[Fayko]

Hi guys im looking for help with upgrading my graphics card and finding a good internal hard drive and other things.

i have an asrock mobo with an amd athlong III x2 220 processor (2.80)
4 gb of rams

right now im currently looking at 2x 4gb of ram ddr3 to add more ram so i should be good there (2 of theses )

the only real recent games i play is bf3 and heart of the swarm when it comes and i would enjoy being able to play both on ultra settings and be good. I currently have a nVidia
Geforce gt 520 and it does ok but i want to go bigger.
As for the hard drive ive been kinda low on money so when i built my computer i just ghetto rigged in 2 of my external hard drives 3.5 into my computer and use those. Before they die of over use id like to get a real hard drive i was thinking this one

I dont really have a budget
Thank you for the help

This post has been edited by Fayko: 22 March 2012 - 02:47 AM

[coastie65]

Hi. You didn't tell us which Motherboard you have or have much you would have to work with. The Hard drive is a good choice and I have one of those in here. As for the memory, we would need to know which MOBO you have. With the processor you mentioned, I suspect that it won't support DDR3 Memory. A Video card Upgrade will most likely require a power supply upgrade. A little more information would be helpful.

[Fayko]

asrock m3a770de and maybe 100-300$ Im also running with a 600 watt supply

[coastie65]

Fayko, on 22 March 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

asrock m3a770de and maybe 100-300$ Im also running with a 600 watt supply

OK. Here is an idea;

CPU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103727. - $124.99

Video Card : http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102938 - $129.99

Memory : http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231443 - $39.99

Total : $294.97 You should be good with that upgrade and you can add mor memory later if you'd like.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 22 March 2012 - 09:45 AM

[Fayko]

i dont think ill be able to get a processor atm but do you know how well the graphics card will perform with battlefield? also isnt the memory i linked the same as yours just cheaper?

[techie4fun]

The graphics card power exceeds the requirements for battlefield 3 so you should be able to play it fine. OTOH, the system requirements recommend at least an Intel Core 2 Duo for the processor. I think the lack of power from your current processor will hold back the full potential for the video card. That just means you might not get the full effect, but I think you'll be able to play the game on the settings you desire.

[Rommel]

Fayko, on 22 March 2012 - 10:14 AM, said:

i dont think ill be able to get a processor atm but do you know how well the graphics card will perform with battlefield? also isnt the memory i linked the same as yours just cheaper?

Your RAM link has the same total as Coasties but yours is one module at 4 gigs and coasties is 2 modules 2X4.
Your timings are 9 coasties are 8 which the lower the better here.

One module by itself isn't dual channel.
Two modules at 2 gigs each working in dual channel is better than a single module at 4 gigs.

[Fayko]

Rommel, on 22 March 2012 - 11:39 AM, said:

Fayko, on 22 March 2012 - 10:14 AM, said:

i dont think ill be able to get a processor atm but do you know how well the graphics card will perform with battlefield? also isnt the memory i linked the same as yours just cheaper?

Your RAM link has the same total as Coasties but yours is one module at 4 gigs and coasties is 2 modules 2X4.
Your timings are 9 coasties are 8 which the lower the better here.

One module by itself isn't dual channel.
Two modules at 2 gigs each working in dual channel is better than a single module at 4 gigs.

i was going to buy 2 of the 4g sticks

[coastie65]

Fayko, on 22 March 2012 - 10:14 AM, said:

i dont think ill be able to get a processor atm but do you know how well the graphics card will perform with battlefield? also isnt the memory i linked the same as yours just cheaper?

The biggest issue is how well the exsisting processor will support the video card ( as mentioned by techie4fun in his reply ), and my feeling is that it will come up a bit short and the reason I recommended the one I did. The motherboard you have will support it.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 22 March 2012 - 02:18 PM

[coastie65]

Fayko, on 22 March 2012 - 12:50 PM, said:

Rommel, on 22 March 2012 - 11:39 AM, said:

Fayko, on 22 March 2012 - 10:14 AM, said:

i dont think ill be able to get a processor atm but do you know how well the graphics card will perform with battlefield? also isnt the memory i linked the same as yours just cheaper?

