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I need to upgrade! Advised is greatly appricated!
I have a couple of questions as I need to upgrade and it has been a few years since I've done any upgrading. Right now I'm with a
Operating System: Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate Professional Media Center 6.00.6001 Service Pack 1
Report Date: Wednesday 13 October 2010at16:17
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<<< System Summary >>>
> Mainboard : MSI MS-7241
> Chipset : Intel P965
> Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2400MHz
> Physical Memory : 4096MB (4 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
> Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
> Hard Disk : Western Digital WD2500JD-22HBC0 ATA Device (250GB)
> CD-Rom Drive : SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro
> DVD-Rom Drive : LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L
> Monitor Type : Dell Computer DELL E207WFP - 20 inches
> Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8169/8110 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
> Operating System : Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate Professional Media Center 6.00.6001 Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
> DirectX : Version 10.0
> Windows Performance Index : 1.0 on 5.9
-------------------------------------------------
Any advise would be greatly appricated trying to get ready for the new set of mmo's comming out, mainly Rift!
Thanks
Comments
I fits just and mmo machine your fine with this I suggest you target a game like crysis 2 bet if its not your forte I suggest sticking to this
the only thing you should change is that horrible OS of yours go back xp or advance to 7
According to the link below you already exceed the requirements to play Rift.
http://www.systemrequirements.in/pc-game-system-requirements-rift-planes-of-telara.html
Intel Core i7 7700K, MB is Gigabyte Z270X-UD5
SSD x2, 4TB WD Black HHD, 32GB RAM, MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning LE video card
thats what I meant but god his OS is horrible
Lady Reno, I have an old system similar to yours. I have an 8800GTS with a core 2 duo 3.0GHZ. If you want to upgrade for better gaming I would recommend waiting a little bit. AMD is going to be releasing some of the new 6000 series graphics cards on Oct. 19th. This should drive prices down on the older graphics cards as well. Also, your core 2 duo you could try to overclock a bit to get some more life out of it, but do so cautiously. Intel will be releasing Sandy bridge early next year ( Jan. i think) and also amd will have bulldozer in q1 2011. It just seems like a bad time to upgrade before those are out. Good luck.
Windows 7 isn't really that different from Vista. Vista got a bad reputation for two things that were mainly problems at launch.
First, the system requirements were too high. Windows 7 has comparable system requirements to Vista, but another three years of Moore's Law scaling makes them not seem so high anymore. Windows XP system requirements that seem laughably low today were impossible to meet in 1990.
Second, a lot of drivers that needed to be there weren't. That got fixed in subsequent months after launch to the point of being nearly a non-issue by the time the first service pack released a year later. Today, Windows 7 and Vista are comparable on driver support: basically, if you need drivers for modern hardware, they're there. Officially, Vista is Windows NT 6.0, while "7" is Windows NT 6.1. Microsoft didn't even think it was a big enough change to give it a full number bump. (For comparison, XP is NT 5.0, and earlier versions of NT were marketed under the name Windows NT.)
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Some standard questions:
1) What's your budget?
2) Do you live in the United States? A lot of American companies won't ship abroad, which changes your options.
3) Can you assemble a computer from parts if given the parts and very detailed instructions? Put another way, if someone else unplugged the computer you have now, would you be able to diagnose and fix it? That's about the level of expertise needed--and if you think that seems like a low threshold, that's the point.
4) Does it need to be right now, or just sometime in the next several months? AMD is releasing upper mid-range and high end cards for a new generation of video cards (Northern Islands) later this year. Intel launches Sandy Bridge in January, which will pretty much be the thing to get for anyone willing to spend at least $300 on a processor and motherboard (added together). In the second half of 2011, we'll likely see AMD launch Bulldozer processors and Southern Islands video cards, and Nvidia launch a new generation of Kepler video cards.
Hey LadyReno how you doing!
Personally I think you have two choices, either AMD set up or INTEL.
If you can afford it all at once I would buy a new Motherboard+CPU+RAM, I recently got the below items for a relative which work together well.
Motherboard: $135: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435
RAM: $87: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260
AMD Phenom II X4 965 $160: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
About $400 if you get it shipped
And then look at graphics card.
OR..
Just go for the Graphics card first and as one of the above posters said wait for AMD to release their new cards and then look at prices of either those or last years model as it would drop in price.
If you went the intel route then something like this would work ok I think:
Motherboard: $130: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412
RAM: $87: Same memory as above
CPU: $210 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067
About $430
Hi there Avory!!! Doing good, took some time off for a while. Still stalking the fourms I see.
Buget is about $500 and I like Vista and not planning on changing it anytime soon. Looking at around Christmas time and right now just trying to get an idea of what I'm looking at for upgrades.
