What to upgrade?

Respital

Respital

Active Member
Hey guys,

It's almost my birthday and i have NO IDEA what i want, i already have pretty much all i could want for and whenever i get money i put it in the bank and never touch it...so i thought i mite as well ask you guys what you would upgrade in my system. (Specs in sig)

I was thinking maybe the graphics card but seeing as i have a pretty much basic PSU I don't think i can really upgrade far maybe the HD 4870, but i don't know Nvidia's equal to it. If it helps i'm running dual monitors ATM.

Also if i got a graphics card i thought my CPU mite hold it back but there really isn't anything that great in terms of a CPU upgrade available seeing as the E8400 isn't really much better.

Thanks guys!
 
how much money are we talking here??? lol I would look into mabey a better case... or a bigger psu if you are going to be getting a video card
 
Antec EA500 is a OK PSU.
For upgrade, I suggest ATI 4870 and another 2GB RAM.
Nvidia version would be GTX 260.
 
IBEPCWIZ said:
how much money are we talking here??? lol I would look into mabey a better case... or a bigger psu if you are going to be getting a video card
Click to expand...

Well I'd say a max of around 200$.

bomberboysk said:
Well, i would try to get a mobo+phenom II cpu perhaps. Really depends on budget though..
Click to expand...

Really? I thought that my dual would be a bit better...would replacing the CPU be better then upgrading the video card?

daisymtc said:
Antec EA500 is a OK PSU.
For upgrade, I suggest ATI 4870 and another 2GB RAM.
Nvidia version would be GTX 260.
Click to expand...

Why the extra ram? Btw; I'm running a 32bit OS...

Okay thanks, what about a 4890?
 
daisymtc said:
Power consumption
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/06/09/asus-radeon-hd-4890-voltage-tweak-review/13
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Okay so I'm thinking of getting a video card since i think my processor is pretty good for the time being. I was looking at either the SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 or SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4890 both are the 2Gb version. Here's a comparison. The 4890 costs about 50$ extra, what are the extra benefits other then the clock speed being higher?
 
4890 has much better overclocking than the 4870, definately worth it. Although, like i said earlier. I would upgrade cpu first, the dual core is gonna bottleneck you as well as your 2gb of memory.
 
bomberboysk said:
4890 has much better overclocking than the 4870, definately worth it. Although, like i said earlier. I would upgrade cpu first, the dual core is gonna bottleneck you as well as your 2gb of memory.
Click to expand...

Well like i said it's either one or the other because I'm not going to be getting a lot. I'll probably get around 200$...and i really don't know if upgrading the CPU and keeping the GPU is going to give me very good performance results.
 
Respital said:
Well like i said it's either one or the other because I'm not going to be getting a lot. I'll probably get around 200$...and i really don't know if upgrading the CPU and keeping the GPU is going to give me very good performance results.
Click to expand...
Id prolly go for gpu first then, it will see the most immediate benefit, while cpu isnt going to see a ton of benefit unless you first upgrade gpu.
 
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Respital said:
Okay, well what would you go for?
  • HD4870
  • HD4890
  • GTX 260
  • Other?
And is there any sort of special edition i should be looking for?

Edit: If it helps my PSU is 500Watts and i believe that it has 34A on the V12 rails. (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007)
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500W should be enough for a 4890, as the earthwatts line of power supplies are pretty good. The 4890 has the best bang for the buck right now, on par with a gtx275, and the highly overclocked models can come close to a 285 in performance.
 
bomberboysk said:
500W should be enough for a 4890, as the earthwatts line of power supplies are pretty good. The 4890 has the best bang for the buck right now, on par with a gtx275, and the highly overclocked models can come close to a 285 in performance.
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Alright well I think that I'm going to go with the 4890 in that case the only problem left is all the different types and models. :o

I compared them on newegg with GTX 260s and I've narrowed it down to 5 different 4890s, mind giving me a hand figuring out wish i should get? (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...82E16814102848,N82E16814102847&page=2&bop=And)
 
Well it looks like if you get the 4890 you will definately need a new PSU to run it. As for the 4870....what you have is about = to the 4830 so not a huge upgrade but noticeable. For what you have I dont think $200 will make a huge difference no matter what you do. Might be time to start looking into the future, as in getting a really good PSU to be able to run any upgrade you get later on and a 2 gig stick of RAM with the leftover money. That way you will have a small improvement and futureproofing your computer

Like maybe these 2 or something close
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171037 Coolermaster 700w PSU $109 free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209 G Skill 800Mhz 2x 2gig $51.99 free shipping
Or even 4 gigs of some 1066 memory, think your MB supports it
 
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Respital said:
Well I'd say a max of around 200$.



Really? I thought that my dual would be a bit better...would replacing the CPU be better then upgrading the video card?



Why the extra ram? Btw; I'm running a 32bit OS...

Okay thanks, what about a 4890?
Click to expand...

I think 500W running 4890 is a bit tight. But as newegg said, it need minimun of 500W...
On the other hand, RAM are quite cheap, extra $30 to boost a bit of performance, it is a may be...

I don't think it worth upgrade the CPU, as you've OC your CPU. I doubt how much performance you could get extra with spending $190 for E8400.
I'd rather save the money and upgrade to Corei5 when it release ($600??)
 
daisymtc said:
I think 500W running 4890 is a bit tight. But as newegg said, it need minimun of 500W...
On the other hand, RAM are quite cheap, extra $30 to boost a bit of performance, it is a may be...

I don't think it worth upgrade the CPU, as you've OC your CPU. I doubt how much performance you could get extra with spending $190 for E8400.
I'd rather save the money and upgrade to Corei5 when it release ($600??)
Click to expand...

Well like you quoted I'm running a 32bit OS and I'm pretty sure that running 2Gb in dual channel and 1Gb or another 2Gb in dual channel would actually decrease performance instead of increasing it. Damn 600$ for the i5 is a lot, are they going to be socket 775?

bomberboysk said:
Tbh...id go with this asus 4890, has some capacitor that supposedly helps overclocking(not sure how true that is though, but asus is marketing it), and a majorly improved cooling system over stock(im thinking that has more to do with it than the super cap)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121311&Tpk=asus 4890
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Alright thanks, do you think it would be better to order that one from newegg or get one from Canada Computer which is near me, and pretty reputable.
 
Respital said:
Well like you quoted I'm running a 32bit OS and I'm pretty sure that running 2Gb in dual channel and 1Gb or another 2Gb in dual channel would actually decrease performance instead of increasing it. Damn 600$ for the i5 is a lot, are they going to be socket 775?



Alright thanks, do you think it would be better to order that one from newegg or get one from Canada Computer which is near me, and pretty reputable.
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Nope, i5 will be 1156...
Id get the one off newegg, doesnt appear canada computer has that sorta 4890, and for the price its pretty much the best 4890 out there.
 
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