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thinking about upgrading my computer
JeffH
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
i didn't see a computer megathread, so sorry if this is the wrong place.
After seeing cool stuff like Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and Dragon Age, I was thinking about upgrading a bit. Money isn't a huge limiting factor but I'd like to be smart with my purchases. I am not clueless when it comes to upgrading, but I'm very out of date as I don't keep up with what's what (as you can see, my computer is an alienware that's a few years old). I'm not sure if it's even smart to upgrade now, but a step in the right direction from people that know better never hurts. Here are my current specs:
Processor: AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 X2 4600+ with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows®
Motherboard: Alienware® nForce™4 SLI™ Motherboard
Graphics Processor: Dual 256MB PCI-Express x16 NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GT - SLI Enabled
Memory: 2GB Low-Latency Dual Channel DDR PC-3200 at 333MHz - 4 x 512MB
System Drive: High Performance - 80GB Serial ATA 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache
Thanks in advance
After seeing cool stuff like Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and Dragon Age, I was thinking about upgrading a bit. Money isn't a huge limiting factor but I'd like to be smart with my purchases. I am not clueless when it comes to upgrading, but I'm very out of date as I don't keep up with what's what (as you can see, my computer is an alienware that's a few years old). I'm not sure if it's even smart to upgrade now, but a step in the right direction from people that know better never hurts. Here are my current specs:
Processor: AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 X2 4600+ with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows®
Motherboard: Alienware® nForce™4 SLI™ Motherboard
Graphics Processor: Dual 256MB PCI-Express x16 NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GT - SLI Enabled
Memory: 2GB Low-Latency Dual Channel DDR PC-3200 at 333MHz - 4 x 512MB
System Drive: High Performance - 80GB Serial ATA 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache
Thanks in advance
JeffH on
0
Posts
If you REALLY want to spend money, maybe go to the X2 6000+ and a couple more gigs of RAM.
After the next generation of Intel processors and hopefully some more affordable video solutions from ATI/Nvidia I'd say it would be worth it to upgrade.
Assuming your mobo could take it, an ATI 4850, 3-4GB DDR2, a new HDD with 16/32MB Cache and maybe a AMD X2+ 6000+.
The graphics card is a smart upgrade no matter what you're doing, you'll see a massive performance jump with the card. Memory and HDD should just get things ticking by quicker. And the processor will help out a bit in some games, but isn't essential.
And never buy alienware again.
2. you can will be able to play diablo 3 and SC2 just fine, as someone already said.
3. your computer looks good, if you were going to upgrade I second waiting for price drops and grabbing a new graphics card, but really what you've got is good, only thing that might be annoying is games without sli support.
If you end up waiting a while, keep in mind what games you want to play. Direct x 10 support from your operating system (vista only
The motherboard is most likely a Socket AM2. If it's a 939 then he's stuck, but his processor is fine for the foreseeable future. His MB will be PCI-E because SLI requires PCI-E. His PSU will be sufficient since he's running two power hungry cards at the same time and we're recommending he drop to one. He's got four RAM slots and MBs have been able to take 4GB for a long time. I can't imagine an upgrade his MB couldn't handle considering the hardware already loaded onto it.
If he's only got DDR1 ram, that's 184pin and DDR2 is 240pin. And I really don't think they made a AM2 that took DDR1 but I could be wrong. And alienware loves to overload the best onto a shitty frame.
A new graphics card ($200) would still be a smart purchase if you game at all at the moment and blow your existing SLI out of the water.
I wouldn't have dual SLI cards, nor alienware, if I was buying a computer right now, but such is life, you live, you learn.
Ahh, that's correct. So he DOES have a 939 board, which means if he wants to upgrade his processor, he needs a new board, which means new RAM. And if he wants to his Video Card, too, he may as well buy a whole new system.
But I stand by my wait a year suggestion. I don't think an 8800 is going to outperform a pair of 7800s. According to Tom's Hardware, 2 x 7800GTX (512MB) is slightly faster than an 8800GTS (512MB) that's been overclocked. I know his are only 256MB, but I doubt the performance increase he'll see will be worth the price.
Wait at least one more graphics card generation. Then an upgrade will be worth it.
I'm running a system very similar to yours actually, I have a 4400+ with 2GB of DDR1 on nForce4. so you can take my advice to the bank.
I had a friend at a lan who had 7800GTs in SLI, and they were shit compared to our 8800s on any shader intensive game (any game in the last couple of years). Tom's hardware chart really has a poor selection of game benchmarks as most of them are fairly CPU dependant and not really pushing shaders at all.