Thinking of upgrading my computer

[changing_seasons]

So this is my current rig, and with the amount of new games coming shortly I think I would like to upgrade some of the components.

Zalman Z-MACHINE GT1000 Gaming
Corsair Powersupply 750W
Asus Striker II Formula, nForce-780i SLI
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz 1333Mhz, 4MB
Crucial DDR2 BallistiX PC8500 2048MB CL5
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 750GB SATA2 32MB 7200RPM
XFX GeForce 9800GX2 700M 1GB
Win Vista Ultimate 32bit

I'm guessing the RAM is the simplest/cheapest upgrade, but with only 32 bit Vista I'm stuck at 3+ something GB. If I got 2x2 GB of RAM I would get the maximum of what is possible with 32 bit systems, right?

Any other thoughts on upgrades?

 

[owL]

I think your best bet would be to either upgrade to Vista 64bit, and get 4 (2x2GB) of ram.


Or you could upgrade your video card.

If you don't want to spend too much, the XFX HD-485X-ZDFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150351 - $125

Well there's my two cents, hope everything works out for you:good:

 

[jeremyp]

e8400 and a 4870 or something like that, you COULD upgrade the ram but most games don't use it all up. 32 bit only lets you use 2gbs of ram

 

[maroon1]

I think your best bet would be to either upgrade to Vista 64bit, and get 4 (2x2GB) of ram.


Or you could upgrade your video card.

If you don't want to spend too much, the XFX HD-485X-ZDFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150351 - $125

Well there's my two cents, hope everything works out for you:good:

I don't think going from 9800GX2 to HD4850 is really an upgrade

 

[funkysnair]

e8400 and a 4870 or something like that, you COULD upgrade the ram but most games don't use it all up. 32 bit only lets you use 2gbs of ram

no no no-2gig where did you get that from? its usually 3.25gig

 

[daisymtc]

Stick another 2 x 1GB. although it could not use all...

May be Q9550?? not sure...

 

[changing_seasons]

I think your best bet would be to either upgrade to Vista 64bit, and get 4 (2x2GB) of ram.

I've read somewhere that 64-bit systems don't always work as well as do 32-bit systems though. Aren't there certain programs that won't run as good or not at all on Vista 64-bit?
I think upgrading to Vista 64 and 4 GB of RAM will be the first thing I will do. After that I'm thinking of using two 9800GX2s in SLI instead of buying a new graphics card.

 

[bomberboysk]

I've read somewhere that 64-bit systems don't always work as well as do 32-bit systems though. Aren't there certain programs that won't run as good or not at all on Vista 64-bit?
I think upgrading to Vista 64 and 4 GB of RAM will be the first thing I will do. After that I'm thinking of using two 9800GX2s in SLI instead of buying a new graphics card.

A new GTX285 or GTX295 would benefit more than Quad SLI, as gpu scaling is only really benchmark friendly after 2 gpu's. Just sell your 9800gx2.

Also, may want to think about upgrading that cpu.