Time to upgrade, or bin?

[geekyadz]

Exact specs at the moment are not fully remembered, but this is what I can:

Gigabyte GA-EP43C-DS3 motherboard
Intel Dual-Core E2188 (2.00ghz) processor
2gb Kingston (personal "yuk!") 800Mhz (another "Yuk!") DDR3 (about the only thing right!) memory
2 HDD but cant remember size (one is one TB, cant remember the other)
Nvidia GT9600 1GB (or something along those lines)

Anyway!

Me and my mate are looking at upgrading our systems. Whilst mine is "fairly easy" to sort out, his gets a little bit harder.

I know the first thing youre gonna recommend: ditch the DDR3 800mhz memory and get something more like 1333mhz (ie the PNY stuff I mentioned about in my computer's thread). Thats about as easy as it gets;

The processor is getting on a bit now. 2.0 Ghz was good in its day but I think its time to upgrade that. Simple: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-281-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567

However:

Im also thinking that it may also be time for a new board, which unfortunately mean new processor.

The board I think he would be happier with is this: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3759#sp (thats the only one I can find for SLI support. The rest say Crossfire which I believe is ATi's equlivent)

And something like an i7 2600.

Just wanted to know if anyone has any other thoughts/suggestions. Money is a bit tight really and whilst my mate would love a computer thats quicker than mine (hasnt been that way for a little while teehee) I dont think that the option I have (ie the motherboard/processor) is very affordable for about 3 months  

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

The first thing is what reason do you have for upgrading ? If it is just because you want the latest and greatest then fine especially when you throw in a bit of "bragging power". On the other hand I would have thought that your system would still run anything thrown at it within reason. If it is games we are talking about then maybe just a new GPU would have the necessary power to make the difference.

[geekyadz]

Not sure really. I do know his system is between min and recommended specs for COD4:MW (CPU failing there, as well as his memory which I have told him when I found out about what memory he has, though the amount of memory is a "pass")

I do have a slight feeling he will just go for the memory and |CPU upgrade, rather than doing the whole "shabang". I will try to see him later (probably tonight so dont wait up ) and find out what the (exact) plan is.

[Dark Mantis]

That's the thing, if he is wanting to use it mainly for games most modern games are predominantly graphics driven and rely on the GPU more than the processor. So a heavy duty graphics card and some new memory would probably make one big difference to his gaming.

[oggmonster]

Yeah spend the money on the graphics card. I wouldn't bother upgrading cpu and memory as the money you spend wont give you much performance (in games) back.
Having a quick scout around google and that board seems to clock fairly wellish. The E2xxx series overclock really well. 3ghz+ shouldn't be a problem, if you're feeling really adventurous then possibly overclock the memory too.

[geekyadz]

Right ok slight mix up on the graphics card: hes got a 9400GT. Cheap suggestions?

[Dark Mantis]

Well there are plenty of second hand 4xx series cards around now if he wants to stay with nVidia. Really depends on his budget.

[geekyadz]

Quote: "Im not bothered whether its ATi or Nvidia: I just want something thats better than what I currently have if the 9400GT is not good"

Personally Im not sure about second hand.

Realistically, I think he is going to be wanting something like this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-025-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

but if he wanted to get a Nvidia then realistically hes looking at 450 series which is only just out of budget (brand new)

[Dark Mantis]

That is a nice card for the money and fairly powerful. I was using a 4890 until recently and I found that performed fine on all my games but I recently upgraded to a 6970 as I wanted to use DX11. Personally I prefer the AMD Radeons myself as the nVidia cards seem to have more issues with drivers etc.

[geekyadz]

And I have just found out he has suffered with a BSOD under XP whilst I havent seen him, so I might just treat him to some new memory before I go away for a week. Hes just reformed it to Windows 7 but I dont think that will help him

PS: No I dont know the error code and I dont think he does either

[Dark Mantis]

Well without more details it could be litterally anything that caused the BSOD. If you think the memory is not so good anyway then it might be a good idea to replace it then.

[geekyadz]

Well he has also told me that it is meant to be Kingston 800Mhz 2gb RAM but its being detected as 667Mhz (which from my experience of Kingston RAM is very familiar and was causing me major problems when playing Soldier Of Fortune 1 - not exactly a game that requires a lot of "grunt". I would test the memory in my system to rule out his system, but since my system hasnt got DRR3 slots then theres no real way of making sure that this is the cause)

However as I said I will try to purchase this for him: http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/pny-pc3-10660-ddr3-1333-dimm-ram-memory-module-2gb-07929926-pdt.html though he will have to wait until the end of the week.

[Dark Mantis]

Buying it from there is much more expensive . Try looking here for good quality memory that will be delivered within a day or two free.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listmodule/DDR3/list.html

Probably somewhere near half the price.

[geekyadz]

Buying it from there is much more expensive . Try looking here for good quality memory that will be delivered within a day or two free.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listmodule/DDR3/list.html

Probably somewhere near half the price.

Hmm: three sticks of memory I just chose and its saying that all of them are "uncompatible" when the motherboard has DDR3 slots: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2885#sp

Further investigation into why they think its "uncompatible" reveals that they think that the board only has DDR2 slots, not DDR2 and DDR3.

Sure, the memory may be cheaper but by the time I have added "next day delivery" then it works to be an "Estimated Total £20.38" - that is on the cheapest stick of 2G DDR3: http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT25664BA1339

[Dark Mantis]

Actually if you go onto their website and use their memory locator by putting in your motherboar details etc it will tell you exactly what is compatible.

By the way I never use the express delivery service  just the free one and they usually arrive within two days.