PC Upgrading Discussion

Damian Henderson · Mar 6, 2009

Mike Hill said:
ok, so looking into things so far (and already having to change the budget - factoring in the sale of the old processor and Mobo on Ebay!) the spec I am looking at is as follows:

AMD Phenom X4 9650 2.3GHz Socket AM2+ 2MB L3 Cache £116.07
Sapphire PURE CrossFireX PC-AM2RX780 770 Socket AM2+ 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard £79.42
OCZ 4GB (2X2gb) ddr2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Platinum Memory CL5 £58.87
Sapphire HD 4830 1GB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card £104.99
Antec TruePower Trio 650W PSU - With 3x 12v Rails and 120mm Fan £75.84

All totalling £435.19 (ouch! Already £90 over budget )

I thought I would probably need to beef up the PSU, so that it would be able to cope with things like a second GPU in the future - would this kind of size seem about right?

Anyway, any comments on the spec, or suggested improvements?

Not sure this is really a very good budget build for that price.

Let me show you a build for £400 max, give me a minute because I allready have most of the parts I put together for a friend the other day.

Damian Henderson · Mar 6, 2009

I would go for the Intel route simply because the cpu's are faster and use less power then AMD's cpu's, as well they have better price / performance now to.

I would also stick to 800mhz memory because you won't notice the speed difference to 1066mhz, i've tested it a few times and it's not something you will really notice.

I have not chosen an SLI / Crossfire mobo on the first build because you can get a GPU over 3 times faster then that 4830 and still cost the same price as the system you was looking at getting as well as have a faster / more future proof system overall...but have given you the options at the bottom.

Also not chosen quad to keep the price down, but you can upgrade to one if neeeded in future.

Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 2.5GHz

£57.42

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148715

_______________________________________________________________________________

Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L iP31 ( sorry forgot about the 4gb max ram thing! )

£52.87

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148802

_______________________________________________________________________________

OCZ 4GB DDR2 800Mhz/PC2-6400 GOLD XTC

£42.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148036

_______________________________________________________________________________

Zotac GTX260 AMP2! Edition 896MB DDR3 PhysX "216 core"

£226.19

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155581

= £378

A much faster gaming setup then the other one and at a much cheaper price. ( No need for PSU right now either )

Now if you really want to add another GPU in future here is a SLI mobo and a very good video card ( again faster then the 4830) to go for while still keeping the money under £400 :worship:

Asus P5N-D 750i

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142585

Zotac 9800GTX+

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158713

And then add a new PSU if you ever need to add another 9800GTX+

There's many options you can open, you could even for for a quad and still have a very good system even with it bumping up your price range.

Damian Henderson · Mar 6, 2009

Or

C2D E7400!

£99.94

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152177

Asus P5N-D 750i

£92.74

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142585

Zotac 9800GTX+

£114.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158713

OCZ 4GB DDR2 800Mhz/PC2-6400 GOLD XTC

£42.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148036

=

£350

Really good for that money! :chuck:

But I think I done enough builds for you for now

Mike Hill · Mar 6, 2009

hmmm, ok. The bit i dont really understand is with the first option, is that going to give me much better performance from the processor and Mobo than I have already got? As I'm running a dual core AMD chip and a single GPU slot motherboard anyway, it would seem that I would gain much of the extra power by just going and getting the Zotac GTX260 and sticking that in my current setup? I appreciate that there are speed differences in accessing memory etc from the new set up, but does that justify the price?

This is where I get lost, as I dont have a full understanding to know which parts go best with which.

Either way, I am very appreciative of your efforts on this for me. Much more reading up to do methinks!

Damian Henderson · Mar 6, 2009

Mike Hill said:
hmmm, ok. The bit i dont really understand is with the first option, is that going to give me much better performance from the processor and Mobo than I have already got? As I'm running a dual core AMD chip and a single GPU slot motherboard anyway, it would seem that I would gain much of the extra power by just going and getting the Zotac GTX260 and sticking that in my current setup? I appreciate that there are speed differences in accessing memory etc from the new set up, but does that justify the price?

