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Whats holding me back?

jahjah

By jahjah,
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jahjah Newbie

jahjah

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So i built a gaming computer a while ago. like 2.5 years...

 

Starting to get outdated and the newer games arent running very well. warhammer online has to eb run on the lowest setting and i still get low frames per second.

 

So... heres what i got...

 

2x GeForce 6800xt 256mb SLI

2x 1GB Corsair Gaming ram (cooling fins etc.)

500w power supply

2.2ghz AMD athalon 3700+ 64 bit

Also am running a 300g hard drive with 220g free

 

I am getting 2 more sticks of the same high quality gaming grade ram. so i'll be at 4g which is the most that Xp can understand.

 

So... processor? do i need to get a dual chipset? or better graphics cards?

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Fanta Newbie

Fanta

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I would start off with a new GPU ( graphics card ). The new Radeon's are the cream of the crop at the moment, for a fair price ( I'd stay away from NVidia, their chipsets in the GPU's are failing all over the place unfortunately ). But for price wise, GeForce 8800GT's, or maybe a 9600.

 

Couldn't hurt to nab a dual core if you have the proper socket and can afford it ( they're under $100 now, but I think that might be for a 1.8ghz - this was at Microcenter the other night ).

 

Basically in the end, you can have a great processor and such, but a lot of gaming performance relies on the graphics card.

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strang3majik Newbie

strang3majik

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^^what he said

 

definatley upgrade those two. Because, you could have a 260gtx in there with that processor, and you wont see a substantial gain. Everything works together. So, if your cpu is bottlenecking, itll cause everything else to perform no faster than the cpu can allow it to. Same with RAM, video card, and hd. But, save your money from the RAM, and go get a CPU and GPU...2gb is enough unless your getting something extreme. Just remember that you need at least twice your GPUs memory in RAM, or else it will bottleneck.

 

Kinda like TBI vs MPI. You can do a lot with TBI and make a lot of power, yes. But, its your weak point and holding everything else back from giving you everything its got. Switch over to MPI, now the fuel system is able to keep up with and supply everything else making it all work together to bring power out that was there in the first place, just bottlenecked basically. And, the clogged precat is your video card(s)...lol...sadly yours are old already :character0032:

 

for some reason, computers and cars relate easily.

Edited by strang3majik
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jahjah Newbie

jahjah

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Are you running XP64?? If not, XP will only see around 3gb, depending on how many PCI devices you have stealing those memory addresses.

 

What type is your hard drive IDE or SATA??

 

-Robert

 

its IDE.

 

and yeah your right, its only detecting like 3.2g

 

And i cant seem to find a dual core socket 939 processor?

 

I REALLY REALLY dont wanna buy a whole new computer yet. I'd really like to upgrade this one once with new stuff before i have to build a whole new unit.

 

 

 

EDIT: i also just found out that the game i play can't use SLI cards so i'm running on a single card

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Fanta Newbie

Fanta

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It's better to do dual core. My friend's 1.8ghz dual core outperforms his brothers 3.0ghz single core. Here's a socket 939 dual core

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=...8265#ps-sellers

 

Also, you don't really need SLI unless you're trying to run Crysis piss perfect. Just find a better video card. ( like a 9800GT )

 

Also, a side note - upgrading to a video card such as a 9800, you'll need a new power supply ( like a 750w ). There's also a plug needed too from the PSU to the GPU.

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jahjah Newbie

jahjah

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I have a 550w power supply. That is not enough to run that video card?

 

I came across a like... 786mb geforce card that was like 115. it looked pretty good. how do i know what power supply is needed?

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Fanta Newbie

Fanta

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I have a 550w power supply. That is not enough to run that video card?

 

I came across a like... 786mb geforce card that was like 115. it looked pretty good. how do i know what power supply is needed?

 

The box should state the specs on whats needed to run it. I think anything beyond the 8800GTS will require a larger power supply, due to the larger ones also having the power plug that plugs into the card to power it.

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jahjah Newbie

jahjah

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The box should state the specs on whats needed to run it. I think anything beyond the 8800GTS will require a larger power supply, due to the larger ones also having the power plug that plugs into the card to power it.

 

I looked at the 8800 GTS and that looks really good. 640mb of ram and everything. real good reviews too

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strang3majik Newbie

strang3majik

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I looked at the 8800 GTS and that looks really good. 640mb of ram and everything. real good reviews too

 

if your going that route, get an 8800GT, its faster (Nvidias mistake) and cheaper...

 

also, before you go any GTX route (if you were going to) they require 2 PCI-E power connectors from the PSU...where the GT and GTS and all only need 1

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strang3majik Newbie

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so the 8800GT which is 512mb is faster than the 8800GTS which is 640mb??

it has 112 processing cores, vs the GTS's 96...and it has a higher stock clock speed. But, the biggest thing was that the GT has 45nm architecture processing core, vs the GTSs 65nm arch. It makes a big difference since data has less distance to travel, and it can be clocked higher as well. Many variables.

