Official "Upgrade Help" Thread

[BTROG]

Rather settle for an MSI G31 motherboard (Take2 has one for under R500).

I checked Take2 and it gives me more than one MSI G31 motherboard so is there a specific model that I should get?

[RaptoR]

The overclock potential is around 3.6Ghz with the stock cooler, and 3.9Ghz should be within reach if using something xheap like the Cooler Master Hyper TX-2.

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 @ R770



You don't have to have it, but once you go 64-bit, you'll never want to go back to anything less. Trust me.



It can run with 4GB of RAM, but you won't be able to use all of that. At the very least, you'll see 3.5GB of RAM in the properties window of the computer because it uses the "missing" 500MB RAM to cover the hardware address space allocated to hardware that has the ability to directly interface with the RAM.

Oh, and 64-bit computers can address a maximum of 16.8 terabytes of RAM, but we can only use 48 of those 64 bits currently (meaning the total is limited to around 10TB, for now).

Ok Wesley I am either living in the past or you are very confused....A 64 BIT operating system (lets say VISTA ULTIMATE 64 bit) can take a maximum of 128 gb of physical memory, depending on the RAM and configuration. But hay u made me laugh anyway, 16.8 TB? LOL @ that!! It would be great im sure, but there aint even software to use 16 TB of memory!! Hahah lol! But seriously where did u hear that?

[Wesley]

I checked Take2 and it gives me more than one MSI G31 motherboard so is there a specific model that I should get?

Take whichever one's cheaper and in stock, they're all very similar.

Ok Wesley I am either living in the past or you are very confused....A 64 BIT operating system (lets say VISTA ULTIMATE 64 bit) can take a maximum of 128 gb of physical memory, depending on the RAM and configuration. But hay u made me laugh anyway, 16.8 TB? LOL @ that!! It would be great im sure, but there aint even software to use 16 TB of memory!! Hahah lol! But seriously where did u hear that?

If you read my post in detail, we can only use 10.8TB due to a hardware limitation. In addition, the software in use cannot use all of that memory, just like you said - Vista can only address 128GB because of a software limitation due to the way it is coded.

There are Linux and Unix operating systems designed for a cluster or supercomputer environment, where they can address so much more than that, but these operating systems are designed specifically for this purpose. Any large company, for example a search engine like Google, has their servers running on this special Linux variant, because they need that huge amount of memory for the massive amount of searches conducted every second.

[Tryxst3r]

If you read my post in detail, we can only use 10.8TB due to a hardware limitation. In addition, the software in use cannot use all of that memory, just like you said - Vista can only address 128GB because of a software limitation due to the way it is coded.

There are Linux and Unix operating systems designed for a cluster or supercomputer environment, where they can address so much more than that, but these operating systems are designed specifically for this purpose. Any large company, for example a search engine like Google, has their servers running on this special Linux variant, because they need that huge amount of memory for the massive amount of searches conducted every second.

Going way off-topic here but anyway: a while ago they built a desktop PC that managed to top a supercomputer, I'll try to find the article again.

As for upgrading, I'm looking to buy an ATi gfx card (or two) and PSU at the end of the year, I'm looking to save up now, to afford it when that time comes. Limit is R15 000. I'm buying from Singapore, so prices are about 1/2 to 3/4 of the price here.

Any advice?

[Chevron]

Going way off-topic here but anyway: a while ago they built a desktop PC that managed to top a supercomputer, I'll try to find the article again.

As for upgrading, I'm looking to buy an ATi gfx card (or two) and PSU at the end of the year, I'm looking to save up now, to afford it when that time comes. Limit is R15 000. I'm buying from Singapore, so prices are about 1/2 to 3/4 of the price here.

Any advice?

By that time dx11 will be out. We'll let you know closer to the time.

