Anyways, with electronics being relatively expensive in NZ coupled with the recent weakness of the USD has provided me with the opportunity (see thread title) to perform a wee upgrade to my PC ahead of the now imminent release of D3.
I did put my PC together about 1 1/2 years ago and i did some research for that then but I haven't kept up with the latest and greatest nor do i actually know very much about hardware in a technical sense.
my PC is comprised of:
- Lite-On iHAS-324 Dual Layer SATA DVD Writer
- Raidmax Elite 208B ATX Tower Case, 500w ATX2.0 PSU
- 500Gb Western Digital WD5001AALS Caviar Black SATA2 Hard Drive
- 2GB A-Data DDR3-1333 Memory Module x2
- Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H Motherboard (AM3)
- AMD Phenom II X2 555 CPU (AM3), Black Edition
- Gigabyte GV-N240D5-512I PCIE Video Card, 512MB DDR5
So.... what can I do? Obviously in it's current state I'll be able to handle D3 fine but I'd like to take advantage of the situation.
So.... what upgrades do you recommend?
I'm looking to spend anywhere between $300-$500 USD.
Any advice is welcome.
|||Personally, I'd bump up the RAM to at least 4GB and probably look at newer video cards to see if there is a significant improvement to be had. Those are the first places I look when thinking about general performance upgrades. They tend to have the most tangible effect. Also, if you're not already doing so, run it with a 64bit OS if you can.Maybe look into something like this if you've got the space for it. Not essential but handy to have, especially when people can't find the cable to their digital camera.
Just my 2 cents.|||I do have 2x the 2gb ram sticks for a total of 4gb.
I'm not using a 64bit OS (win7 32bit), will that make a difference? what is the 64bit making use of? (mind my ignorance).
thanks for your advice.
How about the CPU or MB?|||Let me share some thoughts:
Case: As cheap as we can find that still has good reviews.
CPU: AMD, since we're on a tight budget. Also, I wouldn't go less than three cores. More than that is nice, but subject to diminishing returns.
MB: In the value category, I like ASRock. They tend to get good ratings and yet always have low prices.
PSU: Don't skimp here. A gaming system with a decent GPU will draw about 300W, so we'll look for a 400W PSU, since it's not good to run them close to their max.
RAM: 4 GB is good, but RAM is so dirt cheap right now, you can often double it for just a few dollars more. We'll try to fit in 8 GB if we can.
GPU: With the current generation of cards, I'm an ATI fan all the way. I have some experience with the 6870 in particular, which is a phenomenal card for the price, so I gravitate towards that somewhat.
DVD: I always go LITE-ON. Can't beat 'em for under $20 (Not sure you could beat them for over $20 either!)
HDD: Whatever we have left. This is another area where just $5-10 more can double your space, but we're on a tight budget, so we'll have to manage.
Here's a complete build I just whipped up:
Case: XigmaTek ASGARD II - $30 (Sale)
PSU: Antec EarthWatts 380W - $45 (Sale)
MB: ASRock AM3 - $60
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720 (2.8 GHz) - $75
RAM: Kingston HyperX 8GB DDR3 1600 - $49 (Sale)
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 - $175
HDD: WDD Caviar Blue 500 GB - $43
DVD: LITE-ON DVD Burner - $19
Total Price: $496
The sales may change from day to day, but I bet we could squeeze out replacements if that becomes an issue.
EDIT:
And just to prove a point, here's a 1 TB Seagate HDD or a 1 TB Samsung HDD for only $12 more than the 500 GB model I fit into the budget. o_O
RE-EDIT
Other options:
If the RAM deal expires, I would recommend this 8 GB A-Data kit for $55. A-Data has always been good to me.
You can downgrade the Sapphire 6870 to a PowerColor 6850 to save $20 (and if you get the current mail-in rebate on it, that's $15 more in your pocket).|||Quote:
I do have 2x the 2gb ram sticks for a total of 4gb.
I'm not using a 64bit OS (win7 32bit), will that make a difference? what is the 64bit making use of? (mind my ignorance).
thanks for your advice.
How about the CPU or MB?
Ah, my bad. Read that as two sticks totaling 2GB.
Anyway, main difference between 32bit and 64bit is how much RAM it will see. 32bit will only see around 3.5GB on average. 64bit can theoretically go all the way to 16 exabytes, which is WAY beyond what is commercially possible right now.
Another difference that I think may be Win7 specific and not quite as well known is hardware reserved memory. Open the resource monitor and hit the memory tab. (You can access the resource monitor from the task manager under the performance tab.) To summarize, 64 bit Win7 is better at handling hardware reserved memory than 32 bit. On my system, 32 bit Win7 was using as much as 1.5 GB as hardware reserved. Once I upgraded to 64 bit, it uses 1 MB. Made a very big difference in performance.
As far as the CPU is concerned, I generally just get a new computer if I need to upgrade that. A few hundred megahertz isn't that noticeable, and the price difference to get the latest and greatest makes it less than appealing to me.
Not sure what you mean by "the MB". If you mean the hard drive, I'd say you're fine unless you are running out of space or your current one is showing signs of hardware failure. I suppose you could get another one or two and set up a RAID, but that's pretty much overkill for most people.|||Do they have a Fry's?
Nope
Brick and mortar locations are the best.|||@Saro: nice post, thanks for sharing all the info and links
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