PC Upgrade Talk

JoseTech · 08-18-2011, 07:09 AM

PC Upgrade Talk with Experts, RAM, CPU, Graphics Card, ETC...?

Hi People

I will like this, from a professional point of view.

I have a computer, the specs are as follow:
Ram: 2048 MB of DDR2 800 MHz (1GB each Stick)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20 GHz (Socket 775 LGA)
Graphics Card: Gigabyte 9800GT 512MB
Power Supply: 430W (Forgot the Brand but it was a good Brand)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
Case: Average Case
Room Temperature: Cold
OS: Win 7 64bit
Hard-drive: 160 GB
Monitor: 22" 1920x1080

So now the questions.

1.I want to upgrade my computer but I don't know if to upgrade the Ram, CPU, g card , motherboard, power supply, more fans etc.
Reason I want to upgrade is because:

My computer is running slower than it used to, which is totally acceptable.

I'm low in a budget so I can only upgrade one thing at time.

I do lots of PC Gaming (CSS, CS, COD Series, Battlefield Series, Portal, Crysis, UT3 ++)
But I Don't know why But my CS:S lags from time to time, My fps would be 200+ constant then from no where they would drop to 100,10,30,100,40, you get it)
I also get FPS or something that Lag spikes my game every couple of seconds. (Could this be temperature? I don't think so.

I also do lots of Photoshop and Image Editing.

2. RAM

Can I buy 4GB (2x2) of This Ram Kingston Technology Company - Memory Search - Partsinfo and Install it with my 2 GB I already have to add up to 6 GB or is it better to remove The 2GB I have and let the New 4GB??

3. Would a new HDD Do any better? Why?

4. CPU upgrade would massive increase my overall speed or Ram would do it better? Why? Which CPU should I get for the money?

5. New Power Supply before buying anything else? Why?

6. Maybe All I need is a new Graphics Card? If so, which one?? (around $150 and Why)

7. How many Fans can I have on my computer accordingly with my Motherboard?

Hope anyone can help me out here, thanks!

RockmasteR · 08-18-2011, 07:26 AM

Hello and welcome to TSF,

Quote:

If you want to upgrade your PC to get a better performance, but you don't know where to start, this will give you a better idea what to do, to get the best performance from your PC, depending on what you pay of course.

I'll start with the already said phrase:
performance doesn't come cheap everything has its price, and you will get what you pay for
Lots of PC players are confused today on what to upgrade first to get more performance in games.
is it the CPU, Video Card, or maybe RAM?
Let's start with the Video card as it is the most important part in a PC when it comes to performance.Why? Well today's games needs a powerful Video Card to be able to handle the graphics used, from Shaders to advanced Shadows, Bloom, Post Processing, etc...
First of all, as I said before, the Video Memory in the Video Card is not the 1rst thing to look at, it should be the last really.
Video Ram is important for 2 things:
- Handle a large Resolution (not only Memory dependent)
- Handle a large textures (you can set the textures to very high with 1 Gig Video Ram)
instead, look at the GPU Core and the Memory Core as it is more important
(refer to the Video Card Section)
CPU:
Cpu is also important in games, don't forget that it's the PC brain. nowadays a Dual Core could do well for the casual gamer, but if you are a heavy gamer that like to play games on high settings, a Core 2 Duo E7200 and above is recommended, and if you can go with the new Core i series it'll be better, but the 2 Cores will do for now for most games and not all games of course.
CPU will help reduce game stuttering, also it helps increasing frames per second as well.
RAM:
This is the cheapest PC part that you can upgrade any time you need,
but as I said before, RAM won't increase your fps directly, but will help keep it steady (by reducing stuttering, freezes).
So what's the upgrade Order?
It depends, if you have a Dual Core CPU and a slow video Card, just get a new video card (refer to the video card section to know how to select a good video card) for now and then after a while start thinking of upgrading your CPU, also getting some RAM won't do harm as it is cheap.

You can find my thread here:
All you need to know to play the latest games on a Low End PC [updated:07/02/2011]

it has useful information on the CPU and Video Card

Johnny1982 · 08-18-2011, 09:23 AM

5. New Power Supply before buying anything else? Why?

We recommend a minimum of 550w 80+ certified PSU for any PCI-E GPU. For a 9800gt you'd need at least a good quality 650w PSU, 430w is not going to cut it at all. The PSU is the heart of your PC, if it fails, it can and most probably will take down other components inc your motherboard, hdd's, graphics cards etc, etc. That would be your very first upgrade. Then I'd say go for a better graphics card and finally a CPU upgrade that your motherboard can accept.

My fps would be 200+ constant then from no where they would drop to 100,10,30,100,40: This could be attributed to overheating for either the GPU or CPU or more likely your PSU not supplying enough current to the graphics card and in essence damaging the card by making it strain.

6. Maybe All I need is a new Graphics Card? If so, which one?? (around $150 and Why) I would not upgrade your graphics card before you have a decent PSU in your case, so cannot recommend any card there, before we see what PSU you plan to get. Please post planned PSU purchase so we can assess and confirm if the PSU is good or not, DON'T just buy a PSU because it's cheap, that's a recipe for disaster for your whole PC.

LIKE I SAID BEFORE UPGRADE YOUR POWER SUPPLY FIRST AND FOREMOST, OTHERWISE YOUR 430w PSU CAN DAMAGE YOUR PC COMPLETELY, AS IT'S NOT UP TO THE JOB AT HAND. VERY IMPORTANT!!!