[McDangerous]

ahoy dudes

i'm kinda stuck with a dilemma. i have an HD 4670 512mb, Athlon 64X2 6000+, 2gig ddr2-800 ram, 20in samsung 1680 x x1050 monitor and an standar packard bell case with a 290W psu (i think...)


i'm considering an upgrade in july after i get paid for my june holiday work, but i don't exactly know how much it's gonna be, but 3grand is a safe bet. But, i dont really want to spend more than 2500. thus i was considering getting:

Force3D HD 4850 @ R1330
vantec 550W ion2+ psu @ R800
and either an asus TA-M11 @ R717
a coolermaster gladiator 600 @ R750 i think
aerocool zerodegree (especially because it's an upside down configuration, which suits my desktop setup more) @ R770
or a coolermaster Elite 310 case. @ R431

i need the new case because my current one has no vents or mesh for any extra cooling, besides the side one (but i think 1 fan there wouldn't make such a huge difference) and this could become a problem with a piping hot 4850. also, i really like the whole windowed side panel lit up case thing :) i'm just that gamer

is this a worthwhile upgrade? or should i save for longer and rather try and get a 4870 512mb or gtx 260. because i really whould like to see some significant framerate increases if i should do this. it's a lot of money for a varsity student :)

any comments/suggestions/advice/hi5's appreciated as always

[@@GJC@@]

ahoy dudes

i'm kinda stuck with a dilemma. i have an HD 4670 512mb, Athlon 64X2 6000+, 2gig ddr2-800 ram, 20in samsung 1680 x x1050 monitor and an standar packard bell case with a 290W psu (i think...)


i'm considering an upgrade in july after i get paid for my june holiday work, but i don't exactly know how much it's gonna be, but 3grand is a safe bet. But, i dont really want to spend more than 2500. thus i was considering getting:

Force3D HD 4850 @ R1330
vantec 550W ion2+ psu @ R800
and either an asus TA-M11 @ R717
a coolermaster gladiator 600 @ R750 i think
aerocool zerodegree (especially because it's an upside down configuration, which suits my desktop setup more) @ R770
or a coolermaster Elite 310 case. @ R431

i need the new case because my current one has no vents or mesh for any extra cooling, besides the side one (but i think 1 fan there wouldn't make such a huge difference) and this could become a problem with a piping hot 4850. also, i really like the whole windowed side panel lit up case thing :) i'm just that gamer

is this a worthwhile upgrade? or should i save for longer and rather try and get a 4870 512mb or gtx 260. because i really whould like to see some significant framerate increases if i should do this. it's a lot of money for a varsity student :)

any comments/suggestions/advice/hi5's appreciated as always

How much RAM is on the GPU your looking at???

[McDangerous]

the force3d 4850 card has 512mb. don't think there are 1gig f3d 4850's....

[@@GJC@@]

the force3d 4850 card has 512mb. don't think there are 1gig f3d 4850's....

I suggest you get the Gigabyte ATI Radeon 4650 1GB @ 1117 over the F3D 4850.

4650: Gigabyte? ATI? Radeon HD4650, 1GB 128Bit GDDR3, PCI-E 2.0, Dual DVI, HDMI & TV-Out, DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 2.1, Shader Model 4.1, Crossfire, 55nm Core 600Mhz Memory 1000Mhz.


4850: Graphic Processor ATI Radeon? HD4850
GPU Clock 625 Mhz
Memory 512 MB
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Speed 1986 Mhz
Memory Bus 256 bit
CPU Bus PCI Express x16 Rev 2.0
HDMI Support HDMI with 7.1 Digital audio support
HDCP Support Yes

Sources: HD4650: http://www.prophecy.co.za/gigabyte-r...it-gddr3-pcie- dual-p-33549.html
https://www.partspc.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProdID=7603
HD4850: http://www.prophecy.co.za/force3d-hd...bit-dual-slot- cooler-p-29109.html

So all in all if you take the 4650 you lose the 256 for 128-bit and the clock speeds are a bit better on the 4850, but you gain 512MB RAM and you end up saving about R300, not significant, just what I think is best.

