PC Upgrade question?

[cocobee]

For a birthday present, I'm getting the new Geforce 6800 GT video card. i figured since i was getting this card, i might as well upgrade my PC. I'd just like to hear other people takes on what I should get.

I know i'm getting:
geforce 6800 GT 256
dvd burner

Now-I'm thinking about upgrading to an AMD 64 bit processor, but i really don't know too much

Knowing this--what would be the ideal ugrade and where can i get it for a decent price?
I'm looking at maybe getting a new processor, motherboard and RAM

I'm keeping my 80 gig HD, CDRW.

Right now I have a
AMD 2100 1.8
Geforce TI 4600
512 DDR RAM


I'd like to hear people's opinion, since I'm not a computer wiz by any stretch. Thanks fellas

[Tuomas]

well if you have the money go for it

this is what I have:
Intel P (smth) 533/133mhz
320mb memory
Geforce 5200 128mb

and I don't have the money to buy nothing more

[Guest]

With a 6800 you need at least a 3ghz cpu, you will create a bottleneck with anything slower. Go all out and get a P4 3.6E or perhaps a 64bit AMD3800+. You will definetly have to upgrade your PSU to atleast 450w, another 512mb ram wouldnt go a miss either.

If you really serious about an upgrade, just wait awhile until PCI E hits the main retailers. Wait until the New Year and you will get a faster machine, cheaper.

[cocobee]

Thanks for the replies: But I was really asking was where and what I should get?

Processor:?
Motherboard:?
RAM:?

with my
Geforce 6800 GT

Im really a computer idiot? Sorry if this seems too elementary for you. But, I really don't know where to start.

[Guest]

ER, your going to have to upgrade everything if you plan on buying a 6800.

MOTHERBOARD & RAM
PCI Express is about to replace AGP standard. The 6800 will perform better with it as its twice as fast as AGP x8. But if your looking to save cash you can get away without upgrading it, for now. But once you have got the AGP version of 6800 your stuck with it, so no pcie for you! Obviously if you upgrade your mobo its very likely that your going to need new Ram as well, thus adding another £150 to the cost!
DO NOT add any more Ram to your system unless you plan on upgrading the Mobo simultaneously, otherwise your just wasteing your
cash. This only apply's if you plan on upgrading your mobo in the near future. It doesnt apply if somebody gives you new ram for free or you steal it from the shop

CPU
You need a 3ghz or equivalent MINIMUM otherwise your system will be bottlenecked(6800 will always be waiting for the cpu to catch up, this is going to seriously slow down performance in games).

PSU (Power Supply Unit)
You are going to need a 450w or 480w minimum, it will say so in the min spec's on the 6800 box. You dont want a system which cant support the power requirements of the hardware installed on it, you will be faced with regular, random, blue, black & grey screens without TEXT. Im not talking about windows blue screen either. Also any 1, single power/voltage crash can permanently damage hard drives and other hardware installed, im speaking from experience btw.

I know you want the 6800, who wouldnt, but because of your current spec i wouldnt bother. You basicaly going to need to upgrade everything inside your machine to get the spec Worth a 6800gt. I personaly would save my cash and wait until early next yearr and pick up a TOWER deal in the January sales.
If you want i can go through some retailer magazines and find you some price scales for the hardware that you need, it will be in £'s though! Off the top of my head its going to cost you £400-£600 to uprgade, that not including the cost of the 6800.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/sli.html
This is what i plan to buy in January, obviously i cant afford 2x 6800Ultra's, but they wont always cost £350. Failing that i will buy the X800XT Platinum, as its a better performer than the 6800 ultra, oh well, just food for thought really!

BTW Im 23 this Friday 13th how much you wanna bet i dont get shit, im as likely to get £5 from my Grandparents as i am a £350 graphics card

[cocobee]

the 6800 gt is bought already

I 've got about $400-$500 dollars American to play with for this upgrade.

I can get the DVD burner for like 100-150. So that means I have like 300-350 to get the prcessor, motherboard and RAM.

[Guest]

What is the specification regarding power on the box of your new GPU?

[cocobee]

Beef,
On another forum--people have said that I'd still be able to play full detailed and maxed out with an ATI 9800 PRO 128 mb card.

