Need recommendations for a system overhaul

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amazon_sephy

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Hello everyone,

Its been a few years since I've done a good upgrading of my system. My videocard has been with me the longest and is most overdue for replacement. The reason I am looking into a system overhaul is for gaming. Games like COD4 and TF2 run with fps in the teen's. So, clearly something needs to be done.



My current setup-

Core2Duo 6300 1.8ghz (first gen c2d) Not to be upgraded

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Mobo (this is a via chipset, bought mainly for agp/pciexpress and ddr1/2 support) This is where I have the most questions. This mobo may serve my needs for the upgrade, thought I'm not sure. Does the 4x limitation on the pci-express really hurt performance? Also being limited to slow ddr2 667mhz ram with a 2gb cap seems like its another performance problem. Does this matter?

1gb ddr1 400mhz memory

Geforce 6 6800gs 256mb (I was using a Radeon 9600 pro 128mb until a few months ago!, thought buying my brothers 6800 gs was the answer but alas it wasn't enough for games like COD4.

Antec 300 watt psu

Dell 2005fpw running at 1680x1050



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I am in college and have a tight budget. I don't want bottom of the barrel hardware but I obviously cant afford the best. What has held me off from just making a videocard upgrade is the simple fact that I know I need a new psu to power it, 300 watts and 1 19amp rail isn't going to cut it. Also videocards have been too expensive for anything decent until recently when the 8800gt came out. I've been unsure about the mobo for some time, and need a recommendations on what chipset to go for and then which model.

Thanks
 
Hi
It might help to post a budget figure...

PCI-E 4x does limit the performance especially when it come to games...

As to the memory, 2gb will be more than enough to run any recent game and future... even the 1gb DDR400 you have now should be enough for a XP system (for now)...
 
Sounded like you already know what you need. I don't call it recommendations but my EVGA board works great for me.
 
Well, what I am unsure of is what new mobo to get, whether or not I should go for the 8800gt 512mb or 256mb. I have just found out that my current mobo doesn't even support the 8800gt.

Is this a good mobo replacement? - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L

Is it worth it to buy a 4gb set of ram for around $65 or should I just buy a 2gb set for around $30? Is ddr2 1066 worth it, or should I stick with cheap ddr2 800?

Looking to spend less than $400
 
since you have a limit (less than 400)...

the mobo GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L is a good choice...
the graphics can be based on the 8800gt or Radeon 3870...
as to the memory, stick with ddr2 800...

if you base your choice on these outlines, the total wont reach $400..
 
Ok, that sounds good. The only problem is that i forgot about the psu. I simply need one that can power the new video card. Mine is only a 300 watt 19amp one. I was hunting down psu's and there seems to be problems with corsair psu' not working with the 8800gt's. Can you or anyone suggest a good psu that wont cost a fortune? I'm considering this one, OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI, it got good reviews at anandtech. Its somewhat pricey, is it worth the price? Thanks
 
There's a G.SKILL kit on Newegg that has great timings and it's for only about $45 or so with free shipping.
Also, the only Corsair PSU that has a problem with the eVGA 8800GT in particular is the HX620, which is overkill for your system. Try the 550VX instead, it has a single +12V rail delivering 41A, which is more than enough for your entire system. I had the OCZ GameXStream before and although it is good, it has too much ripple at high loads, which will destroy components over time. So play it safe and get the 550VX instead.
 
don't forget to use mike lin's startup editor program (google it) to stop programs from autoloading upon boot. This will speed up some CPU cycles.
 
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