[Wesley]

ahoy dudes

i'm kinda stuck with a dilemma. i have an HD 4670 512mb, Athlon 64X2 6000+, 2gig ddr2-800 ram, 20in samsung 1680 x x1050 monitor and an standar packard bell case with a 290W psu (i think...)


i'm considering an upgrade in july after i get paid for my june holiday work, but i don't exactly know how much it's gonna be, but 3grand is a safe bet. But, i dont really want to spend more than 2500. thus i was considering getting:

Force3D HD 4850 @ R1330
vantec 550W ion2+ psu @ R800
and either an asus TA-M11 @ R717
a coolermaster gladiator 600 @ R750 i think
aerocool zerodegree (especially because it's an upside down configuration, which suits my desktop setup more) @ R770
or a coolermaster Elite 310 case. @ R431

i need the new case because my current one has no vents or mesh for any extra cooling, besides the side one (but i think 1 fan there wouldn't make such a huge difference) and this could become a problem with a piping hot 4850. also, i really like the whole windowed side panel lit up case thing :) i'm just that gamer

is this a worthwhile upgrade? or should i save for longer and rather try and get a 4870 512mb or gtx 260. because i really whould like to see some significant framerate increases if i should do this. it's a lot of money for a varsity student :)

any comments/suggestions/advice/hi5's appreciated as always

I say rather upgrade to a Athlon X2 7750, an HD4770, a Cooler Master Elite 510 chassis, and a Cooler Master Hyper TX-2. That should come up to under R3400, and you'll be a big boost in your games all-round. Plus, you get to keep your PSU, seeing as the Athlon and HD4770 wont consume much more power than your current rig.

[McDangerous]

do you have any links to an Elite 510 chassis wes? coz somehow google can't find it... will the 7750 really give me more performance? my mobo can't overclock (i've looked EVERYWHERE in my bios. it's a foxxcon MCP61PM2MA-8KRS2HV) so the BE overclocking potential won't be utilized. the 4770 looks awesome, but it somehow defies my logic spending R1600 on an asus one (cheapest i can find) when i can get a 4850 for R300 less. but then also, i don't have to buy a new psu with the 4770 as you stated.... decisions decisions....

and GJC, if i'm not mistaken, the 4670 has more performance than the 4650, and at my res, the 1gig framebuffer won't make much of a difference anyway, seeing as it'll just be negated by the higher performance of the 4670. thanks for the effort though, really appreciated!

[Chevron]

ahoy dudes

i'm kinda stuck with a dilemma. i have an HD 4670 512mb, Athlon 64X2 6000+, 2gig ddr2-800 ram, 20in samsung 1680 x x1050 monitor and an standar packard bell case with a 290W psu (i think...)


i'm considering an upgrade in july after i get paid for my june holiday work, but i don't exactly know how much it's gonna be, but 3grand is a safe bet. But, i dont really want to spend more than 2500. thus i was considering getting:

Force3D HD 4850 @ R1330
vantec 550W ion2+ psu @ R800
and either an asus TA-M11 @ R717
a coolermaster gladiator 600 @ R750 i think
aerocool zerodegree (especially because it's an upside down configuration, which suits my desktop setup more) @ R770
or a coolermaster Elite 310 case. @ R431

i need the new case because my current one has no vents or mesh for any extra cooling, besides the side one (but i think 1 fan there wouldn't make such a huge difference) and this could become a problem with a piping hot 4850. also, i really like the whole windowed side panel lit up case thing :) i'm just that gamer

is this a worthwhile upgrade? or should i save for longer and rather try and get a 4870 512mb or gtx 260. because i really whould like to see some significant framerate increases if i should do this. it's a lot of money for a varsity student :)

any comments/suggestions/advice/hi5's appreciated as always

What you chose are good options. I'd say rather take the cheaper case and get the 4870 512mb for R2000.

