Official "Upgrade Help" Thread

[G8crasha]

I fixed the link for the psu calculator.

Recommend you set capacitor aging at 30%.



What are your specs?

Chances are I'll most probably go with the PSU you suggested. According to the caculator my system should only be pulling about 381W, but I need that extra headroom for another SATA drive, and a couple of hard drive coolers. Plus I'm looking at getting the SideWinder X6 gaming keyboard, and the Logitech G5 Laser Mouse, both of which might draw some extra power from the USB ports.

[Chevron]

Chances are I'll most probably go with the PSU you suggested. According to the caculator my system should only be pulling about 381W, but I need that extra headroom for another SATA drive, and a couple of hard drive coolers. Plus I'm looking at getting the SideWinder X6 gaming keyboard, and the Logitech G5 Laser Mouse, both of which might draw some extra power from the USB ports.

Antec Neo He 550Watt then. :)

[Predator]

Will a 500watt psu be able to handle this system
6000+
9600gt 512
250gb hdd
dvd writer
4gb ram
and about 4 case fans

[Chevron]

Will a 500watt psu be able to handle a this system
6000+
9600gt 512
250gb hdd
dvd writer
4gb ram
and about 4 case fans

In a word. Yes.

[Wesley]

Will a 500watt psu be able to handle a this system
6000+
9600gt 512
250gb hdd
dvd writer
4gb ram
and about 4 case fans

I'd say most definately. You could even lower the PSU to a 400watt model and possibly could get the system to run nicely, but only a decent PSU can do that.

[Frozenfireside]

Helping the 'wife' and her family upgrade-so getting rid of my old X1950XT and current RAM.
they are getting this screen.
Me, jealous? You bloody bet.

[Zen]

So yesterday my PSU decided to go for a ball of ****. I don't know what happened but safe to say I no longer have a PSU.

My system specs are:

• AMD Athlon64 4800X2 (2.4GHz, 90nm "Toledo", Socket 939)
• DFI LanParty UT-D nForce 4 Ultra
• XFX 8800GTS 320MB Extreme Edition (Standard core clocks for the extreme edition)
• 2GB Kingston DDR-400 (Timings are 2-6-6-7; Running a 1T command rate)
• Samsung Spinpoint 160GB SATA HDD
• Seagate Barracuda 80GB SATA HDD
• Lite-On SATA DVD-RW

I'm looking at:

1. Omega iSonic Megapower 600W
2. CoolerMaster Extreme Power 550W

I like the iSonic, because of its modular cable design, but that wait, till the 17 December is what kills me. Also, to me, CoolerMaster is a bit of an unknown when it comes to PSU's, I like their cases and cooling equipment, but are their PSU's efficient and reliable?

[Chevron]

Don't get the omega. Actually for you i'd choose the cooler master 460. The cooler master 650 is also nice. I've heard people having problems with the cooler master 500 and 550. Unfortunately only monday will i be at a pc. Maybe have a look at the thermeltake 470.

[Wesley]

I dont think you can go wrong with a CoolerMaster, just make sure the rated output on the rails is enough to power things like you 8800GTS along perfectly.

To help you get an idea of what the Extreme Power is like, here's a review of its little, newer brother, the Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 460 W. Be sure to read the first page thoroughly, as they highlight exactly what you should be looking for when it comes to the PSU itself. Prophecy has a much better-looking Extreme Power Plus 460watt for R527, check it out.

As for the Isonic, here is a link to the thread on the Mybroadband.co.za forums that discussed it. A couple of users seem to dislike the brand for their own reasons, but on the Systemshock forums the opposite seems to be true! Sadly, there dont seem to be any reviews for it, but it looks like a solid build, I'm also considering buying one.

[Zen]

Don't get the omega. Actually for you i'd choose the cooler master 460. The cooler master 650 is also nice. I've heard people having problems with the cooler master 500 and 550. Unfortunately only monday will i be at a pc. Maybe have a look at the thermeltake 470.

I will not touch a Thermaltake again. I had the TR2-420W, I had to replace it twice before, as the first two after about a month each, would not power up. The third one is the one that has just blown.

I dont think you can go wrong with a CoolerMaster, just make sure the rated output on the rails is enough to power things like you 8800GTS along perfectly.

