What to upgrade on my PC?

[slake]

Okay, so I kinda needa save my money, but I need a new PC... so I'm going down the upgrade route.

My current specs are:

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T @ 2.80GHz
4GB RAM
1GB Radeon HD 5770
640GB Western Digital Caviar Green

I do spend a lot of time gaming on it, along with my sister.

She only plays The Sims 3, but I play GTA, League of Legends, Football Manager and would like to play some more games coming out in the future.

The motherboard I have is a Asus M4A87TD.

Ideally I only want to upgrade the RAM and graphics card, and possibly put in a second harddrive.

I'm looking at getting another 4GB or 8GB of RAM and I was looking at the GTX 670, but I'm not entirely sure if my current PC can handle this.
The PSU is a Corsair TX650W.

But I think the 670 will push the budget too far.

 

[vanthus]

You have the same motherboard and PSU as myself,those upgrades would be fine.I'm thinking of upgrading GPU and ram myself,another 4GB would be plenty.

 

[slake]

I wouldn't be able to have two different speed RAM cards would I?

If not I was looking at:

RAM: 8GB GSkill Ripjaws @ 1600MHz
Video Card: Palit GTX 670 Jetstream or a 660Ti.
HardDrive: WD Velociraptor 250GB.

 

[vanthus]

Mixing RAM speed is possible if they have the same cas latency and recommended voltage,but not advisable,Your RAM would probably run at the speed of the slowest DIMM,that's if it worked at all.

 

[slake]

Hmm, ideally I just want 12GB rather then 8GB or 16GB.

But I don't think GSkill do single 4GB RAM cards.

Would that GFX card burn out my CPU though? If I went for the 670?

 

[Karnor00]

Would that GFX card burn out my CPU though? If I went for the 670?

Well it wouldn't burn out the CPU. But, even though the GPU is the most important item for gaming, if you put a top of the line GPU together with a fairly old CPU you can end up limiting performance due to the CPU.

That said, your CPU isn't too bad, but as an estimate, you'd probably be very close to the point that the CPU starts limiting your performance - possibly crossing it in some games.

Given the price of the 670, you might get fairly similar performance with a 660ti.

 

[slake]

Hmm, what about a 7950 instead of the 660Ti or 670?

My screen resolution is only 1980 x 1080.

Also my case is a Coolermaster CM Storm Sniper, so plenty of room lol.

 

[keynes]

Hmm, what about a 7950 instead of the 660Ti or 670?

My screen resolution is only 1980 x 1080.

Also my case is a Coolermaster CM Storm Sniper, so plenty of room lol.

I'd choose the HD 7950, I think you still get some free games with an AMD gpu.

 

[slake]

Which of the two/three run better for my resolution, as I'm looking on anandtech and it seems the GTX's have better FPS on the lower resolutions.

Here is the HD 7950 I'm looking to buy.

 

[Karnor00]

The GTX 670 is a bit better, but more expensive, and as mentioned your CPU may struggle a little to quite max it out, at least on some games.

The GTX 660ti and HD7950 are very very close in performance. It varies from game to game as to which will run better. I'd probably go with whichever one you can get cheaper.

 

[slake]

I think I'll leave the GTX 670, as theirs no point spending that much if I can't use it's full potential.

Also funnily enough the GTX 660Ti costs the same as that HD 7950.. lol so yeah..

I need to read comparisons etc to see what to go for, atm... the HD 7950 does come with 3 free games, so that's kinda persuading me a lil, but if the GTX 660Ti performs better... then I dunno.

Anyone got either of these cards?

 

[slake]

I've decided to order the Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X with the three free games and 20% of MOH.

It should be here tomorrow, so I shall be installing it when it comes, I'm right in thinking it's get a simple unscrew, unplug pull out on the old card then slot the new card in, screw it down and plug it in?

Next month I shall either upgrade the RAM to 8GB 1600MHz or should I get a 250GB Velociraptor, while it's decent priced?

 

[keynes]

It should be here tomorrow, so I shall be installing it when it comes, I'm right in thinking it's get a simple unscrew, unplug pull out on the old card then slot the new card in, screw it down and plug it in?

Yes, make sure you ground yourself first.

 

[vanthus]

I've decided to order the Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X with the three free games and 20% of MOH.

It should be here tomorrow, so I shall be installing it when it comes, I'm right in thinking it's get a simple unscrew, unplug pull out on the old card then slot the new card in, screw it down and plug it in?

Best to uninstall the existing graphics driver first.
Click on Start
Open the Control Panel
Select Programs and Features
Select AMD (ATI) Catalyst Install Manager
Click on Change
Click on Next when prompted for the Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for AMD Catalyst Install Manager,
Select Express Uninstall All Software

 

[slake]

Yes, make sure you ground yourself first.

So just touch a screw on the PSU?

------------

Also how do I choose between RAM brands?

I want something a bit faster if possible.

I was looking at GSkill RipjawsX @ 1600MHz, I can't have anything higher due to my motherboard.
But I have no idea what to look at to define which is the better brand etc..

Is it something to do with the Timings?
Help!

Also should I go 8GB or 16GB?

I have so many plans up until March, I'm trying to upgrade on a monthly basis to spread out the cost of things.

Would my CPU be nice and stable at 3.4GHz? Obviously I will upgrade from the stock cooler to deal with the OC.

 

[slake]

The card is here.

Now my only concern is that I have 4GB RAM and a 3GB card... so I'll only have 1GB RAM to operate with... should I be worried?

 

[kruppsy]

Your card's RAM is a completely separate entity from your mobo RAM. Only integrated cards utilise the PC RAM and Im assuming you got the 7950? So the 4GB should be left intact.

 

[slake]

Ah alright, well I'm gonna go out and try buy some Corsair Vengence 8GB at 1600MHz.

I was gonna wait til next month to get it but... Corsair's a good brand at the most I can run is 16GB at 1600MHz.

 

[slake]

EDIT: I sorted the problem I found the second PCI-E connector tucked away neatly behind the motherboard.