Small Upgrade

The Snipe

Hey Guys,

I'm looking at upgrading my computer a small bit make it run a bit smoother, I'm looking to play World of Warcraft with the highest, or near highest settings, at the moment I have http://www.maplin.co.uk/asus-dual-core-geforce-hybrid-sli-gamer-bundle-227439 which is about 2 years old, But I was thinking of upgrading the Graphics Card to http://cgi.ebay.ie/XFX-ATI-Radeon-HD-5770-1024MB-GDDR5-PCI-Express-Graphic-/280627804276?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item4156b87874 and Maybe upgrading the RAM to 4GB (2x2GB) 1333Mhz DDR2 would there be anything else I'd need to upgrade, or anything cheaper that would do something similar for cheaper? How much am I looking at for this, and where would be the best to get them for as cheaply as possible? And is everything compatible?

IrishMetalhead

yup a 5770 is a no brainer for a budgeted gpu for graphicly basic games but it all depends on what psu you have and it requires a a 6 pin pci-e power connector so make sure you have that, plus never buy new components off ebay cause you'll only land yourself in an rma nightmare.
As for the RAM DDR2 only goes up to 1066mhz w\o overclocking (which your mobo only suports up to regardless of overclocking) where as 1333mhz is DDR3 and is not suported by your motherboard.
buy both the GPU and RAM from dabs and it comes under €200 =D
(everywhere else ddr2 has massivly sky rocketed)



GPU: http://www.dabs.ie/products/sapphire-technology-r5770-hd-1gb-pci-e-hdmi-dvi-6L9D.html
RAM: http://www.dabs.ie/products/kingston-hyperx-4gb--2x2gb--ddr-1066m-n-5GZQ.html

Unregistered.

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

yup a 5770 is a no brainer for a budgeted gpu for graphicly basic games but it all depends on what psu you have and it requires a a 6 pin pci-e power connector so make sure you have that, plus never buy new components off ebay cause you'll only land yourself in an rma nightmare.
As for the RAM DDR2 only goes up to 1066mhz w\o overclocking (which your mobo only suports up to regardless of overclocking) where as 1333mhz is DDR3 and is not suported by your motherboard.
buy both the GPU and RAM from dabs and it comes under €200 =D
(everywhere else ddr2 has massivly sky rocketed)



GPU: http://www.dabs.ie/products/sapphire-technology-r5770-hd-1gb-pci-e-hdmi-dvi-6L9D.html
RAM: http://www.dabs.ie/products/kingston-hyperx-4gb--2x2gb--ddr-1066m-n-5GZQ.html

That Graphics card is €105 inc. shipping on komplett. You can pick up 4GB DDR2 ram for between 60-70 on memoryc with free shipping also. Have a look on pixmania as well. I'd say the GPU will be cheaper again, not sure about the RAM, though it will probably be a bit cheaper altogether than dabs.

IrishMetalhead

Unregistered. wrote: »

That Graphics card is €105 inc. shipping on komplett. You can pick up 4GB DDR2 ram for between 60-70 on memoryc with free shipping also. Have a look on pixmania as well. I'd say the GPU will be cheaper again, not sure about the RAM, though it will probably be a bit cheaper altogether than dabs.

didn't check komplett tbh

but on pixmania it costs over €70 for a good set of ddr2 so thats way out of the question but atleast if your order from dabs it'll all come at the same time but unregistered is right you can save abit of money but buying from komplett and memoryc cause they both do free shipping but seriously stay clear of ebay

Edit: Just checked the 5770 on komplett and it's the 512mb model rather than the 1gb model so it's not really worth the money tbh i would expect to pay under €100 for a 512mb card

IrishMetalhead

ok just had a look on pixmania and memoryc

5770 - €115.89 incl. shipping
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4122063/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5770-1-gb-gddr5.html

RAM - €67.76 with free shipping
http://www.memoryc.com/computermemory/ddr2ram/4gbteamxtreempc28500dark.html

Works out to a total of €183.65 so thats a saving of about €8 but tbh I would prefer to spend the extra €8 so I know there coming in the same package

Unregistered.

N'out wrong with a 512MB card! - OP what monitor resolution do you play at?

IrishMetalhead

Unregistered. wrote: »

N'out wrong with a 512BM card! - OP what monitor resolution do you play at?

nothing wrong with a 512mb don't get me wrong but for the sake of future proofing you'd be better off paying that bit extra for a 1gb card

Unregistered.

However...

XiledSniper wrote: »

...for as cheaply as possible...

