Opinions on upgrade

[raildogg]

Hi everyone, I have the following system and was wondering what could use some upgrading. I am a mild gamer who is interested in buying some newer titles. I don't really do any heavy tasks on my computer which requires a very powerful computer. I am just wondering what would be a good upgrade. Here are the specs:

AMD Athlon X4 635
Gigabyte GA-880GA motherboard with integrated graphics that I use
G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
500GB HD
520W Seasonic PSU

23" LCD monitor - 1920x1080
Windows 7
Cooler Master Elite 335

I think I want to upgrade my graphics to a GTX 460 or some other similar graphics card in that price range. I am just wondering if upgrading my RAM to 12GB by adding 8GB(2x4GB) would help as well. I want to keep the RAM running in dual channel so I assume I would have to add two matching RAM modules. I would like to keep the upgrade under $170.

I would appreciate any comments. I want to add some performance boost to my system although I really don't need it. I guess I just want to do it.

 

[lehtv]

1. Min and max budget for the upgrade?
1. Monitor resolution?
2. Current operating system and case?
3. Is your existing RAM 1.5volt or lower?
4. Any strong brand biases?

 

[raildogg]

I changed my OP, thanks for that.

The RAM I currently have is 1.5V and I don't have any real brand preferences.

 

[lehtv]

OK. Since you don't do anything particularly heavy, upgrading the CPU and/or RAM is ruled out.

Your integrated graphics is obviously the biggest gaming bottleneck. If you'd like better framerates or the ability to play more demanding games, upgrade - for $170 you could get anything up to a GTX 560, but even at the $100 price point you would get a huge boost to gaming performance (not necessarily enough to play all titles at 1080p).

In general computing, your HDD is the biggest bottleneck. Buying a 64GB SSD and installing the OS and programs there would make everything wonderfully responsive. I take it your mobo also has SATA 6gb/s which an SSD would benefit from. A good 64GB SSD would cost about $75-85 (crucial m4, samsung 830), leaving another $90 or so for a GPU upgrade such as HD6750.

Do you think you might want to enjoy better sound quality in games, movies and music? For $170 you can get a pretty nice set of headphones and a sound card to go with them.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I would do a GPU upgrade.

 

[raildogg]

I would lean towards the graphics card option since thats the most upgradeable item currently. I appreciate the suggestion of an SSD but that would put me a bit over the price range for this upgrade. Or is the speed bump really noticeable from an SSD hard drive? I do a lot of surfing, watching movies, etc. Not a heavy load on the hard drive I would imagine. The headphones are a good suggestion as well but I'm happy with my speakers right now so I will also leave that for later.

Don't you think the GTX 560 might be a bit too much for my computer? I don't demand too much from the graphics card, just enough to play the new games at relatively high settings.

I'm leaning towards the GTX 460 as it is relatively cool and a bit faster than the Radeon 7770. I would appreciate an opinion on this.

Thanks.

 

[mfenn]

IMHO, the SSD is going to make the biggest difference in general usage. Everything you do on your computer besides gaming will just happen much more quickly with an SSD. It's one of those things where you really get used to the benefits and then get really annoyed when you use an HDD based system.

For $170:

Crucial M4 64GB $73
6770 $100 AR

 

[raildogg]

If by adding an SSD and a graphics card will allow me to keep the computer running well for a couple more years, then bumping up the budget a bit might not be a bad idea.

Do you think that the 6670 will be sufficient for gaming at a 1920x1080 resolution? I don't game heavy but I also would like good details in some newer games. I was leaning towards the GTX 460 first and then when a deal on a SSD comes, I might get that later. The 64GB SSD is a bit low on capacity.

I'm just trying to maximize the upgradeability potential of this PC to keep it running well for a while.

Thanks for the help.

 

[lehtv]

6670 is pretty inadequate for 1080p. In new games, it can't handle eye candy... but they might look good enough for you at low settings as well. Check out some 6670 reviews

64GB is indeed low capacity but it doesn't need to house more than the operating system and program files, application data etc. Loading times in games are fine on a 7200 RPM hard disk. However it is tempting to go for a 128GB drive since they're about 50% better $/GB.

Here's what I'd do: just buy a good 1080p GPU now, one that will play new games at acceptable image quality for a couple of years. And leave the SSD for later. Why? Because a graphics card's performance relative to the requirements of games degrades over time, i.e. it needs to be continually upgraded to keep up with gaming engine technology - whereas an SSD is something you buy once and that's that, plus SSD prices are still going down.

 

[Durvelle27]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102908 HD6850

 

[mfenn]

If by adding an SSD and a graphics card will allow me to keep the computer running well for a couple more years, then bumping up the budget a bit might not be a bad idea.

Do you think that the 6670 will be sufficient for gaming at a 1920x1080 resolution? I don't game heavy but I also would like good details in some newer games. I was leaning towards the GTX 460 first and then when a deal on a SSD comes, I might get that later. The 64GB SSD is a bit low on capacity.

I'm just trying to maximize the upgradeability potential of this PC to keep it running well for a while.

Thanks for the help.

Who's talking about a 6670? A 6770 is quite a lot faster than that. I didn't recommend a higher-end card because one would be bottlenecked by your X4 635. A 64GB SSD is a little tight, but it is plenty of space for the core OS and frequently used apps. You're not going to be installing any games on it, but games don't benefit much from an SSD anyway.