Upgrade Advice

[=98=]

Re: Upgrade Advice

Alex, that case you recommended does look great, but its a bit on the expensive side (looking to spend around the £100 mark) and is also even larger than my current case! What are your opininons on the Akasa Omega? Do you have any other recommendations at this price point? Having said that, I'm still not decided on whether a large case is a problem (planning on taking PC to Uni), and I'm not too bothered about spending a bit more on a quality case, seeing as they are one of the few PC components that can be considered an investment.

lulz. I'm at the University of Southampton and i bring my rig back and forth. I have the heavier, original Coolermaster Cosmos RC100 (PM me for pics). It's not too bad to move about, i just have to strap it in to my car.

There aren't a lot of great mid-range, subtle cases. I mean, the Coolermaster 690 is a brilliant case on the budget/mid range end of things. It may well be worth a look. It's got good cooling, however, it doesn't quite have the quality finish that the Cosmos series does, but if you look after it, you'd be good to go.

As for graphics, i've always been an Nvidia guy. However, even with the price cuts on 9800's and GTX260's, the Radeon HD4870 still destroys them, both in performance and and price. I've been using it lately for CoD4 on my 32" monitor/TV at a 1920x17xx widescreen resolution. So, it's definitely got the power behind it.

Overclockers is okay, but just okay. I always find their products cost a good £10-£20 more than ebuyer because they show their prices excl. VAT and postage. Plus, myself and others have had bad experiences with the Overclockers returns staff. OC'ers are good for getting the latest technology, but their after sales support is awful.

A lot of people are recommending I upgrade my CPU, but I'm not sure this is a good idea, as my current CPU should overclock to 2.8GHz with a good board, and aren't most modern games GPU limited anyway?

I too have an E6600. It is getting slightly old, but no way does it need upgrading. What you need is a decent motherboard and a decent CPU cooler and get that beast overclocked to at least 3.4ghz. I have mine at that currently with a 8x multiplier. I just bought a new CPU cooler so i can hit a 1.45v Vcore and get it stable at 3.6ghz

At those speeds, it won't bottleneck nowt. It'll also run the most CPU intensive games great.

Also, could anyone explain the differences between all the different Asus P5Q series boards. People on other forums seem to be recommending the P5Q Pro which is one of the cheaper models. Would I miss out on any essential features if I went for this board

I'm not to sure on the different models. I just know Asus boards are good, being an owner of an excellent P5B Deluxe. You need advice from other members or to simply read through a few reviews. Check www.hexus.net for great UK relevant articles.

Finally, would you consider upgrading to 4GB of RAM essential for decent gaming performance in Vista, or is it someting that could be put off for a while?

For Vista, 3gb would be my personal minimum. It runs okay, but slightly slow with 2gb (with superfetch enabled). With 4gb, Vista comes into it's own and really shines. You'll see brilliant performance and rock solid stability. I have never had a BSOD in over a years running on Vista Business 64bit. So, i would advise that you get 4gb.

Hope that helps. If you ever want further support, hit me up on Xfire or ask me for my MSN :)

[Flt. Sgt. Powderhound]

Re: Upgrade Advice

I swear you reported one BSOD a while back.

[=98=]

Re: Upgrade Advice

Ha, maybe. Probably a dodgy overclock.

[Kallum765]

Re: Upgrade Advice

Thanks for the replies!

I'm starting to sway towards the Antec 1200 case. It's relativly affordable, offers great cooling performance and has also recieved many favourable reviews. I even quite like the looks!

As for a new graphics card, I've pretty much decided I'm going with ATI. But now I've got to decide if I might be better off saving some money and opting for the cheaper HD 4850, which still seems more than capable of handling most games at 1680 x 1050. There are also some nice non-reference cards out now, like the HIS IceQ 4:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...)%20-%20Retail

[=98=]

Re: Upgrade Advice

The Antec 1200 is nice, but be aware, it is in no way inconspicuous. It's loud, both in terms of looks and and sound! It's built purely for performance.

As for the graphics cards, i would advise a 4870 if you can spare the cash.