This is where I get lost, as I dont have a full understanding to know which parts go best with which.

Either way, I am very appreciative of your efforts on this for me. Much more reading up to do methinks!

Your right, to the E5200, you won't notice that much of a speed bump, main reason was because of the option of being able to upgrade to quad in the future because of the 775 socket. Am just a bit mad when I got on a hunt for a system, don't think of some things sometimes ( forget what system you currenty have while searching :worship: )

Second system on second post with the E7400 and Asus will be quite a bit faster, and faster then the phenom setup and around same price, but gives you option to go with quad in the future.

Mike Hill · Mar 6, 2009

ok. I think I am likely to want to go quad core at the outset, and have the option to add a second GPU at another time. Based onthat, you think that my current PSU will cope for the time being (until the second GPU is funded)?

Damian Henderson · Mar 6, 2009

If it's in good working order it will be 100% fine.

Mike Hill · Mar 6, 2009

yeh it should be, its only about 6 months old, and I've not had any problems with it that I am aware of!

Damian Henderson · Mar 6, 2009

Matt.

Here's a review that might help you, has the X4 9650 and E7200 ( lower clocked model of the E7400 )

http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/AMD_Phenom_X4_9650/551-93363-635-5.html

Damian Henderson · Mar 6, 2009

Also if you have a look here you can sort of judge the performance gap from your old X2 cpu, ( it has the X2 6000+ AM2 on there which is a bit faster then your X2 4200+ 939 )
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2duo-e7200_6.html#sect0

The E7400 would perform close to the E8200.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148933

Mike Hill · Mar 9, 2009

well a definate purchase is now on the cards. I got Vista 64 Ultimate the other day (with the intention of holding off on the upgrade until I had the new kit to go with it) but patience got the better of me!

I have now installed vista and got it running, but I am having some problems with the GPU/motherboard (old setup). Basically, the video output seems to cut out any time I try to run anything even remotely likely to stress the GPU (even Nvidia's own system applications). I'm starting to think that I may need to update BIOS or mobo drivers, but cannot find anything on the ASrock site for a Vista 64 driver for the motherboard.

Everything else appears to be working ok, Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this problem (temporarily until I can get the new hardware - which I still havent decided on the config for yet!)

Just for reference -

Mobo = Asrock 939s56-m
GPU = Nvidia 8600GT

Mike Hill · Mar 9, 2009

just had an email back from ASrock tech support confirming that the motherboard is not Vista compliant, and that there are no drivers available. Darn it. Will have to wait now until i can get the bits together. Good job i have the laptop to work from in the meantime!

Damian Henderson · Mar 9, 2009

Oh Damn.

Good luck!

Matt Alpeter · Mar 9, 2009

like Lee, i didn't read much of this so excuse me if i missed something important lol. just throwing in my 2 cents.... i'm using an "unsupported" ASUS AM2 motherboard (it's the first generation Crosshair) along with an AMD Phenom II 940. The motherboard is only AM2 so it can't take advantage of the full power of the processor, but it works just fine, and i can overclock the hell out of that chip. so, keep in mind you don't really need AM2+ for the P2 and steer WAY clear of the X3 Phenoms.

also, if anyone has any need for an X2 6400+ (socket AM2) i've got one that i'll sell for dirt cheap

Mike Hill · Mar 12, 2009

Further questions for you all! I have been looking around to see if I can find any other stuff that looks good for a new build and have come up with a couple of possibilities, which I have checked out through the Lambdatek site (i probably wouldnt buy from there, as I know I can get most of the stuff cheaper from ebuyer or elsewhere) and as was previously mentioned, the Intel setup comes out a bit cheaper all round. The 2 setups I have in mind are:

Intel - http://www.lambda-tek.com/computing/pcdesigner.pl?cart=%0ACPU%091597065%091%0AMOTHERBOARD%09B92746%091%0AGRAPHICSCARD%09B150748%091%0AMEMORY%09B83769%092%0A