I suggest you get the Gigabyte ATI Radeon 4650 1GB @ 1117 over the F3D 4850.

4650: Gigabyte? ATI? Radeon HD4650, 1GB 128Bit GDDR3, PCI-E 2.0, Dual DVI, HDMI & TV-Out, DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 2.1, Shader Model 4.1, Crossfire, 55nm Core 600Mhz Memory 1000Mhz.


4850: Graphic Processor ATI Radeon? HD4850
GPU Clock 625 Mhz
Memory 512 MB
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Speed 1986 Mhz
Memory Bus 256 bit
CPU Bus PCI Express x16 Rev 2.0
HDMI Support HDMI with 7.1 Digital audio support
HDCP Support Yes

Sources: HD4650: http://www.prophecy.co.za/gigabyte-r...it-gddr3-pcie- dual-p-33549.html
https://www.partspc.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProdID=7603
HD4850: http://www.prophecy.co.za/force3d-hd...bit-dual-slot- cooler-p-29109.html

So all in all if you take the 4650 you lose the 256 for 128-bit and the clock speeds are a bit better on the 4850, but you gain 512MB RAM and you end up saving about R300, not significant, just what I think is best.

You should read the post you're quoting before you reply. He already has a 4670. Also the 4850 512 wipes the floor with the 4650 1gig. Hell even they made a 2gig 4650 the 512mb 4850 would still crush it.

By your logic the 4870 512mb should also lose to that 4650 1gig.

You should check benchmarks before you make recommendations too. Check the first page of the system builders thread for a chart showing you the performance of different cards.

I say rather upgrade to a Athlon X2 7750, an HD4770, a Cooler Master Elite 510 chassis, and a Cooler Master Hyper TX-2. That should come up to under R3400, and you'll be a big boost in your games all-round. Plus, you get to keep your PSU, seeing as the Athlon and HD4770 wont consume much more power than your current rig.

The 7750 performs more or less the same as the 6000+.

I don't know why you have such a hard on for the 4770, but in south africa the 4850 performs better and is cheaper.

[McDangerous]

that's not a bad idea chev. the vantec ion2+ 550W will still be enough to power it, it has 22A on the two 12V rails, which should be enough. and i've heard that arctic cooling on the force3d 4870 is pretty good, so i'll just mod my case a bit, couple of fans.... and the 4870 kicks ass, just checkd a benchmark. it nearly doubles my 4670's performance in some games.

thanks for the input you guys, all appreciated very much.

[Mic]

I'm looking for help to get a new PC. I'm not going to salvage anything from my old PC. I'm getting a new screen, keyboard, mouse, case, motherboard, PSU, CPU, Graphics card, RAM, HDD, DVD drive and probably speakers as well.

I'm not going to upgrade in the next few months, but around October. My question is this: will there be DX11 cards on the market by then? Will it be a good idea to get one? Should I get an AMD processor if the graphics card is ATI?

Also what motherboards and processors would you recommend with a DX11 graphics card and where would the best place be to buy them?

[Chevron]

Anything we recommend now won't still be the best option in 4 months. New stuff keeps coming out. I think ati will have their dx11 cards out by then.

[Wesley]

do you have any links to an Elite 510 chassis wes? coz somehow google can't find it... will the 7750 really give me more performance? my mobo can't overclock (i've looked EVERYWHERE in my bios. it's a foxxcon MCP61PM2MA-8KRS2HV) so the BE overclocking potential won't be utilized. the 4770 looks awesome, but it somehow defies my logic spending R1600 on an asus one (cheapest i can find) when i can get a 4850 for R300 less. but then also, i don't have to buy a new psu with the 4770 as you stated.... decisions decisions....