I got a friend who will do my installing for me, I know how to do most of it.... But I can be a clutz lol and would end up putting
what clearly says slot a in to slot b if you get my drift.
I'll pass your referance off to my 2nd option guy, but I really would like to stay with Nvidia so another idea for a card would be great.
And to "thecrap" user name is "Ladyreno" I am not a he lol and I like Vista haven't had any trouble with it, now that all the drivers has finally caught up. But thanks for the advise : )
Ladyreno
Why pay a premium for the integrated graphics of the 890GX chipset when you're not going to use the integrated graphics?
And why pay a premium for 1600 MHz memory rather than 1333 MHz for a processor whose memory controller doesn't support that speed?
I would start with a new GFX card.
With a good one you should be able to keep the computer for another year. Nvidias 470 GTX is pretty nice and worth the price.
As for Vista: Is it 32 or 64 bits? If it is 32 you need to upgrade it, 64 is fine enough. The reason far that is the fact that 32 bits can't handle enough memory.
Anyways, get a new fine GFX card and then you can consider if you want to change processor, ram and motherboard after that. It doesn't cost you a dime extra and I think the boost in performance is enough for now,
There are new processors coming out this winter and you will get a lot better deal on a new one in mars than now, and you will still get a huge performance increase.
I don't think trying to upgrade that machine on a $500 budget makes sense. You can get a processor that's a little bit better without replacing the motherboard, but not a lot better, and the upgrade is really overpriced, too. And if you do change the motherboard to get a more modern processor, you'd also have to replace the memory, and then you've used up most of your budget without having room for a better video card, too. If you try to get a better video card now without upgrading the processor, then you'll likely just end up processor-bound.
If you really want to stay with Nvidia on the video card, then wait for Kepler to launch in about a year or so and hope it's good. Nvidia's new generation got clobbered by AMD's previous generation, and will almost certainly get slaughtered against AMD's upcoming Northern Islands generation. I wouldn't be surprised to see Nvidia discontinue cards long before the replacements arrive, as they did with GT200b when Evergreen showed up.
A GTX 470 is out of the question unless you've got a very well ventilated case and don't mind running power components out of spec, which is inherently dangerous. Even if you ignore the obscene heat and power issues, a GTX 470 still loses on performance per dollar to a Radeon HD 5850 or 5870.
There are three nice cards in Nvidia's modern lineup:
GeForce GT 240 (GDDR5 version)
GeForce GTS 450
GeForce GTX 460
The first would be a downgrade for you, and the second only a slight upgrade. The GTX 460 would be a more meaningful upgrade, but probably still not worthwhile because you'd be processor-bound so often. And the GTX 460 probably has about two weeks left before Barts launches and Nvidia is faced with a choice of slashing prices on a card that they already don't make much money on, discontinuing the card and vacating the entire $150+ segment of the market, or continuing to sell a card at prices that will then be absurd and hope that they have an awful lot of fanboys.
If you want to stay with Nvidia, on that first list of AMD motherboard and processor part we also got my relative a GTX 460 1GB card for about $230 (not the 768 memory one) and he pulls about 90 FPS with some max settings in LOTRO. It is a really good card for the price.
To do either the motherboard/RAM or CPU best option is to do all at once. With Xmas sales on you could probably get all 4 main items / CPU/GPU/Motherboard and RAM for about $550 with some clever shopping.
We got this particular graphics card and can totally recommend it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125333 only think is the fans blow into the case so it depends on how good the case fans are you have. EVGA have an "EE aka External Exhaust" one that is typically about $20 more (air blows out back of case like on your current card)
Good to see you back, RIFT looks neat, personally I think I will be getting into Guild Wars 2
I just have to disagree with whoever said Vista isn't that bad compared to Win 7. Vista is the most bloated piece of crap OS I have ever run. Admittedly....I'm a fan of Linux, and if Linux could run games...I would go back to it in a heartbeat, but XP was FAR better than Vista for game compatibility and speed, and my partner has Win 7 on her machine and it also uses less RAM.
I would DEFINITELY get rid of Vista for a gaming machine.
Just my opinion.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
If you're getting a new computer, then yeah, you get Windows 7, not Vista. But if you spend $100 to upgrade to Windows 7 on an old computer, you're going to end up saying, that's all? I paid $100 for this?
Save up your money, replace essentially the whole thing all at once, and do it right. No sense in pouring money into upgrades that will have to be replaced pretty soon anyway.
I'd say, the most sensible thing to do with that system at this stage would be a graphics card upgrade without a bigger system change (motherboard/cpu/ram...) since you can still squeeze performance out of that system giving you time to get better upgrade offerings later next year or so.
If you're into it, you could try to overclock the processor, maybe 3-3.3GHz+ depending on the rest of components/cooling...