 

but mainly, it outperformed the GTS in many benchmarks. And when it came out, everybody thought Nvidia was shooting themselves in the foot since it was so much cheaper. Try to get the Akimbo version (EVGA) with the dual slot cooler if you plan on overclocking it though...they get hot.

 

but, just google 8800GT vs GTS and youll get all types of benchmarks. In all honesty, if you do have two PCI-Ex connectors on your PSU, or a few extra molex to use the adapter, id really recommend the 9800GTX since its about the same price as the 8800GTS, and is faster than the 8800GT.

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Dave-O Newbie

Dave-O

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^^ What they said.

 

Right now I'm happy with my single card [xfx 8600GT xxx-edition (which is factory o/c'd)], it was dirt cheap and has comparable performance to the 8800 - of course you're getting what you pay for, and this one is evenly weaker in all tests versus the 8800GTS.

 

Concerning the power supply issue, I've ran several fans and neons with my current setup, and I've got a Thermaltake 430w P/S. Works amazingly, haven't had any issues. They're budget-friendly, and can dish it out.

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jahjah Newbie

jahjah

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it has 112 processing cores, vs the GTS's 96...and it has a higher stock clock speed. But, the biggest thing was that the GT has 45nm architecture processing core, vs the GTSs 65nm arch. It makes a big difference since data has less distance to travel, and it can be clocked higher as well. Many variables.

 

but mainly, it outperformed the GTS in many benchmarks. And when it came out, everybody thought Nvidia was shooting themselves in the foot since it was so much cheaper. Try to get the Akimbo version (EVGA) with the dual slot cooler if you plan on overclocking it though...they get hot.

 

but, just google 8800GT vs GTS and youll get all types of benchmarks. In all honesty, if you do have two PCI-Ex connectors on your PSU, or a few extra molex to use the adapter, id really recommend the 9800GTX since its about the same price as the 8800GTS, and is faster than the 8800GT.

 

can you find a link to the one with the dual slot cooler?

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Fanta Newbie

Fanta

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Question.

 

Until i get a new setup, can i over clock my current processor and vid card? and how do i do it?

 

dang. i wish you guys would just post links!!

 

 

http://www.overclock.net/

 

Sign up, tell them your mobo, processor, all your specs etc

 

Some mobo's are easily overclockable by just enabling the ability to adjust settings within the BIOS, others you have to disable and enable a few things before you can do so.

 

Also someone may have already posted their changes and results with a setup similar to yours, so you could go based off of that.

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jahjah Newbie

jahjah

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http://www.overclock.net/

 

Sign up, tell them your mobo, processor, all your specs etc

 

Some mobo's are easily overclockable by just enabling the ability to adjust settings within the BIOS, others you have to disable and enable a few things before you can do so.

 

Also someone may have already posted their changes and results with a setup similar to yours, so you could go based off of that.

 

So when i change the clock of my motherboard it changes the video card and processor?

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Fanta Newbie

Fanta

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So when i change the clock of my motherboard it changes the video card and processor?

 

Video will be seperate, and that's only if the GPU is overclockable.

 

For the mobo is part memory, part FSB, and a few other factors that pull together a faster clock speed.

 

If you're going to overclock, make sure you know where your BIOS reset is. Sometimes its trial and error, and when its error, you just get a black screen and might not be able to get to the BIOS :lol:

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jahjah Newbie

jahjah

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Video will be seperate, and that's only if the GPU is overclockable.

 

For the mobo is part memory, part FSB, and a few other factors that pull together a faster clock speed.

 

If you're going to overclock, make sure you know where your BIOS reset is. Sometimes its trial and error, and when its error, you just get a black screen and might not be able to get to the BIOS :lol:

that is way too much crap to increase my performance a tiny bit.

 

lemme tell you what my setup is and you tell me what to do! :)

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strang3majik Newbie

strang3majik

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that is way too much crap to increase my performance a tiny bit.

 

lemme tell you what my setup is and you tell me what to do! :)

 

will do...just dont overheat it...some mobos have temp monitors in them. But, you really dont want your head to crack...lol

but, when you do overclock, you do it in steps. Little by little. I have my 3.0GHz P4 overclocked to 3.75GHz and its running like a champ, but, to get there, I went, 3.15, 3.25, etc. OC'd my RAM, and its cheap DELL PC533 RAM, it wouldnt boot just bumping it to 600MHz. So, like Fanta said, its trial and error. But, when you say little performance increase...3.0GHz to 3.75GHz was about a 12fps jump in FSX...a pretty demanding program to run.

 

but...do get the dual slot cooler 8800GT, because, these cards run hot...theyre supposed to, but, it scares me to see it running at 60*C at idle, 75-80*C at max load (there made to run there)...but, the dual slot cooler will stop this.

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jahjah Newbie

jahjah

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hey both cards you linked me here are basicly NLA.

 

can ya find one thats still available?

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jahjah Newbie

jahjah

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sooo...... if i'm running this....

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814143118

 

and

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819103289

 

and my current setup of...

 

4x1gb corsair ddr400 overclocked

500w power supply

300g hard drive

 

 

 

... do you think it will work well? will i have any problems?

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