Here are prices for you to mull over. Sorry I made a mistake there, its the Elite 310, not 510 ^_^ It also comes with a side window, and you don't pay much more for that luxury. As for your motherboard and the overclocking story, the 7750comes with an unlocked multiplier, so in the event your motherboard doesn't manage to overclock the chip by raising the frequency, you can up the multiplier to enjoy faster speeds.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Black Edition @ R791
Cooler Master Elite 310 @ R519 - R600
Cooler Master Hyper TX 2 @ R204
Gigabyte Ati Radeon HD4770 512MB @ R1617 (its out of stock atm)

Total: ~R3212

The 7750 performs more or less the same as the 6000+.

I don't know why you have such a hard on for the 4770, but in south africa the 4850 performs better and is cheaper.

Actually, I contend that the 7750 BE wil run consistently better, and much smoother all-round than the 6000+. The 6000+ is based off much older tech, and the 7750 comes with the full-fat 3MB cache for both cores to play with, unlike the 6000+ which shares 1MB between the two cores. It overclocks way better than most 6000+ CPUs can hope to achieve too, and its dirt-cheap.

I don't have hard-on for the HD4770 - you of all people should see my reason for choosing it clearly. If not, then have a look again at what money Tieron would have had to shell out to buy the parts he was looking at, and compare it to the parts he is already running. Not only do my choices allow him to keep his PSU, it also doesn't consume much more power, and it will run cooler overall - you know how hot the HD4850 runs without a few fan tweaks.

The 40nm HD4770 requires a less powerful cooler, and will overclock better and stay quieter: all valid reasons for choosing it over the HD4850. Plus, you speak of the HD4850 running better, and while that may be true, its not better by a massive margin.

I'm looking for help to get a new PC. I'm not going to salvage anything from my old PC. I'm getting a new screen, keyboard, mouse, case, motherboard, PSU, CPU, Graphics card, RAM, HDD, DVD drive and probably speakers as well.

I'm not going to upgrade in the next few months, but around October. My question is this: will there be DX11 cards on the market by then? Will it be a good idea to get one? Should I get an AMD processor if the graphics card is ATI?

Also what motherboards and processors would you recommend with a DX11 graphics card and where would the best place be to buy them?

This should be in the system builder's thread. Post your budget there and also post what you currently have in your older PC - some parts may have to be used again to save money. And yes, DX11 will be available in October, and so will Windows 7 - a perfect time to build a new PC.

[@@GJC@@]

What you chose are good options. I'd say rather take the cheaper case and get the 4870 512mb for R2000.



You should read the post you're quoting before you reply. He already has a 4670. Also the 4850 512 wipes the floor with the 4650 1gig. Hell even they made a 2gig 4650 the 512mb 4850 would still crush it.

By your logic the 4870 512mb should also lose to that 4650 1gig.

You should check benchmarks before you make recommendations too. Check the first page of the system builders thread for a chart showing you the performance of different cards.



The 7750 performs more or less the same as the 6000+.

I don't know why you have such a hard on for the 4770, but in south africa the 4850 performs better and is cheaper.

Ok my bad, but I asume by what you said that a newer card with less RAM should still be better than an older card with more RAM is this correct??

[@@GJC@@]

Does anyone know when the core i5 will be coming out and if it will be any good waiting for it/buying it????

[Mic]

This should be in the system builder's thread. Post your budget there and also post what you currently have in your older PC - some parts may have to be used again to save money. And yes, DX11 will be available in October, and so will Windows 7 - a perfect time to build a new PC.

Mmm... didn't realise that until I posted it, but thanks, will post it now. Also my old system is beyond salvaging.

[Wesley]

Ok my bad, but I asume by what you said that a newer card with less RAM should still be better than an older card with more RAM is this correct??

The logic only applies to the current generation of ATi HD cards. The HD4670 performs on par with the H3850. It doesn't work with Nvidia, because they often rebadge their models as new cards, but they are running on an older architecture on a smaller fabrication process.

Does anyone know when the core i5 will be coming out and if it will be any good waiting for it/buying it????

We can expect availability in late September/early October. And yes, it'll be worth the wait.