About the graphics card, at the moment Nvidia 460 GTX 1GB is good value for the performance given or if you prefer, a Radeon HD 5850 1GB with comparable performance at around same price brackets. Although, i can find the 460 GTX cheaper than the HD 5850 over here where i live.
Regarding Vista, if you don't have issues then carry on using it but Win7 is a good OS upgrade.
The GeForce GTX 460 does tend to sell for less than the Radeon HD 5850, but that's because it's slower. If they were the same price, hardly anyone would buy the GTX 460. They're both decent value for the money from the consumer's end.
The problem for Nvidia is that it costs a lot more to build a GTX 460 than it does to build a Radeon HD 5850.
Well, the other problem for Nvidia is that that's only the situation today. Barts is coming later this month, and will be faster than a GeForce GTX 460 and cheaper to build than a Radeon HD 5850, giving AMD that much bigger of a cost advantage as compared to Nvidia.
But at the end of the day Nvidia drivers are 10x better than ATI and if I had not been drawn in by all the junk that people get much better performance with ATI. I would not have bought this asus 5870 which I am not at all happy with my GTX260 run better in some games. Times like thease people tend to go with the cheap option but I can tell you I wish I put up a bit more cash and went for GTX460
Can you wait and try your game, when it comes out first, and see where you are at? It may be you can get by for now, and build a new system later.
If you absolutely have to upgrade now, then I would get
(13)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9505 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80580Q9505
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Manufacturing Tech: 45 nm
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Item #: N82E16819115060
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(166)
SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Radeon HD 5770
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Chipset Manufacturer: ATI
Stream Processors: 800 Stream Processing Units
DirectX: DirectX 11
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Model #: 100283-3L
Item #: N82E16814102873
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Was: $164.99
Now: $144.99
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I wont be fancy, and it isnt cheap, but its in your budget, and lets you put the extra towards a new rig next year.
However if you are comfortable overclocking, then either stick with what you have, and clock it up, or get this processor instead of the one above and clock it up.
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Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80580Q8300
1333MHz FSB
45 nm Yorkfield
4MB L2 Cache
Series: Core 2 Quad
L2 Cache: 4MB
Manufacturing Tech: 45 nm
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Item #: N82E16819115207
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
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Best thing to do is wait, probably. And also if you upgrade, need to make sure your PSU will handle it.
If you do decide to do it, however, I would wait on a card until later this month. Just depends on how much performance you need, if you can wait, and if you will have enough money to build a new system later.
Santa claus asked me what I wanted, but he doesnt have much money, so I opted for the last processor above. But I overclock. At the moment I run a 2.6 dual core at 3.5, with a 5750 ati. I dont care about quality graphics, but I am struggling on the processor end, as my game is quad core optimized, so I will get the performance boost that will make it better for me.
Your game may not need that. It may need just a card boost, or it may really need a new rig.
As others have said, to me, upping my system is almost a waste of money. Yes I can get better performance, but not a whole lot. And I way behind the times already.
But Santa aint gonna buy me a new rig, soo I'll take what I can get. Plus I aint hard to please. And I tend to ring a game out. I'll be playing my game until it shuts down. And I know how much performance increase I need.
PS I just read a little about your game Rfit Telara? Anyway it's dual core, and appears that it will support SLI/Crossfire. Double check that, I may be reading incorrect stuff, anyway, maybe just go with one of the new ATI cards in Late October for now, then perhaps later you can build a new rig, with the same card and use the one you buy now with it, in Crossfire. Save the money on a processor if you can.
Just a thought
theyalllie,
Microcenter.com sells CPUs for less money than Newegg, usually a lot more.
To the others that want her [I think she said she is female] to purchase Win 7, she said that she wants to keep Vista, end of story.
To those that say that ATI's video drivers are trash do not know what they are talking about and are blind to or ignore nVidea's past driver problems, ever heard of anyone reverting back to a previous nVidea driver? AMD's drivers perfect? No, however, they are not trash, as some people state.
Also, while I was disappointed with Vista, because some companies did not provide Vista support for their software, it later became a better OS. While it is true that Vista is bloat-ware many of the offending "enhancements" can be shut off. I know that it is moronic to add "features" that are thrown upon consumers, even if they do not want them, and MS paid the price as both individuals and corporations refused to purchase Vista, or reverted to XP after purchasing Vista.
Vista is stable, yet even Win7 will not run some of my software, so why go from Vista 64 to Win7? Regarding the OP, I do not know if she has a problem with some software not supporting Vista, however, she is content with the OS.
