• Need help upgrading
    7 replies, posted
I need some advice on upgrading my computer. I'm looking to completely overhaul my computer that I bought in 2009 as a gaming computer, I don't really want to do this all at once, I wanted to start with a new graphics card, but I'm aware that just slotting in a shiny new graphics card isn't always a good idea as it might not be compatible with other components. I'm on a bit of a limited budget, I can probably spare £100-200 a month for new components, I've provided my specs [URL="http://tinypic.com/r/spx9g9/5"]here.[/URL]
New Graphics cars = GTX 660, I suggest GTX 660 TI, for it over clocks way better, I wouldn't go with anything better than that ( unnecessary) . Also I would suggest to upgrade you ram...
[QUOTE=bmatchett;41985340]New Graphics cars = GTX 660, I suggest GTX 660 TI, for it over clocks way better, I wouldn't go with anything better than that ( unnecessary) . Also I would suggest to upgrade you ram...[/QUOTE] The 660 is a poor choice, as you can get better video cards for the same price. I would recommend Gigabyte's 7870 over the 660 ti. If you look at benchmarks, the 660 ti and 7870 beat each other in different games and the 7870 wins in OpenCL (meaning one is not necessarily flat out better than the other). Gigabyte's, however, is overclocked to 1100 MHz making it more powerful than the 7870 GHz edition; therefore, it's more powerful than your average 7870. The other thing you are getting is Gigabyte's three-fan Windforce (best air cooling in existance) cooling which will allow you to overclock beyond the capacity of a 660 ti with one or two fans (Gigabyte does have a 660 ti with windforce cooling, however, it only has two fans as opposed to three). If you do side with the 660 Ti, I recommend you buy Gigabyte's. Also everything above a 660 ti is not unnecessary. This being said, I recommend you upgrade your processor first. You can get a Haswell processor with integrated HD 4600 graphics and it will outperform your current video card which you can sell immediately. My recommendation is as follows: [url]http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/12oci[/url] The drawback is that it's much more expensive. It may or may not give you the best performance results immediately (I can't be sure because that processor might bottleneck so badly that a new graphics card doesn't help). I also have no idea what RAM that is since speccy isn't showing what it normally shows. Do you know if it's DDR3 and what speed? If it isn't DDR3, more RAM will have to be purchased for compatibility purposes. I'd also recommend upgrading that anyway, after you upgrade your processor since you only have 3 GB.
[QUOTE=flayne;41986011]The 660 is a poor choice, as you can get better video cards for the same price. I would recommend Gigabyte's 7870 over the 660 ti. If you look at benchmarks, the 660 ti and 7870 beat each other in different games and the 7870 wins in OpenCL (meaning one is not necessarily flat out better than the other). Gigabyte's, however, is overclocked to 1100 MHz making it more powerful than the 7870 GHz edition; therefore, it's more powerful than your average 7870. The other thing you are getting is Gigabyte's three-fan Windforce (best air cooling in existance) cooling which will allow you to overclock beyond the capacity of a 660 ti with one or two fans (Gigabyte does have a 660 ti with windforce cooling, however, it only has two fans as opposed to three). If you do side with the 660 Ti, I recommend you buy Gigabyte's. Also everything above a 660 ti is not unnecessary. This being said, I recommend you upgrade your processor first. You can get a Haswell processor with integrated HD 4600 graphics and it will outperform your current video card which you can sell immediately. My recommendation is as follows: [url]http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/12oci[/url] The drawback is that it's much more expensive. It may or may not give you the best performance results immediately (I can't be sure because that processor might bottleneck so badly that a new graphics card doesn't help). I also have no idea what RAM that is since speccy isn't showing what it normally shows. Do you know if it's DDR3 and what speed? If it isn't DDR3, more RAM will have to be purchased for compatibility purposes. I'd also recommend upgrading that anyway, after you upgrade your processor since you only have 3 GB.[/QUOTE] I highly doubt it's DDR3 since it's a Packard Bell computer from 2009 and even then the specs back then seem to be pretty average.
I know it isn't DDR3, but have no clue what speed it is. Would it be better getting the integrated processor/graphics card you mentioned, or upgrading to a decent processor with ram this month and then thinking about getting a decent graphics card later?
[QUOTE=Frstsg;41986290]I know it isn't DDR3, but have no clue what speed it is. Would it be better getting the integrated processor/graphics card you mentioned, or upgrading to a decent processor with ram this month and then thinking about getting a decent graphics card later?[/QUOTE] I would go with the 4670k and new RAM (DDR2 will not work on z87 motherboards), and get a graphics card later. I can't really no how much performance increase you will get either way, but if you get the new processor you won't have any parts bottlenecking you. My recommendation is to buy this: [url]http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1wTsc[/url] You can also save money if you aren't going to overclock and buy this: [url]http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1wTu7[/url] It will get you the same performance, but you can't overclock it for more performance.
Doesn't the 4670k have a 1150 socket? Will I not have to upgrade my motherboard as well?
[QUOTE=Frstsg;42046419]Doesn't the 4670k have a 1150 socket? Will I not have to upgrade my motherboard as well?[/QUOTE] That's why I included the motherboard in the build. Trust me you aren't getting anything but shit with that socket, and there's no point replacing shit with shinier shit.
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