gotmilk Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 I'm probably getting this video card for Christmas. The pictures below show my current setup. 1. Is this a good choice? 2. What should I upgrade next (processor, memory, etc.), and what model do you suggest (nothing too expensive)? 3. Do I need any extra cooling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki123 Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 Depends on what you have rigth now, post what your box has, and I guess we'll see if its good or not. edit: oops, didnt see the pics, will say in a min --- If you are planning on doing some serious gaming, go for that grfx card!, I would then upgrade the ram a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richcornucopia Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 More ram after the video card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan314 Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 Its a good card. I have a 6600 its very outdated and i run most games very well, 7600 is a very good choice imo. You would probably want to go with more ram as the others said as well. What kind of socket do you have in your PC you should definately get a core 2 duo, They are very good processors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kamil234 Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 i agree, i'd get more ram..you want at least a gig..i have 2.. than you can get a processor, dual cores are nice...don't go for high end stuff, entry dual core processor gets the job done (i have a x2 4200+) EDIT: you might want to go for a 7600 GT instead of the GS.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlewis23 Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 its a good card. the only down fall is the 128bit memory. I would also add more ram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 you might want to go for a 7600 GT instead of the GS.. I would agree with that one.. Also at some point before soon you might want to think moving to an Athlon 64 or x2... The XP series was great but they are beginning to die out and it is almost impossible to find the chips anymore. If you are even thinking about running vista get at least 1GB of ram if not 1.5GB. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130017 Slightly over clocked.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlewis23 Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130017 Slightly over clocked.. i would go with that card over the other one because of the faster ram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disturbed Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 id do more ram instead the graphix card - both if you have the $$$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disturbed Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 wait wait....thats the good ol' amd 2400+ xp ? ....the motherboards in that time did not have pci express and I doubt they made some socket A motherboards with pci express...in that case, that video won't work for your setup edit: if im right that you are running socketA - scrap the entire idea of upgrading video card - i would advise that you bump up the ram to 1GB and when you have $$$ available change out the entire set-up I have a socket A rig as my 2nd computer, similar to yours .... 2400+xp athlon, 2gb ram, ati radeon 9000pro - its decent, but not good enough for vista - even in windows xp it is a little sluggish when multitasking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlewis23 Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 wait wait....thats the good ol' amd 2400+ xp ? ....the motherboards in that time did not have pci express and I doubt they made some socket A motherboards with pci express...in that case, that video won't work for your setup i just cought that when i was reading swimmers post. I dont think anyone made a socket A mobo with pci express. your probally going to have to get a AGP video card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 yeah... there are no chipsets for the socket A platform that support PCI-E.. So you have two options... either get the agp version.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150210 or make the move 754/939/AM2.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlewis23 Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 yeah... there are no chipsets for the socket A platform that support PCI-E.. So you have two options... either get the agp version.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150210 or make the move 754/939/AM2.. he might as well save his money and go get a new motherboard and processor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 yeah $190 for a video card that is going to be run on a socket A system.. I would agree either put the money towards a new motherboard or CPU. There is only so much you can do on the socket A platform anymore before it becomes a money pit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted December 12, 2006 Author CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 Ok, well, suggestions for new motherboards/processors that won't cost too much? How do I find out if I'm on Socket A? What kind of cooling will I need to add? Keep in mind guys that I'm also saving for a "desktop replacement" at the same time, this is just going to hold me over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlewis23 Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 Ok, well, suggestions for new motherboards/processors that won't cost too much? How do I find out if I'm on Socket A? Keep in mind guys that I'm also saving for a "desktop replacement" at the same time, this is just going to hold me over. here is a decent motherboard and a cheap but fast processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131049 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103539 your probably going to have to go with onboard video for now since your old card will not work in most new motherboards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted December 12, 2006 Author CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 Wow, those are cheap! I can afford to get those and buy the video card and maybe some RAM if I also use the Christmas money I'll be getting for other people. But back to that 7600 GT.... I need something with a VGA port, my monitor is VGA only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 the product that I posted and most of the new graphic card have a converter that goes from DVI to VGA.. it is that little adapter in the pictures. Here are some other great combos.. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2717610&Sku=MBM-A8N5X-3700 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2532189&CatId=1619 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted December 12, 2006 Author CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 Oh, hehe. I'd like to stay cheap on the motherboard so I can afford to buy everything else, so will that one that dlewis posted for $59.99 suffice? Now, about that RAM, I'd like to add another 512 MB, any good but cheap solutions? BTW guys thanks for all your help so far, and for being patient with my lack of computer knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outlaw69 Posted December 12, 2006 CID Share Posted December 12, 2006 I have the 7600gt and it is a real good card for the money.but for alittle more you can get 7900gs http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130056 as for the memory just make sure the memory timings match your's.use CPUID to check your timings.http://www.cpuid.com/ If you go with socket 939 I would go with this motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131569 and the 3200 64 venice core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted December 13, 2006 Author CID Share Posted December 13, 2006 Thanks outlaw. Will there be much difference between that processor you posted and this one dlewis posted? I'm going to wait to see how much my upgrade is going to cost and how much money I get for Christmas to see if I can get that 7900 GS. Ok, I did the latency test but I can't make heads or tails of it. Do you mind telling me what it means? Cache latency computation, ver 1.0 www.cpuid.com Computing ... stride 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 size (Kb) 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 8 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 16 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 32 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 64 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 128 4 6 9 18 20 21 20 20 256 4 6 9 18 20 20 21 31 512 25 41 85 170 303 335 350 325 1024 25 56 86 181 306 336 349 325 2048 25 45 88 173 340 330 312 356 4096 38 62 87 173 356 315 342 337 8192 25 44 85 202 323 348 325 343 16384 45 42 85 171 321 351 311 352 32768 20 40 86 170 321 319 351 342 2 cache levels detected Level 1 size = 64Kb latency = 3 cycles Level 2 size = 256Kb latency = 22 cycles Is that even what I needed to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted December 13, 2006 Author CID Share Posted December 13, 2006 Here's some other stuff you might need about my memory. Translation? What kind of RAM do I need to buy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kamil234 Posted December 13, 2006 CID Share Posted December 13, 2006 you need ddr pc2700 ram. or look up what kind of mother board you have and see whats the maximum speed it supports might want to go to AM2 socket if you want AMD.. since its the newest one out...you would be set for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted December 13, 2006 Author CID Share Posted December 13, 2006 Ok, how's this? Do I need dual-channel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kamil234 Posted December 13, 2006 CID Share Posted December 13, 2006 that would be fine, make sure you have 4 slots on your motherboard tho, not 2.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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