To help you get an idea of what the Extreme Power is like, here's a review of its little, newer brother, the Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 460 W. Be sure to read the first page thoroughly, as they highlight exactly what you should be looking for when it comes to the PSU itself. Prophecy has a much better-looking Extreme Power Plus 460watt for R527, check it out.

Well the rated output is 460W with 36A on the dual 12V rails. That is more than enough to make a 8800GTX purr along, let alone a 8800GTS.

Think I might go for that or the 550W. Decisions, decisions.

[McDangerous]

Ahoy guys. I've got a relatively decently specced pc, but a puny 8400 gs gpu, which sucks. Ive ordered a HD 4670, how much of an improvement can i xpect to see? in terms of the infamous crysis, far cry 2 and the like.

AMD 6000+ x2
2 gig ram
500 gig HDD
vista home premium

[McDangerous]

And how much difference does framebuffer size make? the 8400gs is a 256, the radeon a 512. How big a difference is there between a 9500 GT 1gb and 512mb?? i'm new so bear with all the questions...

[Wesley]

Ahoy guys. I've got a relatively decently specced pc, but a puny 8400 gs gpu, which sucks. Ive ordered a HD 4670, how much of an improvement can i xpect to see? in terms of the infamous crysis, far cry 2 and the like.

AMD 6000+ x2
2 gig ram
500 gig HDD
vista home premium

Well done on ordering the HD4670, that is a really great card for its price range! With regards to some system scores, you can expect around...say... high 30's to low 50FPS, with an average of around 40FPS at 1280 x 1024 with 4xAA and 16xAF at high settings. If you'd like, here's a review on Hexus.net which covers the Sapphire version of the card and may make it easier to put other games in perspective for you.

If you're interested, there's even a review of two HD4670's in Crossfire. I like how ATi's been kicking ass and taking names lately.

And how much difference does framebuffer size make? the 8400gs is a 256, the radeon a 512. How big a difference is there between a 9500 GT 1gb and 512mb?? i'm new so bear with all the questions...

The frame buffer doesn't really make a difference when using a GPU with small amounts of memory, like 256MB with a 192 or 256-bit memory buffer, but moving form a 512MB card with a 256MB buffer to a 512MB buffer really allows the card to fly, and you can expect some good performance increases.

With regards to the 9500GT 1GB, there's not going to be much difference in performance between the !GB and 512MB version. If anything, the !GB version is actually going to be slower because it has too much memory to work with, and the crappy 128-bit (am I right here Chev?) buffer really doesn't allow access to all that memory. So, for a budget card like the 9500GT, 1GB of memory is really just a marketing gimmick designed to get you to buy it because "its special." This all does not apply to the HD4670 however, sometimes the 4670 can whip a 9800GT's arse!

[Isengard]

Just with regards to the memory buffer, the 9500GT with 1gig memory wont suffer due to having more memory to access because the card will never be using all that memory to begin with. To use up anywhere near 1gig you would have to be playing the game at highest settings, resolutions 1920 or higher, with high levels of anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing. Which a 9500GT could never do in a million years. Large frame buffers like that are reserved for high end cards like the GTX280 or HD4870.

Insert from HardOCP:

What is most interesting here in this comparison to us is the performance of the Radeon HD 4870 1GB in comparison to the Radeon HD 4870 512MB. You are seeing things correctly; we were able to play with 4X AA on the 1GB 4870 versus No AA on the 512MB 4870. This is no mistake; the 1GB 4870 actually afforded us smoother and faster performance allowing a better gameplay experience in FarCry 2! The Radeon HD 4870 1GB matches the gameplay experience of the GeForce GTX 260. If you play at 1680x1050 you will be happy to know that 8X AA is playable on the 4870 1GB, but not on the 512MB 4870. On the 4870 512MB at 1680x1050 only 2X AA is playable.

Link to article.

Also, saying the 4670 can beat the 9800GT (a.k.a. 8800GT) even sometimes is false. The 4670 is slower than the 3850pro, which is slower than the 3870XT, which in turn is slower than the 8/9800GT.

Here's an example.

Example 2.

