Looking for PC Upgrade Recommendations :)

[Viceroy]

Hey,

Just joined the forum. I work in the Computer Games Industry and am looking for some advice on upgrading my home desktop gaming computer. It is mainly used for gaming. If anyone could give some advice on upgrades I would appreciate it. I guess I could spend about £400 on upgrades.

Here are my current specs:

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM - Corsair 333MHz (DDR2 667) (all 3)
Graphics Card: Radeon X1950 CrossFire Edition 512MB
Sound Card: SoundMAX HD Audio

Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Model: M2R32-MVP
Version: Rev 1.xx
North Bridge ATI Xpress 3200 (RD580) Revision 00
South Bridge ATI SB600 Revision 00
Cpu Socket Socket AM2 (940)
System Slots 6 PCI
Maximum Capacity 8192 MBytes
Maximum Memory Module Size 2048 MBytes
Memory Slots 4


Other Stuff: Crappy Dell 15' Monitor + Default Dell Plastic Speakers + Mouse - Razor DeathAdder + Standard Dell Multi Media Keyboard

___

Can't say I've had any trouble with it, but I like to be prepared.

Interested in good monitors/speakers/keyboards as well as a second priority to internal hardware. If you need anymore information just ask.

Thanks a lot.

- Chris

 

[Ian]

Are there any particular games you want to play but can't?

The first thing I would do to improve your gaming experience is get a new monitor! There's no point in having a good graphics card if you use a 15" monitor.

A 24" beast is around £200 : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158381, but would last you for quite a while.
A 22" LCD is still pretty big, and and a huge improvement over your 15" monitor. It comes in at around £125 : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143051 (I'd go for this one)

Assuming you opted for the 22" LCD, that leaves £275 which isn't enough to upgrade the mobo/cpu/graphics... so I'd suggest upgrading the graphics card if you really want an improved gaming system. You could easily blow all that on something like a 4870 or GTX285.

 

[Viceroy]

Thanks for the response.

No my current set up can play all current games, but I am looking for a better experience.

Yes a larger monitor will be on the cards thanks for the advice.

Is there an easy to read list of all ATI and Nvidia graphics cards in order of best to worst?

 

[Ian]

You can pick a game from this page and it will show the performance of most cards (up to the end of 2008) in that scenario. I've not seen one that has been updated for the past few months, but I'll keep a look out

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/benchmarks,30.html

 

[Viceroy]

Thanks,

I just want to know what cards are better than my Radeon X1950 CrossFire Edition 512MB, really.

Do you think I should upgrade my processor, motherboard or memory sticks (333mhz isnt great)?

 

[Abarbarian]

Have a look at Sexy Bex' s News Editions

threads at the bottom of the main forum page , loads of good reviews and tests on modern stuff there.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Deffo a monitor.

Other improvements would be:

1) Grafix card.
2) 800Mhz Memory.
3) Dual Core 3Ghz CPU

With the priority in the order listed.

All the info you'd ever want to know about grafix cardz here: El Linko

 

[Viceroy]

Thanks for the link, floppy, very helpful indeed.

What memory sticks do you suggest i replace my Corsair 333MHz with? Is there a good make?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Thanks for the link, floppy, very helpful indeed.

What memory sticks do you suggest i replace my Corsair 333MHz with? Is there a good make?

No probs

Memory? Corsair

I prefer Corsair but can thoroughly recommend Crucial as well.

Also partial to a little OCZ memory.

 

[Viceroy]

Ah i'll stick with corsair then, thanks. Also since I will be buying new ram it would be more convenient for me to buy 2 sticks of 2GB, do you think upgrading to 4gb will be okay? I heard if you have more then 3GB it uses more of it potentially causing a drop in performance.

also i was looking at some radeon 3870 cards and some are sapphire and some are not... what is the difference?

 

[floppybootstomp]

A Radeon 3870 card will basically be the same at heart, some manufacturers will slightly overclock their products and there's always the build quality to take into consideration.

Good card makers are BFG and EVGA plus of course both ATI & Nvidia who both manufacture their own cards.

 

[Viceroy]

Thanks

I bought a Sapphire HD 3870 for £50. Do you think this was a good choice or not?

 

[Viceroy]

Hi,

I was looking for some help.

First of all i purchased 4GB of RAM - Corsair 800 Mhz. (2GB sticks X 2) However, in DxDiag it says :

Memory: 3328MB RAM

and in SIW it says for each memory stick :

Speed: 400Mhz (DDR2 800)

and the DRAM frequency is 372.3 MHz. Is this right...?

_____

Also I am having trouble installing my new Graphics Card, I think it might be faulty. I removed my old graphics card and inserted the new 3870, when i turned the computer on there were broken green lines going down the screen on start up and then it shut off to the blue screen saying:

"A problem has been detected and windows has to shut down to prevent damage to your computer"

I removed the card and made sure it was connected properly which it was, made sure it was firmly in the slot and it was and tried again with the same problem. I then took out the card and reinserted my old card which worked fine.

Do you think the card is faulty?

EDIT: Is it because it is PCIe 2.0 and my motherboard does not support it? If this is the case can someone recommend a new motherboard for my pc as I have never dealt with them before.

thanks

 

[muckshifter]

Your MB is fine, I'll have it if you don't want it.

I don't rate your choice of graphics card, but then I don't rate ATI much, however, it does sound as though your replacement may be faulty.

... this card is not intended to be the highest-end performance card from AMD

All you needed was a better monitor.

 

[Viceroy]

Thanks for the response, muckshifter, it must be better than the x1950 although it is considerably smaller!

I will probably get a refund, but i am still unsure whether it is just not compatible with my motherboard as the x1950 was PCIe and this one is the newer PCIe 2.0.

 

[muckshifter]

PCI-E 2 ... yes, it is better if you have both MB & graphics card that support it, and, you will see some benefit, however, PCI-E 2 is/are backward compatible and you shouldn't have had a 'problem' using the card with your present MB.

I ain't taken a look at you MB manual, so I really can't say if it is PCI-E 2 ready or not. It don't matter to me.

... when i turned the computer on there were broken green lines going down the screen on start up and then it shut off to the blue screen ...

Did this happen before Windows loaded? Did you un-install the old drivers? What, if any, did the error message say?

 

[Viceroy]

Hey, thanks for the info again

It happened before windows loaded yes, just as the log on screen appeared, where i type my password to log on to windows, it went to the blue screen error message. It said something like:

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer" and then "Check to make sure new hardware is properly installed" etc... then crash dump and dumping physical memory stuff.

Do you mean my x1950 graphics card drivers? I didn't un-install them no... is that the problem?

 

[muckshifter]

It is standard practice to un-install graphics drivers before installing a new card ... we don't always practice what we preach.

The screen "going funny" before Windows loads is a good indication, to me, that the card may indeed be faulty. DOA (dead on arrival)

Does that particular card require additional power directly to the card?

Is your PSU hardy enough to run it also?

 

[Viceroy]

Pretty sure my PSU is fine,

Silly question but how do I uninstall my current graphics drivers? It won't affect my ability to use the computer will it? because if the new card is broken I will need to go back to this one. Thanks

 

[muckshifter]

These days you just use "add & remove programs"

Yes, it will affect how your graphics will look ... pretty damn crap ... if you need to go back to your old card/drivers, have them ready to re-install from the PC in a downloads folder.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

http://ati.amd.com/products/index.html

I will repeat myself ... if the screen went "funny" before Windows even started, then there is a problem with the card.