HEY GUYS IMAGONNA UPGRAED MAI COMPUUTAR THIS THREAD PROBABLYS HANST BEEN MAED BEFÖRR

So I've got some questions.

1) Today my GeForce 6600 stopped working (overheated, I guess) so I had to take it away... which is sort of convenient since I was planning to buy a new graphics card anyway. Currently I'm keeping an eye on GF8800 GTS, since it's still remarkably cheaper than a GF8800GTX but still comes pretty close to it hardware-wise (I assume?)...

2) ...but besides getting fancier graphics and DX10 support, do I have to upgrade my CPU for the games of the (near-)future? At the moment I have a Pentium IV 2.66 ghz, so I'd like to know if it has a chance of getting outdated really soon or if I'm still gonna be fine with it for a year or so?

3) And in the case if upgrading my CPU now would be fancy, I'm kind of unaware of the choices. My mobo at the moment is an Intel D915GAG so it got LGA775 so should I get a new CPU for that or upgrade the whole mobo (and in the process get a new tower since this microATX is getting kind of small I guess)?

4) In addition to #2 and #3, what's the difference between Pentium IV and Pentium D? (Besides 20-50 euros) I'm kind of assuming that Pentium D means dual-core, so that would be better... but would it fit to my silly microATX tower and current mobo?

5) In addition to #1, what are good graphics card uh... manufacturers? I mean those things like Gainward, ASUS, PNY, XFX... I've heard PNY's good but any other suggestions?

So... any help please?

THe D in Pentium D stands for Downs.


(Personally I like MSI graphics cards, but whatever)

Ah yes, MSI, forgot that... I think someone in here recommended PNY too.

MSI graphics cards have a very high fail rate, and usually very violent fails.

At least from what I've seen.

Good graphics cards brands:

eVGA
Chaintech
Sapphire
Asus
AOpen
maybe MSI, depending on the card

There are others but that's about the core. See if you can find one of those in your price range, and you should be fine.

S
A
P
P
H
I
R
E

Trust me, they're worth every penny.

I like BFG but I've heard bad things about it :/

If you get a new CPU, avoid Pentium and go Core Duo.

They've been reliable for me. :/

Pentiums are total crap. If your motherboard support it, go for a Core 2. If you get anything better than an 7800GT you'll be CPU limited with a Pentium, and probably a lot less. If your mother board can't support it, just get a cheap video card, it'll be better to just wait.

I like BFG cards not because they're OMG AWESOME QUALITY but because they have excellent customer service and a lifetime warranty. Buy it at any major retailer who honors the MFG warranty and get one that's expensive. You will never buy another video card, because you can utilize the MFG warranty regardless of return period.

Well dang. Then again I could buy the 8800GTS and tag it along in case I upgrade majorly in a year or so, but I'm always fearing that it will get oudated really soon...


...but in any case, what would be a good motherboard? ... Or perhaps more importantly, how do I know which one fits this tower? $_$

XFX has been good to me. When I put my current system together, the XFX version of the cards were clocked a little faster then the rest.

maybe you could just politely tell it to go in your case. PROBLEM SOLVED.

If you can afford a total PC upgrade with in the next five or six months, this might be the way to go. Any more, and you're probably just better off buying something cheap to tide you over.

If your case is full ATX, than pretty much any should. If it's a proprietray OEM case like from Dell, you might have to buy a new case, which would only set you back about 30$ for a cheap one. Good motherboards are a sort of difficult call. I'll have to look at what's available right now.


EDIT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127018 - 60$
This MoBo will probably is kind of a pain when it comes to setting up IDE drives, but for that feature set with that chipset for 60$, that's really nothing to complain about.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115015 -165$ This CPU has the full 4MB L2 cache, and should hit 3+ GHz no problem. You won't be CPU limited for a very long time.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146526 -75$
DDR2's pretty cheap right now, I think if you dig around you can probably get it for a lot less than this. It probably won't OC like crazy, bit it'll get the job done.

That CPU seems tempting, especially because it reads LGA 775 and it just might fit my mobo (even though Intel's page mentions nothing about Core Duo's when cocerning my mobo). They seem to have some of those around here, too...

But now the size of my current microATX tower got me thinking if it could be another reason for the recent meltdown of my GF6600... like, can the direction where the card's fan points participate in overheating? Its fan faced the bottom of the tower, and there were two PCI cards below it...

Yeah, the cards below your GPU could be blocking airflow.

Hmm figured as much.



That doesn't sound that promising... which leads to a totally noob question, would 1.86 ghz Dual Core mean 3.72 ghz if it had just one core? Either way, it would still be better than my 2.66ghz :\

FastGamerr: You need to be absolutely positive that your CPU will work on your motherboard. There were some changes in the interface such that even though the socket is the same, the motherboard may still not support it.

Copied from Wikipedia:

Conroe, Conroe XE and Allendale all use Socket LGA775; however, not every motherboard is compatible with these processors.
Supporting chipsets are:

• Intel: 865PE/G/GV/G, 945P/PL/G/GZ/GC, P65P/G, 975X, P/G/Q965, Q963, 946GZ/PL; X3x, P3x, G3x, Q3x
• NVIDIA: nForce4 Ultra/SLI X16 for Intel, nForce 570/590 SLI for Intel and nForce 650i Ultra/650i SLI/680i LT SLI/680i SLI.
• VIA: P4M800, P4M800PRO, P4M890, P4M900, PT880 Pro/Ultra, PT890.
• SiS: SiS662
• ATI: Radeon Xpress 200 and CrossFire Xpress 3200 for Intel

If it isn't on that list then you're screwed.


Edit: As for that copypasta you had from Wikipedia, I would say it totally doesn't apply anymore.

I had an AMD FX-55 (single core) CPU previously, which was a very strong processor. Now I have a Core 2 Duo and the performance difference is sickening.

Hmm, I just found out that an Intel 946GZ seems to fit a micro-ATX tower like mine and also seems to support Core Duo...

But how would the CPU limit a GF8800GTS if I got one now? If I get some extra money after summer I could go with the motherboard and CPU, but I'm still guessing that using a GF8800GTS now would still have noticeable improvement to the GF6600?