AMD - http://www.lambda-tek.com/computing...090 1 MEMORY B83769 2 GRAPHICSCARD B208227 1

However, I have read that to be able to power these newer GPU cards, you need to have a 6 pin power connector to go to the card directly. Is this true, or do you only need it for a dual card setup? If so, I dont think my current power supply is up to the job. I currently have one of these (http://www.levicom.de/xilence/en/xp480.(12)r.htm), but I dont actually know what this 6 pin connector looks like and I think I may have a slightly older model that would not have this connector on it. Can anyone advise whether I will need to get a new PSU as well?

Jarrod Crossley · Mar 12, 2009

Yes and no about power to the GFX card. It is true you need a six pin connector and on some a eight pin. But (theres always a but) it is adviced that the each card is given it own supply line from the PSU ranther than split off from another power source e.g same power line powers a HDD then GFX card.

As stated it is and Advicement, but to be hosest it would be one I would adapt so if you are unable to do so with your current PSU I would look at purchasing a new one.

Six pin / Eight pin plug:

Mike Hill · Mar 12, 2009

Thanks for that Jarrod, I have now checked the existing PSU and found that it does have one of those connectors. Therefore I hopefully will not need to get a new PSU just yet - so long as all the other stuff will run from 480W

Damian Henderson · Mar 12, 2009

Mike, both those systems in your post look very good.

Both will do you very good,The Intel cpu is faster at gaming and will comsume less power and produce less heat.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...00-versus-Q6600-and-Phenom-X4/Reviews/?page=2

But the 4850 is a little faster then the 9800GT, so they are evenly balanced.

For the power connecter, you can use Molex to 6 pin PCi-e for the cards fine.

Edit:

Just checked your PSU and it says it's got a PCi-E 6 Pin power cable, so you will be good.

Mike Hill · Mar 12, 2009

Damian Dainhumain said:
Mike, both those systems in your post look very good.

Both will do you very good,The Intel cpu is faster at gaming and will comsume less power and produce less heat.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...00-versus-Q6600-and-Phenom-X4/Reviews/?page=2

But the 4850 is a little faster then the 9800GT, so they are evenly balanced.

For the power connecter, you can use Molex to 6 pin PCi-e for the cards fine.

Edit:

Just checked your PSU and it says it's got a PCi-E 6 Pin power cable, so you will be good.

Damian,

thanks for your help on this, I managed to find the correct power line from the PSU so I think that is all good. The likelihood is that I will be going with the Intel setup, unless anything better comes up before I get paid and place my orders on 20th! Good to know that I am looking at a setup that kinda makes sense for the money i'm gonna spend.

I'll let you know how it goes when I get the gear!

Cheers again :beer:

carver · Mar 13, 2009

Newb questions for a new setup and real track practice

Hey guys, thanks for taking my question(s).
I'm completely green at sims, so any input welcome.
I'm setting up a new high end computer system for financial trading computer work and would like it
to also be optimized for providing good video/sound/action for a realistic driving sim.
My primary use for the sim will be for actual track practice for when I take my car out for open track days/DE etc.
So I'd like to setup the computer and use the software that most closely represents the western U.S. tracks incl. Ca.,Nv.,Ut.,Or.,Wa.,Nm.,Az.
ie. Willow Springs, Buttonwillow, Laguna, Thunderhill, Miller, Vegas, Cal. Spdway etc. etc.
I've done some searching, but haven't seen a question like this.
So, in no particular order:
-what computer specs would you rec. ie. proc./RAM/Vid./Hd. etc.?
-which vid/snd card is the best for video/audio/music if feeding into a HDMI HD monitior and 5.1 surround system?
-which software would you rec. for realism/practice and the tracks on the west coast? (I've heard GTR2 but don't know)
-which wheel setup do you think is most realistic? G25 or other?
-any other points or comments to help make the system more realistic for actual track time?

Thanks much, and hope this might also help someone else looking to set up a sim/practice environment