JoseTech · 08-20-2011, 10:17 PM

Thank You all!
Would it be just better for me to save up and buy a brand new computer?
Pros and Cons, thanks!

PS: Whats a better Graphics card than my 9800gt that is also cheap and much better in performance? Thanks!

Johnny1982 · 08-21-2011, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoseTech

Thank You all!
Would it be just better for me to save up and buy a brand new computer?
Pros and Cons, thanks!

PS: Whats a better Graphics card than my 9800gt that is also cheap and much better in performance? Thanks!

You don't necessarily have to get a new PC to get better frame rates. Your mobo is good, if you throw in a good CPU like an E7500 or E8500 and a better graphics card you will be able to play most games easily on quite high settings. Until recently when lightning took out my last PC I was running a E2160 oc'ed to 2,70ghz and an ATI HD4870 1gb card and I could play most games on med-high at 1920x1200. If you plan to buy a pre-built system like Dell, Acer etc, be careful as those companies are notorious for putting terrible PSU's in their machines.
Have a look at our Building Sticky to get a sense of what the good components are if you want to go the whole PC route. http://www.techsupportforum.com/foru...ly-448272.html

Your new graphics card will depend on your new PSU as well as your budget.

majunix · 08-23-2011, 01:52 PM

Yeah, the e8500 has the same TDP as your current CPU, so your current PSU and MB should support it. Next upgrade I would say would be to a GeForce GTS 450, (TDP of 106watt vs the 9800gt with TDP of 105watt). That's probably the best value for the money, no need to replace your current PSU and you know your money is going toward pure performance components.

Wrench97 · 08-23-2011, 04:12 PM

A 430w PSU that's a couple of years old in a gaming rig would be my first upgrade.

Johnny1982 · 08-23-2011, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrench97

A 430w PSU that's a couple of years old in a gaming rig would be my first upgrade.

^^^^Ditto, 430w is not enough for any PCI-E graphics card. That was the first problem I pointed out in post #3. Don't skimp on your PSU, you could regret it when it blows your new graphics card.

Johnny1982 · 08-23-2011, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by majunix

no need to replace your current PSU and you know your money is going toward pure performance components.

Your PSU is the most important part of your PC and if you look at the min requirements, it would read that the graphics card requires a 450w MINIMUM PSU the OP only has a 430w unit. We add extra to that to take into account other components and degradation of the PSU, which is already a couple of years old.

JoseTech · 08-25-2011, 01:03 AM

Thanks To all of you replay!!!!!!
You have really reallyyy Helped a lot!!!
Ok so First I'm getting a new PSU. 650W ok??
Lets say I have it already.. What graphics card then and CPU? Thanks
GeForce GTS 450 and a E7500 or E8500

JoseTech · 08-25-2011, 01:31 AM

I was reading and the GTS 250 Looks like a very good Graphics card and it needs a 400 w psu, so I was thinking If I could buy it before buying the PSU, what do you guys think?

GeForce GTS 450

How much better is this card compared to my 9800gt?

McNinja · 08-25-2011, 02:57 AM

The GTS 450 is close to same perofrmance as a GTX 260 being about double the performance as a 9800 GT. The GTX 260 has 192 cores with the 9800 GT being 112 cores. You need to also account for the better architecture and Dx 11.

ALso forget buying a new dual core and go for new motherboard and RAM. Go for a AMD setup. Something like this;

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDX945WFGMBOX
$110

G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSR
$49

GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
$100

$259 for a pretty fast desktop. Upgrade your PSU and graphics card and its basically a new PC.

Johnny1982 · 08-25-2011, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoseTech

I was reading and the GTS 250 Looks like a very good Graphics card and it needs a 400 w psu, so I was thinking If I could buy it before buying the PSU, what do you guys think?

GeForce GTS 450

How much better is this card compared to my 9800gt?

Judging by this comparison GeForce 9800 GT 1GB vs GeForce GTS 450 1GB – Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare I'd say the GTS450 would not see major benefits in games over the 9800gt. I'd opt for the GTX460 1gb version if you can afford it, but most importantly you still need to upgrade your PSU regardless of what GPU you decide to go for.

JoseTech · 08-26-2011, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McNinja

The GTS 450 is close to same perofrmance as a GTX 260 being about double the performance as a 9800 GT. The GTX 260 has 192 cores with the 9800 GT being 112 cores. You need to also account for the better architecture and Dx 11.

ALso forget buying a new dual core and go for new motherboard and RAM. Go for a AMD setup. Something like this;

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDX945WFGMBOX
$110

G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSR
$49

GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
$100

$259 for a pretty fast desktop. Upgrade your PSU and graphics card and its basically a new PC.

Thanks!!! I will do that!!!!
Thank you all for the help, really helped :)

1 quick question...

Computer Science in University or Politech? why?

McNinja · 08-29-2011, 12:15 AM

I'll be going into Computer Engineering at my local college. Its a 3 year course and I come out with a advanced diploma.

Computer Engineering Technology - Computing Science - Algonquin College

I'm not sure what politech is but University is what I'm guessing is the more theoretical of the two. My course involves a lot of programming and math (5 hours of class a week) and I start September 6th. I could not give you a good answer based on my lack of experience with post secondary school. Sorry about that.