To the OP, I once again suggest that you keep what you have and see if you like the performance your computer provides with Rift. Upgrading simply because you want to is OK, however, not the best reason. Wait until your computer will not perform the way you want, then upgrade. Computer hardware has been evolving for a long time, and at least for the next year or so will continue to evolve at a reasonable cost to the consumer. Waiting is usually a good thing because you get faster and better at today's prices [the U.S. economy will impact and change this before Obama leaves office, or shortly after if he is a one term president, for the very short term what I stated holds true]. Also, waiting permits you to save more money, so when the time comes to upgrade you will have many more options.
As to where to purchase in the U.S. I normally shop at Newegg, however, Microcenter.com beats them on Intel CPUs, I am not sure about AMD CPU prices. I have not used AMD since their 40MHz 386, and no longer build AMD for family and friends, and, I stopped building AMD for companies a long time ago.
Save up your money and return here when your computer is too slow, you will be happy that you did.
EDIT: I can't believe I misspelled supporting...
Intel Core i7 7700K, MB is Gigabyte Z270X-UD5
SSD x2, 4TB WD Black HHD, 32GB RAM, MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning LE video card
Hey nice tip Swing I will check it out man. TY
Good Morning,
Thank you for all the great advise. I have never over-clocked and know very little about it. Any web sites with info would be greatly appricated. Would love to be up in the 3.0 ghz., as it would be a major over haul and wouldn't have to do any upgrades for more than a few years.
Right now looking for advise and rough idea on what type of funds I need for what I what. It really is time for upgrades as it has been more than a few years since any has been done. As for my "Vista" I have no problems with the OS since drivers and software has caught up with it. More than likely I'll upgrade with the next OS that is released.
I also, plan on hopefully (getting into beta) for Rift just so I can see how my computer will handle the game. Again thanks for all the advise, keep in contact Avory. I checked out Guild Wars when it was first release and held my interest for about 1 week. I haven't played an mmo for a few years, got caught up on other hobbies and things. Rift caught my interest when I heard about a few of the developers from both EQ2 and Vanguard are on the development team, which from what I've heard their target group is the EQ2 and Vanguard players.
After the bomb of AOC just lost interest in a while and took a much needed break, but looking forward to get into the swing of things and hitting the raids again and hopping for the one drop lol.
Ladyreno
Ladyreno,
I could not quickly find a web site that details how to overclock your specific motherboard. Most P965 motherboard overclocking proceedures are simple.
I could not find the manual for your motherboard at MSI's web site, so, I will be very limited on what to tell you because I cannot direct you to specific pages in the manual for you to read.
There is a P965 overclock article here http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/145468-intel-overclocking-redefined-interesting-p965-975x.html The article has some techie terms, re-read the post several times and ask questions here.
Do not be confused by terms such as NB strap, it is simply a term used to mean what happens to RAM [speed] when the FSB [front side buss]
Basic overclocking include entering BIOS [not sure what key you need to press, it is in the manual], increase the CPU frequency to 3.0GHz, and start with a safe, yet high enough voltage increase to insure a stable 3GHz overclock, probably somewhere around 1.35 volts. If the overclock is successful begin to lower the voltage until the system begins to be a little unstable, then increase voltage a couple of bins, or a couple of on-screen voltage options [increase]. You are still in the BIOS here.
While in BIOS see if there is an option that permits you to run your RAM slower, to insure that you do not exceed the capability of your RAM. If there is none then you will need to see if you can increase RAM latencies.
You also may have to purchase a better CPU cooler to keep the CPU at a safe temperature for long use. What cooler to purchase and how to install it can be discussed after you understand this post. Socket 775 coolers: http://www.svc.com/775-cpu-cooler.html
My explanation may sound simplistic, and it is for a reason, you are new to overclocking and you have a motherboard that is so old that information about it is difficult to find, at least it was for me. Even MSI did not have information that I could find, except for a CPU support list.
Sorry, I have to run. Have to take care of some things.
Intel Core i7 7700K, MB is Gigabyte Z270X-UD5
SSD x2, 4TB WD Black HHD, 32GB RAM, MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning LE video card
LOL ok I know it is old. Ok time for upgrades then. I'll wait until Christmas for purchase and start putting those penny's away now.
Ladyreno
Good thinking, but you can get the GFX card already if you want to.
It will give your old junk a boost and you don't have to throw out so much money at one time, at least I find it easer to save if I buy in 2 steps....
The GFX card is the single most important thing in a gaming PC and will give you a lot larger boost than any new processor anyways.
I have another question, is there a really big difference between the 768 mb and the 1 gig? Or is just a slight difference.
Because I might go with the GTX 460 768 mb.
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Limited lifetime warranty w/ registration of product SPARKLE SXX460768D5NM GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
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Limited lifetime warranty w/ registration of product SPARKLE SXX4601024D5UNM GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
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Chipset Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Core Clock: 700MHz
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