[McDangerous]

thanx snow and isengard apreciate the input. Honestly didnt think anyone whould rply! But my faith in the nag forum has been instilled! I have a 20in monitor with a native res of 1680... If i remove the AA will my fps stay the same when switched to the native res? Is intel realy betr than amd? Or is it more like a bmw vs merc type thing? So many stupid questions, so little time.....

[Chevron]

thanx snow and isengard apreciate the input. Honestly didnt think anyone whould rply! But my faith in the nag forum has been instilled! I have a 20in monitor with a native res of 1680... If i remove the AA will my fps stay the same when switched to the native res? Is intel realy betr than amd? Or is it more like a bmw vs merc type thing? So many stupid questions, so little time.....

Well with regards to the first part of your question it depends how much AA you're using and what game you're playing at what settings and what's the minimum frames you will except.

With regards to the the second part of your question it also depends. If you wanna overclock intel is better for now...

If you're not gonna overclock both are good choices. A 2Ghz core2 will beat a 2Ghz Athlon or phenom, but Amd knows this and priced their stuff accordingly. Both are good buys.

[Wesley]

thanx snow and isengard apreciate the input. Honestly didnt think anyone whould rply! But my faith in the nag forum has been instilled! I have a 20in monitor with a native res of 1680... If i remove the AA will my fps stay the same when switched to the native res? Is intel realy betr than amd? Or is it more like a bmw vs merc type thing? So many stupid questions, so little time.....

Like Chevron said, the answer to your first question depends on what game you're playing, but in most cases turning off AA will benefit you somewhat in terms of framerates. Just dont expect lots of frames from Crysis at your native res on high settings. Maybe tone it down to medium-to-low settings where you can and you will get decent, playable framerates.

For now, Intel is leaps ahead of AMD in terms of all-round performance and overclocking ability, but AMD does the job well enough, and consequently its chips are more often than not cheaper (like their Tri-cores). Their new AM3 chips out next year might bring them back to the fore however, so watch that space carefully.

[BattleMoose]

RWAR!

Some time for me to upgrade, well actually building like a brand new pc, yay!

Went into PC Pro Shop Menlyn, see what they can do for me, this is the quote I got and recommended stuff.

Ram, 4Gb, DDRII 800 - TEAM(Whatever that means, and oddly manufacturer doesn't appear on quote)
Cheapo DVD writer, LG 22X Super Multi DVD Writer
Palit GF9600GSO 768MB DDR3 192
Seagate Sata2 500Gb
CoolerMaster Ammo 533 Windowed Case
400w PSU

I already have.
Intel Core2 Duo E8600 @ 3.16Ghz.
Intel DP35DP Media motherboard.

They are like in my cupboard so going to use em. :-)

All this for R5200, thoughts, can I get a better deal elsewhere, is this a good graphics card for what I am looking at. And in terms of what I am looking at, I want a gaming rig that can handle me fine for at least 2 years or so. I can spend more for better stuff but need a reason.

Advices please!

[biffman]

Rather go for a ATI Radeon 4850/or 3870 they are around the same price as a 9600 but superior.
Everything else seems fine but get a bigger PSU either a 500 or 550 or 600 will be fine.

[Chevron]

RWAR!

Some time for me to upgrade, well actually building like a brand new pc, yay!

Went into PC Pro Shop Menlyn, see what they can do for me, this is the quote I got and recommended stuff.

Ram, 4Gb, DDRII 800 - TEAM(Whatever that means, and oddly manufacturer doesn't appear on quote)
Cheapo DVD writer, LG 22X Super Multi DVD Writer
Palit GF9600GSO 768MB DDR3 192
Seagate Sata2 500Gb
CoolerMaster Ammo 533 Windowed Case
400w PSU

I already have.
Intel Core2 Duo E8600 @ 3.16Ghz.
Intel DP35DP Media motherboard.

They are like in my cupboard so going to use em. :-)

All this for R5200, thoughts, can I get a better deal elsewhere, is this a good graphics card for what I am looking at. And in terms of what I am looking at, I want a gaming rig that can handle me fine for at least 2 years or so. I can spend more for better stuff but need a reason.

Advices please!

Post specifics in the morning, but you can definitely do better. Just keep in mind brick and mortar stores have a higher mark up so you'll get less for your money. Plus they'll charge you to build it for you.

Anyway just give me till the morning. If you want something to last you years it can be done.