5punk

I'm currently in the middle of a phase I get every so often of having e-penis jealousy, and wanting to upgrade my PC. I just don't have any monies, and my current setup is probably sufficient to see me through until a decent mid-range dx10 GFX card comes out that I can con myself into thinking I can afford. Other than the GFX, is my CPU the next thing I should upgrade? That and getting a sound card sorted at some point.

Given you're on pci-e (and socket 754), i'd say graphics first, then dump cpu/mobo/ram for something less obsolete

Dog Pants wrote:Fuck quiet PCs, I've got a 53db fan in mine that probably gave Prof tinitis at the LAN.

Buy some new fans: http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/casefans

Decent ones do make a significant difference, especially as you can usually adjust the speed to suit your needs.

I'm pretty sure its socket 939 ashully. I've had the cpu/mobo/ram for just over a year now, but it feels like I only just upgraded! The greater the number of steps to upgrade, and therefore greater the spread of the cost, the better for me. Unless I get a significant jump in salary there won't be a wholesale refit of my PC for a while yet. This is even more frustrating thanks to the links to lovely looking cases that I've followed from here recently!

In fact, all the recent talk of people upgrading has made me realise that I've actually totally lost track of current GFX cards and CPUs, never mind the rest which I barely knew about to start with! I was under the vague (and unguided) impression that my RAM was ok, so is it just considered a bit slow these days? I know my CPU isn't exactly cutting edge though.

spoodie wrote: Buy some new fans: http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/casefans

Decent ones do make a significant difference, especially as you can usually adjust the speed to suit your needs.

unfortunately silent fans really aren't the full story.

you have to remember that many cases have crappy built in fin-grills which can add a lot of noise (more than cheap fans running unrestricted) cheapy wire fan grills work great.

Lateralus wrote:I'm pretty sure its socket 939 ashully. I've had the cpu/mobo/ram for just over a year now, but it feels like I only just upgraded! The greater the number of steps to upgrade, and therefore greater the spread of the cost, the better for me. Unless I get a significant jump in salary there won't be a wholesale refit of my PC for a while yet. This is even more frustrating thanks to the links to lovely looking cases that I've followed from here recently!

In fact, all the recent talk of people upgrading has made me realise that I've actually totally lost track of current GFX cards and CPUs, never mind the rest which I barely knew about to start with! I was under the vague (and unguided) impression that my RAM was ok, so is it just considered a bit slow these days? I know my CPU isn't exactly cutting edge though.

seems to be 939, must've been your last machine that was 754.

if you want a basic booster upgrade, I'd suggest a new graphics card and the best (reasonably priced) cpu you can afford (and your ram will run)


as far as your machine goes, it's still fairly competent, cpu and ram are kinda outclassed by ddr2 and core2duo, but for a cheap upgrade you may as well stick with 939.

Hmm, well there are now two 6800GS cards being sold at work for about £60, one with 512MB and one with 256MB, but I don't think thats enough of an upgrade to warrent the money. Would £40 be a reasonable expectation for which to sell my 6600GT? That would offset the upgrade cost a bit I suppose.

Lateralus wrote:Hmm, well there are now two 6800GS cards being sold at work for about £60, one with 512MB and one with 256MB, but I don't think thats enough of an upgrade to warrent the money. Would £40 be a reasonable expectation for which to sell my 6600GT? That would offset the upgrade cost a bit I suppose.

I'd be careful of cards tagged with GS, they're often the very lowest cards from a range, so might not offer much over a GT from a lower range.

Shit, I'm going to regret this.

*If* I were to spend £100 on a new card, is there anything I could get that would be worth the upgrade?

Edit: For example, this?

*deep breath*

No.


It's quite likely you'd get an acceptable upgrade for £100, but you're hunting for a reason to upgrade, which is dumb.

Also in a few months dx10 cards will be affordable on that budget *and* be a good upgrade

Dr. kitteny berk wrote: you're hunting for a reason to upgrade, which is dumb.

This is a fact I'm well aware of. The primary reason is that I want more shineyness in games, and want to turn settings up in Oblivion etc. However, I also want a bigger e-penis. Its a bit dumb, but there we go!

Dr. kitteny berk also wrote:Also in a few months dx10 cards will be affordable on that budget *and* be a good upgrade

This is realistically what I'm thinking of doing, as I want the GFX card to last beyond the point where I upgrade mobo/cpu etc too, at least for a while anyway.

Just wait, if you want to waste money now, buy an AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego. 65 quid, will run on your current hardware and will probably help quite a bit.

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:you're hunting for a reason to upgrade, which is dumb.

I have been doing this recently because I haven't purchased anything new for over a year. However, this was the reason I spent as much as I did at the time, so I wouldn't have to buy anything new for a while.

Given that DX10 cards are bigger than the moon, I doubt they will fit in my Shootle, so I reckon I will let everything settle for another 6 months or so and see where we are then.

Nah, I'll do the sensible thing and wait to upgrade my GFX first, then save up for the rest afterwards. Its the right thing to do I s'pose, especially when I've got other things like a new house to be spending money on! Hoping to move in 3 weeks!

spoodie wrote: Buy some new fans: http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/casefans

Decent ones do make a significant difference, especially as you can usually adjust the speed to suit your needs.

It's just one big 12" case fan that has some wierd dual blade doohicky. It is good quality, but it's also noisy as fuck because it spins fast and acts like a jet engine. I put it on a controller but that doesn't have the power to spin it up, so it just sits there still. Kinda defeats the point having it in I know, but I've got a big copper passive heat sink on my CPU with a 90mm fan bolted onto it for good measure so I've more than enough cooling to compensate. It's fairly easy to fix if I want to, but the only reason I've found to connect it is to make people grimace at the LAN.

12 inch? (yeah, twss)

also, you're describing a delta screamer, aicmfp.

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:12 inch? (yeah, twss)

also, you're describing a delta screamer, aicmfp.

Pfffft, sorry 120mm. I'm too used to quoting the other measurement

And yes, it is a Delta something or other.

Dog Pants wrote:Pfffft, sorry 120mm. I'm too used to quoting the other measurement

And yes, it is a Delta something or other.

12mm?


yup, personally I swear by 90p ebuyer specials, once 7-volt modded they're nearly silent and you can do a whole machine for less than the cost of one nice fan.

Well just to continue my tangent, I've found a reason that I need to upgrade for in the not too distant future - my GFX card just isn't coping too well these days. Both Fear and Test Drive Unlimited make it try and go into meltdown, and I'm not even making them that shiny. It cools down quickly enough when I close the game, but I'm still not happy with it. I've checked that the cooler is on tight enough, so I'm not sure what else to do for now.

Berk wrote:Also in a few months dx10 cards will be affordable on that budget *and* be a good upgrade

When you say a few months, how long do you realistically mean? My next card upgrade will hopefully be my only one for a while afterwards, so I want it to be worth it. I'm going to start saving now so that when the time comes I'll actually have the money.

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:Just wait, if you want to waste money now, buy an AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego. 65 quid, will run on your current hardware and will probably help quite a bit.

^ This. Hard.

I have one, it overclocks excellently, its quite cold running (32c idle with AMD stock HSF at 2.5Ghz stable) and Is rather damn fast.