OFcGaming

Manufacturer: alienware full tower black case 2.0b
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+ (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 4GB RAM
Hard Drive: seagate 500gb sata 3g 7200rpm 16 mb cach
Video Card: 2x evga NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS sli
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium 32 bit
foxconn nforce 590 sli motherboard
lg 20x dual-layer dvd re-writer non-lig
sound blaster x-fi xtreme gamer r2
1 killiwatt oem atx psu

any tips to optimizing bit by bit would be good and best place to start

The problem with upgrading bit by bit, you will end up with a bottle neck somewhere and you'll end finding you have to swap most of the system in the end.

I recommend beating the crap out of your current rig, while saving up, and then upgrading the whole rig in one go, so you don't have any bottle necks. Also gives you time to research the stuff you want.

Nemes1s wrote: Memory: 4MB RAM

There's your problem right there. Only 4 meg of ram! It's a wonder it runs at all!

Seriously - what's wrong with your rig at the moment - Don't upgrade for upgrades sake. Tell us where it's under performing.

yeah its a good system. i dont think that u have to change anything. maybe u can upgrad your hdd to 1-2 TB.

Well as for the bigger hard drive i dont need that iv had the system since 07 and i prob still hav 300GB free memory cos iv only got games and a few photos on there i had read a article that sujested that my athalon 64 is holding back my graphics cards and i thinking of getting a DX11 one twords the end of the year so really im wondering if i was going triple or quad core will i need a new mobo also thinking of getting win 7 64bit so i get the full use of my memeory as im caped at just over two with the 32 bit os thanks for feed back guys

yeah the athlon isn't the best cpu for a sli but's enough, or do you have any game that doesnt run with high settings?

I would wait 1-2 year's and update mobo,cpu,ram,grafic altogether.

Or if u want to waste your money u can update the cpu core to a AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 65nm, 2x 3.10GHz if the board support it's.
And if you want to try some new things u can start Overclocking. use this cooler (Noctua U12P) http://noctua.at/main.php?show=productv ... =31&lng=en

and u can overclock your system without any problems. if u change your cpu in the nexttime to another socle you can order (free) a new adapter-kit for the cooler

yeah as you say Vista 32 bit isn't going to be able to address more than 4GB anyway (in fact you'll see about 3GB of that). So more ram would also mean a vista->Win7/64 upgrade.

So hey, maybe another couple of gig and (mainly) the win7 install would make the most difference. But generally I concur with everyone else - the system is well balanced as it is and you should just thrash it for a while, or go for a complete upgrade - it was a good buy in 07. The case/psu sound ok so one day you could replace the innards, but that doesn't save much over a full machine.

Or maybe a +4gb/win7-64/ssd would make a noticeable difference.

Or put a 5870 in it now, buy another when you upgrade to a new machine and crossfire those, and put the gts's back in the existing pc.

Bamz

Buy one of these bad beasts


And give me your current rig for free

Nothing wrong in that mate, I have a Commadore PET in my loft...lol

I agree with everything the previous posters have said tho.

Unless you really have money to burn, a 64 bit OS ( personally would buy a full version instead of an upgrade ) on decent 64 bit HW will make some difference, but I would say wait at least a year before doing so, based on your spec.

You could consider O/Clocking the RAM and CPU ( if it can be done on your model/rating) but I would not recommend it personally.

The only margins you could improve on is all probably driver/firmware based. Especially make sure these are all up to date, including firmware on mainboard BIOS and optical and hard drives as well.

That might boost some performance gain, but I would say nothing too significant.

Other stuff might be just a clean out of your case and to tie up all your cables, so you get a better cooling throughput in your case, that will increase cooling and improve performance.

First rule of IT, if it aint broke......

Besides, if you do decide to upgrade, your box might make a nice Linux server:)

IXL

Hey , i've just started to upgrade too first with win 7 64bit and then i have just bought a storm sniper, just too make sure I can fit everything in,but the only graphics card I could afford for the mo....was a sapphire HD 5670,but o well heres to future gaming and I mostly do my shopping on ebay

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Oth ... ctId=37441



just locked at this wondering if it would be any good like dragon my new build probly a while off so for £46 ish pound would this give me a decent bump

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Oth ... ctId=39501

For the quickest/easiest comparison of cpu's, this list kicks ass.

For your £46 you're looking at a maybe 50% improvement in cpu performance but I would guess L4D2 or BFBC2 are graphics-limited on your rig anyway.

Bambam

Hi guys

Good question on upgrading but as harware chages so dam fast in the pc market place you cant keep up

Below is my rig at the moment there is no point in upgrading any of it to be honest at the moment, I can play all current games at 1920x1200 with 4x aa

New upgrade will cost me £600.00 if I just replace the following

Mothboard @ £200.00
CPU @ £200 i7 930
DDR 6GB @ £200

Current PC Spec
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.16GHz (1333FSB)
Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler
Asus P5Q Deluxe
OCZ 4GB (4 x 1GB) PC2-8500 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2
eVGA GeForce GTX 285 SSC Edition PCI-Express 2.0
2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB ST3500630AS SATA-II 16MB Cache RAID 0
Western Digital Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty 7.1
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case
Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor
Razer Tarantula Advanced Gaming Keyboard
Logitech G9
Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
2 x Noctua NF-S12 800RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin
3 x Antec 120mm Silent case Fans

nice setup exibit - should last a while. It's a balanced config so by the time you punt for a new mobo/cpu I bet you spring for a graphics card then too. When to get a SSD is a bit more subtle I reckon.

Bambam