Upgraded my build, what do you think?

Did I make a good purchase for $57, from Newegg?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 6 33.3%

  • No.

    Votes: 11 61.1%

  • I do not know.

    Votes: 1 5.6%
  • Total voters
    18
Dystopia

Dystopia

Active Member
Hi, I just upgraded my build. Parts are coming in today. Before I had the 8600GT, with 2GB (2X1) of Corsair XMS2 800MHZ 5-5-5-5-12. I sold my my 8600GT for 30, and still had 27. So I had a budget of 57 USD. No video card higher then MAYBE the 8800GS will run on my PSU; 420W. So I purchased the 8600GTS from EVGA, $80-$40 MIR. Now I have $17 left. So I purchased OCZ Platinum Revision 2GB (2X1). How much better will my build be compared to the previous? here are the before and after specs, if you need them.

Before:

8600GT
2GB CORSAIR RAM 800MHz
Athlon 64 X2 4000+ (OCed to 2.26, will push further in future)
SATA II HDD

After:
8600GTS
2GB CORSAIR RAM 800MHz + 2GB OCZ Platinum Revision
Athlon 64 X2 4000+ (OCed to 2.26, will push further in future)
SATA II HDD

Also, are any parts bottlenecking? I think I have it pretty well balanced. ONE LAST QUESTION:How much will 4GB RAM help me in games, since I do not have a top gen card?

EDIT: Had a very strict budget, was not allowed to go over it. Then next card better was the 9600GSO, but out of my budget range by just a little. PLEASE, if you give me alink with a price, INCLUDE SHIPPING!! THOSE COUNT!!can't wait to get a job...
 
Last edited:
No way my crappy PSU could handle that card...that's waht I said. The 8600GTS is the most MY psu will handle. And I HAD to get a new card cuz I sold mine.
 
I think you should have saved your money until you had enough to make a significant upgrade... Selling your 8600GT for $30 = mistake...

=/
 
I'm pretty sure your PSU could handle alot more than you would think. I would venture a guess that you could run an 8800GT fine, probably even a 9800GTX. Use a calculator to see how much power your comp needs, and I think you would be surprised.
 
Rambo said:
I think you should have saved your money until you had enough to make a significant upgrade... Selling your 8600GT for $30 = mistake...

=/
Click to expand...

/thread :(

But hey, he only had $57 to spend. And seeing that he's stretching every dollar, I have to say he made a nice upgrade.
 
oscaryu1 said:
/thread :(

But hey, he only had $57 to spend. And seeing that he's stretching every dollar, I have to say he made a nice upgrade.
Click to expand...

Going from 2GB of RAM to 4GB will see some improvement, but not a lot. And going from an 8600GT to an 8600GTS? He's not going to see noticeable performance increases. Yeah, he only had $57, but really it was only $27 since $30 of it was from the (cheap!) sale of his 8600GT already...

I'm not trying to be mean/negative, I'm just saying what I think. In my opinion, he should have kept his 8600GT and saved up for a decent GPU (and a PSU should your current one not be powerful enough). Something which would actually bring a noticeable difference to the performance of his computer - maybe a 9800 series GPU...?

@ Elimin8or: did you run any benchmarks before you sold your 8600GT?
 
Na not bad for the cheap upgrade and Elimin8or i see you sort off riped of my avator and put it in your sig thats kinda kewl
 
Could've been played better, IMO but I don't know your financial situation. Seems like a decent upgrade. :) The GTS is a beast of an overclocker, if it's the EVGA I once had..
 
oregon said:
I'm pretty sure your PSU could handle alot more than you would think. I would venture a guess that you could run an 8800GT fine, probably even a 9800GTX. Use a calculator to see how much power your comp needs, and I think you would be surprised.
Click to expand...
My PSU is not very good. And whatever happend to min of 500W PSU if its good? and min is not good! single 12v rail @20amp, maybe 65 eff? Also, I would never have been able to afford the 88))GT, I have no income yet. When I get a job(next year hopefull) I am gonna save a whole crap load of money and upgrade this comp!!!
laznz1 said:
Na not bad for the cheap upgrade and Elimin8or i see you sort off riped of my avator and put it in your sig thats kinda kewl
Click to expand...
soz, I had to. But it's so true!!
bullzi said:
Could've been played better, IMO but I don't know your financial situation. Seems like a decent upgrade. :) The GTS is a beast of an overclocker, if it's the EVGA I once had..
Click to expand...
Yeah, I would have been with out a GPU until spring of 09. What was stupid was that before I sold my GT, the NEW price on newegg was $30
shipped, like 3 to 5 of them. Just after I sold the card, prices jumped to 45??? that's les then my gts!

So since my psu is offf brand, crappy PSU, I am not going to push it to it's very limit, have it blow up and wreck my computer. But I was also really following the PSU guidlines in this forum, a min of 500 for the 8800GT! can some one tell me what happend to that??!?!!!
 
Elimin8or said:
Checked it out, here is what I found: with shipping, its over my budget. my budget is VERY strict, as I do not have a JOB, because I am IN SCHOOL. My dad (since i am not working) does not want me spending more then I got. SO RECAST YOUR VOTES PPL!!
Click to expand...

The fact that your budget was so small is the reason why this upgrade was pointless. With a budget of $57, it would be wiser to keep your money until you could make a worthwhile upgrade, rather than going from a 8600GT/2GB of RAM => 8600GTS/4GB of RAM (which really wont improve performance by much).
I don't know if you're ignoring my posts or have genuinely missed them, but I'll ask again: did you run any benchmarks on your old system configuration? If so, why don't you run another benchmark now, and compare the two?
 
sorry, not ignoring, I actaully ment to answere that last time, thought i did. no i didnt run benchmarks. but I harldy spent any extra money. more like traded in stuff. plus then i would not have upgraded for a looooong time. funny thing is, i had actaully had the 8600GT for like 2 weeks. bought it from my brother, saw a real good deal on newegg, and so soldthe Gt bought the GTS, for $10 more. Then, i saw the RAM for 14 bux after MIR, and though why not?? so actaully I spent a total of 54 dollars.
 
although it was a cheap upgrade, it really wasnt worth it that is a VERY small performance upgrade for the video card, although adding the ram will make a signifigant difference, in everyday applications and games. you should have saved up.
 
So i checked some reviews, the 8600GTS is quite a bit better then the 8600GT:
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=512&card2=513
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/compare,793.html?prod[2084]=on&prod[2086]=on

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152032

That's pretty much my PSU, but mine is 420W and has the 12V rail at 20A. See? A 25 dollar PSU really is not going to go through much hell before dieing, is it? And also, just want you opinions on this: Which is really beter: 4GB RAM and the GTS, or 2GB RAM and the GSO? Plus, just one more side note, if my psu dies on me, and even if it dont destroy anything in the process, I will not have a computer for a while! MY PSU came in an case-PSU bundle so...

Anyways, thanks for the input, but I am still not convinced I made a bad purchase, simply because my psu is so lame, and I got 2 more GB ram outta it! Thanks!
 
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