Weakest Link

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ilikesimpsons

New Member
Hey. I planning on buying a Nvidia Geforce 9500GT or 9600GT. If I do that, what do you think will become the weakest link on my PC. Im currently focusing on the proccessor, the RAM, my HDD, and of course my video card. I play games like COD 5, COD 4, Need for Speed Undercover, and the like.

My PC Specs are as follows:

Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core 1.8ghz E2180 with 1MB L2 Cache and an 800Mhz FSB

RAM: 2GB PC2 5300 RAM

HDD: 400GB Hitachi Deskstar 7200RPM

I dont plan on replacing the mobo, so any other upgrades besides the proccessor are pretty much out of the question. I have an ECS-945GCT M3 V3.

Any comments or opinions are appreciated.

PS: Do you know if you can put more than 2GB RAM with this Mobo?
 
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paratwa

New Member
It depends on what you want to spend, for example you could replace your aging cpu with a faster one, maybe the E7300 for $120 from newegg would be a cheap choice that would make a huge difference. It ups your FSB from 800mhz to 1066mhz That motherboard should handle that chip. But if that's to much money for you, any CPU faster than what you have would make a difference.

If you are running xp 32 bit then more than 2 gigs of ram would be lost to you. To see more you would need to go with xp or vista 64 bit. So I would just stay with the 2 gigs you have now.

With the video cards you selected, you will not be able to play the newest games at the highest settings. You can get the 9800 card for $130 from newegg, and thats only a few bucks more than the 9600 card, depending on what model 9600 card you selected and would get you better frame rates.

Your hard drive is fine.
 
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ilikesimpsons

New Member
Well I currently have a Nvidia 8400GS (Yeah I know its not that great, but still better then the included Intel 950 GMA). So which should i upgrade first? And I saw a 9600GT for only around 75 bucks after a mail in rebate, so I think its pretty cost effective to go with that for now. Im used to playing COD 4 & 5 with 800x600 and low settings so im sure even the 9600GT will make a pretty LARGE increase for me :) So do you think I will benefit from the upgraded CPU or GPU first.

And to answer your OS comment, Im running the Windows 7 Beta :)

PS: I do SOME Video editing and encoding but not too much.

Any opinions would be appreciated!
 
BlackRat

BlackRat

New Member
For the videocard - get 9600GT, not 9500GT. Speed difference between them is huge, 9600GT is much better. Your CPU and memory are on par with each other. I would overclock CPU If I would get a chance. 2180 can get to 3Ghz , or at least ~2.4G with stock cooler
 
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ilikesimpsons

New Member
Well I was thinking. With my setup do you think that it would be worth it to purchase the 9800GT? I mean I have a Bday coming up and Im gonna ask for a new video card :). I was thinking if I got the 9800GT, will it still outperform a 9600GT by a lot if I was playing a game like COD5? Like I was wondering if my CPU and RAM would be a bottleneck so that I wouldnt see a big performance boost with the increase from the 9600GT to the 9800GT.

Any opinions greatly appreciated!

Thanks

PS. Im running my resolution on 1024x768 on an old computer monitor until I upgrade to a new LCD Monitor sometime in the future. When I get my card though I might just use my 26" HD LCD though :D.
 
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BlackRat

BlackRat

New Member
Would not see too much difference between 9600GT and 9800GT with your processor. Any monitor 22"+ is better than any HDTV, check resolutions
 
just a noob

just a noob

Well-Known Member
i would still go for a 9800gt/4830, then when(if) you do upgrade the processor, you'll have a decent graphics card to go with it
 
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ilikesimpsons

New Member
I think Im gonna take the 9600GT and OC because either way I think I will probably need to upgrade my PSU with it and Im on a tight budget. Do you think I need to upgrade to handle even the 9600GT? I currently have the stock 300W PSU.
 
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azwebs

New Member
Well, I have a 9600GSO and Q6600 on a 250w PSU (it's a prebuilt, believe me!) and it seems to run fine. You have to have the right connector or a 4 pin molex to 6 pin PCI-E converter though. I would go for more, like a good 450w, but it may run fine anyways.

Do not take that as a guarantee!
 
BlackRat

BlackRat

New Member
I would not do that, too close, it will stress your PSU too much, it will work, for some time, if that PSU is a good one like Antec or PC Power and Cooling, or some others.
At the end of that PSU calculator there is one option "capasitor aging" - it decreases wattage by 10% for every year of that PSU, take that in consideration.

Look at the 3 top PSUs on that page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=585w&bop=And&Order=PRICE

I have used more than 50 of them and had 1 failure yet. I've been hooking up i7 systems and GTX 260 videocards to them, even though they don't have PCI-e cables. Really cool and near silent PSU with dual rail 39a combined on 12v. Not paperweight like others in that price range.
 
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