Recommendations to Improve my PC

[imported_Indecision]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

• Web Design (Photoshop CS3, Flash CS3, Dreamweaver CS3)
  World of Warcraft, Battlefield 2. Both played at 1440x900

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

• $180

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

• USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

• nVidia

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

• nVidia 7900GT 256MB PCI x8

• WD Raptor 10,000 RPM 150gig HDD

• 3 gigs of RAM

• Antec 500w PSU

• Audigy 2 Sound card

• Monitor/Keyboard

I am looking to upgrade my mobo and CPU to perform faster in the tasks I'll be using my computer for. Right now I have an AMD X2 3800+ Socket 939, but I'm finding it to lag in these programs. Any suggestions in my price range would be very appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[DSF]

Are you open to overclocking?

 

[imported_Indecision]

Not particularly, I'd prefer just out-of-the-box performance. Unless you're about to say if I overclock my 3800 I can get much better performance haha

 

[jaqie]

That says nothing about how much RAM you have currently, or even if you have matched pairs for dual channel operation or not.

Are you *sure* your video card is an x8 pci card? PCI has no x numbers, and almost all PCIe video cards are either x16 or x1 (there are a few x1 out there). I'm starting to think that is an AGP video card, but that needs to be nailed down by you.

 

[imported_Indecision]

Hey Jaqie,

My card is a PCI Express x8, I have the box and also my System Info on the nVidia control panel confirms it as well.

My current amount of RAM is 3 gigs.

 

[jaqie]

a core2duo and compatible motherboard would be great, but you would also have to replace the RAM.
If your budget includes selling off your old parts, then you will be able to easily stay within your budget.

The problem is that your bottleneck doesn't seem to be CPU, it seems to be video card, that should be replaced if your gaming matters most, which it seems to from your OP.

 

[imported_wired247]

get the fastest CPU that you can slap in your AMD motherboard for <$180.

If your budget increases to $500 or so, then get a P35 motherboard and something like an e4500, get a decent $30 CPU cooler, learn how to overclock, and a 9600GT

 

[imported_Indecision]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115031 -- E4500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128059 -- Gigabyte Intel MoBo

So a setup like this?

 

[jaqie]

Your motherboard is an s939, which uses DDR ram.
Your new motherboard is LGA775, which uses DDR2 ram.
Like I said, you will need new RAM to run that.
Selling your current MOBO/CPU/RAM in FS/FT or whatever will net you a pretty penny for buying new RAM.

 

[0roo0roo]

you need a better video card.
ram is ridiculously cheap these days. 15 dollars after rebate at frys for 2gb ddr2 this week i think. under 50 if you want 4gb.

 

[imported_Indecision]

Alright so what type of complete setup without overreaching say a budget of...$400 would yield a good upgrade? I plan on keeping my graphics card because WoW isn't really GPU intensive and I'm not looking to purchase Crysis or anything like that.

 

[jaqie]

You want our advice, but won't listen to it. Either do what you want or listen... just about everyone is telling you you need a better vidcard for what you run.

Including me... and I have a system very similar to yours: a64 x2 3800+ , 7900GS 256MB and have played WoW.

 

[imported_Indecision]

So what would you say about this card?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130082

Or do you recommend another staying below...$160?

 

[jaqie]

Very nice choice. I would go with that (or possibly a similar one with 512MB ram).
See, with MMOs, they are different then other games in that... Ok ill take it to WoW specific.
Go to ironforge, then to the auction house (or the horde equivalent). Check out how many different textures and models you see all at once. All those different texutres and models take video memory. It has gotten to the point that even a 512MB card can be overwhelmed and the system will be using main ram as texture ram, which then slows the whole system down as the vidcard is forced to fetch data from the main system ram which is much slower and lower bandwidth then the vidcard onboard ram.

In short, faster graphics engine on a vidcard for a MMO is good, but more RAM and more throughput to the RAM is even better. The fact that card is GDDR3 will help the bandwidth a lot, and so will the 320bit memory interface, but if you can find a similar card with more RAM your performance especially in active crowded areas will be much better.

~edit~
After a cursory look at the egg, it seems that there is no card under your price point with such high RAM bandwidth as the one you chose with more RAM. I would say you have the best one already chosen that is under your max price.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: Indecision
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115031 -- E4500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128059 -- Gigabyte Intel MoBo

So a setup like this?

+ 2 x 1gb = $35 of DDR2 800 ram

VERY GOOD UPGRADE.
then use the rest of your money for a video card. or reuse yours for now, it should handle those games fine.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: Indecision
So what would you say about this card?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130082

Or do you recommend another staying below...$160?

i don't know what jaqie is smoking, but thats a horrible choice for a video card. that card is VERY last gen and is very outdated and outperformed by newer cards.
$160

$150

both will give similar performance for the $$

 

[jaqie]

You need to read the rules as for insulting other members, and then you need to read my post on the bandwidth requirement for MMO games. You also need to read the post about how his DDR ram is incompatible with the DDR2 system you are recommending - he will not even have a whole system if he does what you recommend, and with the DDR2 you recommend it will take him over his budget of ~$160-180.

 

[biostud]

If you want better gaming performance you need to upgrade your videocard, if you want better speed in your other software you need a CPU+RAM+mboard upgrade.

I think you should be able to reach a 20% overclock quite easily on the CPU and then spend the money on a new videocard.

 

[MarcVenice]

Let's keep it friendly shall we.

I'm not going to comment on who is wrong or who is right. But if you really want to help the OP, get some benchmarks to either prove or disprove that WoW runs better on a 8800gts 320mb with more memory bandwith then on a HD3870 or 9600GT or similar videocard. Or even better, does he need a new videocard to get more framerates, or a cpu/ram/mobo overhaul?

 

[jaqie]

Thanks, that's what I wanted in the first place.
If someone disagrees with me, fine. If someone doesn't want my advice, that's fine too. If they disagree then they can find some imperical evidence that I am wrong, and if so I will read it and if it seems on the up and up I will agree and probably admit to being wrong.
But the second someone says I am wrong with nothing but an insult (which includes an insinuation that I do illegal drugs) we have a problem.
My additude about free advice is it's just that, free. If I was getting paid I would have no problem hunting down imperical evidence to prove what I am saying is right, but I'm not, so I just rely on the research I have done for myself in the past (that I have forgotten the url to, who remembers the url to every article and review they have ever read?). If someone wants my advice, that's great. If someone wants to ignore it or prove that I am wrong, that's great too. But I simply am not going to go hunt down links for some anonymous poster especially one that insults me, they can have the argument, the thread, the whole dang board if they want. I'm here to help people with my knowledge, not win arguments. If the OP (or anyone else) wants proof of what I am saying, there's a tool called google.

 

[Pabster]

RAM is so cheap now that it is a no-brainer to max it out. And likely the single largest performance enhancement short of a major component.

 

[jaqie]

The OP has a s939 system. the largest sticks available in DDR that I have found are 1GB, and most s939 mobos have 4 slots, meaning max is 4GB. taking the OP's system from 3GB to 4GB won't help much.