The only games that I really want maxed are madden 2005 and live 2005. If i don't need the 6800 GT card then I'll just not get it. If I can save money, then I'd like to. My goal is just to play those 2 games maxed out

thanks for the help

[Guest]

I agree with them. 9800pro's are so cheap right now, £150 ish. You cant go wrong with 9800pro, i have 1 and NO complaints yet, at all!

[cocobee]

I agree with them. 9800pro's are so cheap right now, £150 ish. You cant go wrong with 9800pro, i have 1 and NO complaints yet, at all!

Should I upgrade my processor too? To a 64 bit?
Or just add another 512 ddr RAM for a total of 1024 all together?

[hmm]

................................................

[cocobee]

512 Ram is very enough for today. 1GB rams are not necassary yet.

Homer, you mean enough for the 2005 games coming out like Madden and Live PC?

[Jackal]

Yes, it'll be enough for both those games.

As he noted, 1 GB isn't needed...just yet.

[hmm]

................................................

[cocobee]

512 Ram is very enough for today. 1GB rams are not necassary yet.

Homer, you mean enough for the 2005 games coming out like Madden and Live PC?

man; 1 GB ram isnt fully supported by even XP today. Wait for a next Microsoft product. it might look like as you have 1GB on XP. But it has no use on games yet. i say 1GB is not needed for at least 2 years.

Thank you. How do you feel about updating my processor to a 64 bit? Is it even worth it or is a AMD 1.8 (2100) + ATI 9800 Pro enough?

[Guest]

Windows Xp fully supports ram upto 4gb as with all 32bit apps. Jackal & Homer obviously do not have 1gb of ram, the difference from 512mb to 1gb within XP is huge.
1GB will speed up any system regardless of CPU.
It will allow you to run more programs simultaneously.
Programs will startup faster(including XP)
It will eliminate the regular need to access the paging file.
It will speed up the closing of all applications.
Your system will be much more stable.*

Plenty of games right now need 1gb of ram to run maxed(Farcry, Doom 3, Joint Ops, Battlefield Vietnam & Vietcong. These are just the game that i have, there are more). You see the games are all playable at max with 512mb, BUT you get a HUGE amount of swap which slows down performance and gives you a lovely stuttering effect every time the CPU needs to access the paging file.

If you want to play current games and maximum detail with high resolutions then you need 1gb of ram!

*Providing that your new ram is fault/error free and you have all your voltages set up correctly. Installing new ram can be a bastard!

[Jackal]

Eh? My sister has 1 GB. I didn't say it wasn't compatible, I said it's not a MUST.

He wants to save money, doesn't he?

[hmm]

................................................

[cocobee]

Eh? My sister has 1 GB. I didn't say it wasn't compatible, I said it's not a MUST.

He wants to save money, doesn't he?

I want to save money, but if getting the extra 512 DDR RAM will be better than getting a new processor, I'm down with that.

I'd rather have more memory than just enough. You make sense Beefeater. But, what is you stand about me getting an AMD 64 processor/motherboard/RAM or just get a slab of RAM for my old processor? Rememeber, I just want to be able to play Madden 2005 and Live 2005 Maxed out at 1600x1200 resolution. I don't play any of the hardcore stuff--I might get Tiger Woods 2005 but i don't care enough about those graphics to care.

But I'm now leaning towards the ATI 9800 PRO 128 MB
BTW-Do you have the ALL in Wonder kind?


Homer, not sure. I'll check later.

Thanks for the replies fellas

[Guest]

I didn't say it wasn't compatible, I said it's not a MUST.
He wants to save money, doesn't he?

Your right its not a "Must", and it would be an easy way to save cash!

But I'm now leaning towards the ATI 9800 PRO 128 MB
BTW-Do you have the ALL in Wonder kind?

Have a look see at
POWERCOLOR 9800 Pro(this is what i have, its about £160 ish, comes with tons of crap and is very overclockable)
SAPHIRE 9800 Pro Atlantis £140(ish)

The "All in Wonder" versions all seem reasonable deals. When you get around to buying it make sure you avoid any "SE"(special editions). The 9800SE are 128bit instead of the normal 256bit and they normaly have slower default clock speeds.

You might get lucky and get an "R360" chip on your 9800pro instead of the standard "R350"(these are the actual CPUs on the graphics cards).
The "R360" is the actual 9800XT chip, but they now put them on the new 9800pros then flash the bios as a pro(R350). If your lucky enough to get R360 then you can Re-flash the bios to an XT, turning your 9800pro into a 9800XT for free