 3GB of ram
quote:
Originally posted by tendoshingan
Depends what you want to upgrade it for.
) before splurging on a new machine, try a reinstall of the os. it will speed things
yeah, I'll be doing that anyway, but its not actually that bad at the moment I've managed to keep it quite clean since the last
re-install
I've had the thing for more than 3 years (well most of it anyway) and its as fast now as its ever been, but thats just not enough anymore
Fit a bike engine...
...oh, hang on a minute, wrong topic!
Id ditch the SLi and jusr run 1 gfx card. The performance increase with SLi is negligble with your sort of system.
quote:it does make a difference with certain programs (but I know what you mean)
Originally posted by prawnabie
Id ditch the SLi and jusr run 1 gfx card. The performance increase with SLi is negligible with your sort of system.
The ATI HD 4850 is one of the best value performance cards around at the moment. However, please note that modern GPUs consume an incredible amount of power (more than most CPUs) so you really need a decent PSU to run these cards.
I've actually got quite a good 580w PSU at the moment, but I know it might not be big enough (depending on the card I get)
I've got my eye on the new 1kw version of it
linky
[Edited on 12/2/09 by mcerd1]