Realistically, the OP will see no benefit in replacing a 512MB card (the one he has now) with a 1GB playing WOW.

IrishMetalhead

well depending on wat res he's running and if he's running any aa but i get what you mean

The Snipe

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

yup a 5770 is a no brainer for a budgeted gpu for graphicly basic games but it all depends on what psu you have and it requires a a 6 pin pci-e power connector so make sure you have that, plus never buy new components off ebay cause you'll only land yourself in an rma nightmare.
As for the RAM DDR2 only goes up to 1066mhz w\o overclocking (which your mobo only suports up to regardless of overclocking) where as 1333mhz is DDR3 and is not suported by your motherboard.
buy both the GPU and RAM from dabs and it comes under €200 =D
(everywhere else ddr2 has massivly sky rocketed)



GPU: http://www.dabs.ie/products/sapphire-technology-r5770-hd-1gb-pci-e-hdmi-dvi-6L9D.html
RAM: http://www.dabs.ie/products/kingston-hyperx-4gb--2x2gb--ddr-1066m-n-5GZQ.html

Thanks for that, Sorry I had the clock speed wrong my bad :P

Unregistered. wrote: »

N'out wrong with a 512BM card! - OP what monitor resolution do you play at?

Currently 1680x1050, But might be upgrading to a better one, with a HDMI/DVI port instead to make the xbox easier too rather then using a VGA for the Xbox

The Snipe

Just thinking aswell, Would I be well off upgrading to a better CPU too? And if I was would I just be better off overall getting a new mobo to match maybe getting ones like seen in http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056195902 Although I'd be grand with an i5 if it supports it, would it be a bit of overkill, and would it work with the Vid card above, (I know the RAM is DDR3 too), I'd be multitasking running Music, WoW (Hopefully at the highest settings), and Firefox but I also do a lot of Image Editing using photoshop and would be running Win 7 Ultimate x64

IrishMetalhead

an i7 would be to much overkill ofr that card and even an i5 would be pushing it better off going with a i3, athlon x3, x4 or a phenom x2 or x4 at the most espiecally if your just running games like wow

edit: what be your budge for the ram, cpu, mobo and gpu now?

edit2: also what case do you have will it suport full atx mobos or just matx?

The Snipe

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

an i7 would be to much overkill ofr that card and even an i5 would be pushing it better off going with a i3, athlon x3, x4 or a phenom x2 or x4 at the most espiecally if your just running games like wow

edit: what be your budge for the ram, cpu, mobo and gpu now?

edit2: also what case do you have will it suport full atx mobos or just matx?

I can support full ATX Mobos, and as for the budget I'm not really sure, as of yet - as cheap as it can stay, I have the case, the PSU, etc. and the Board and Processor aren't 'urgent' but if there is a cheap processor and/or mobo around, that would work better I'd consider getting them too.

IrishMetalhead

Just checked out your mobo and it's a socket am2+ which mean it's fully compatible with am3 cpu's so good news there so you can just buy an athlon ii x4 or phenom if you want to spend the extra cash) and fit to that mobo =]

So heres all the upgrades you'll need:

The Snipe

Thanks a million mate! For installing the new processor, it should just be popping off the heatsink and the swapping the chips right?

IrishMetalhead

thaht and making sure you lay down a fresh layer of thermal paste
should consider investing in a after market heatsink there relitivly cheap plus they pro long the life of your cpu by keeping it much cooler plus adds overclocking into the picture and is a hell of alot quieter.
this i would highly recommend:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/arctic-cooling-freezer-7-pro-rev-2-cpu-cooler-73WG.html?q=freezer%207

IrishMetalhead

BTW If your willing to spend the extra cash I would highly recommend going with these the cpu might be overkill for the games you are running and for that gpu but it's for the sake of future proofing it that little bit more plus apps will running hella fast:

The Snipe

yeah, I eneded up forgetting that when I put it in first (It was my first time building), And I would consider spending the extra bob, as it would be handy - cause I do a lot of multitasking. Thanks a million for your help!

IrishMetalhead

not a problem but be aware if you are upgrading the cpu you must updae the bios for your motherboard before going ahead with the order

The Snipe

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

not a problem but be aware if you are upgrading the cpu you must updae the bios for your motherboard before going ahead with the order

How would I do that?

IrishMetalhead

well you download the bios from here:
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=nVDFp09dKpOAQdsz&templete=2
just download the latest one

installing tho depends on the mobo so just do abit of research on flashing the bios for it

btw there is a small risk of completely bricking the mobo by updating the bios say if you accidently turn off the computer or if the power goes out while updating but what are the chance of that happening?