Your RAM link has the same total as Coasties but yours is one module at 4 gigs and coasties is 2 modules 2X4.
Your timings are 9 coasties are 8 which the lower the better here.

One module by itself isn't dual channel.
Two modules at 2 gigs each working in dual channel is better than a single module at 4 gigs.

i was going to buy 2 of the 4g sticks

Okay, then here you go: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231445 4 Gb should do fine though.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 22 March 2012 - 04:48 PM

[LiveBrianD]

Fayko, on 22 March 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

asrock m3a770de and maybe 100-300$ Im also running with a 600 watt supply

What brand of psu? Cheap PSUs, like raidmax ones, can't actually provide their rated wattage.

[Fayko]

diablotek da series 600-watt
And isnt the ram sticks i linked the same thing without the flashy stuff and 30$ cheaper?

[alishathomaz]

Its a good upgrade if you don't have a huge budget. I would recommend to confirm the price from different stores and make sure that power supply is working fine.

[LiveBrianD]

Fayko, on 23 March 2012 - 02:25 AM, said:

diablotek da series 600-watt
And isnt the ram sticks i linked the same thing without the flashy stuff and 30$ cheaper?

Diablotek power supplies aren't known to be quality. I wouldn't expect that to actually provide 600W (maybe more like 450W or less).

[alishathomaz]

Before upgrading graphics card you need to know that is your existing PSU is enough for that. Also check compatibility issues with motherboard.

[waldojim]

Fayko, on 23 March 2012 - 02:25 AM, said:

diablotek da series 600-watt
And isnt the ram sticks i linked the same thing without the flashy stuff and 30$ cheaper?

Alright, I have to say it - this is one of the few situations where I would not trust that power supply to do anything more than the extreme basics. That is a $30 "600 watt" unit. When I pulled up the specs, it will only deliver 480watts where it is needed. Even THAT sounds fishy.

As for your ram, you always want to buy in KITS. That way you get ram that is made exactly the same. Corsair is bad about having multiple revisions of ram. Revisions 4.2 mixed with 3.8 (something I had to deal with as an example) may result in a system that won't boot (worst case scenario) or a complete loss of dual channel capability (about a 15-20% performance hit!). Also, it works out to be cheaper to buy the kit more often than not.

personally, this is the upgrade path I would choose:
AMD 8GB ram kit
Phenom II X4 955
Corsair 500 watt PSU
AMD 7750 Video card

I think that may work out to be a tad over budget - if it does, then drop back to the AMD Athlon X4. You will need a small CPU upgrade for BF3.

Note that while I listed a powersupply that is a lower wattage on the label, it can actually output the power it is rated for, and will do so with considerably more stability. When you start gaming on a PC quality is worth more to the machine than quantity.

This post has been edited by waldojim: 23 April 2012 - 09:26 AM

[coastie65]

I agree. That Corsair would be plenty. What wj has put up would be a good way to go.

[compnovo]

waldojim, on 23 April 2012 - 09:20 AM, said:

personally, this is the upgrade path I would choose:
AMD 8GB ram kit
Phenom II X4 955
Corsair 500 watt PSU
AMD 7750 Video card

I think this is a solid recommendation. Everything listed except the PSU is a shade faster than what I'm running (see specs below), and my desktop plays high-end games great as long as I don't try to max everything out. Prior to the Phenom processor I had the AthlonII X4 that wj recommends as a fallback; also a very solid option if you need to save a few bucks. These specs won't compete with the Intel boxes that are out today but you'll still end up with a stable and fast system.

[LiveBrianD]

waldojim, on 23 April 2012 - 09:20 AM, said:

Fayko, on 23 March 2012 - 02:25 AM, said:

diablotek da series 600-watt
And isnt the ram sticks i linked the same thing without the flashy stuff and 30$ cheaper?

Alright, I have to say it - this is one of the few situations where I would not trust that power supply to do anything more than the extreme basics. That is a $30 "600 watt" unit. When I pulled up the specs, it will only deliver 480watts where it is needed. Even THAT sounds fishy.

As for your ram, you always want to buy in KITS. That way you get ram that is made exactly the same. Corsair is bad about having multiple revisions of ram. Revisions 4.2 mixed with 3.8 (something I had to deal with as an example) may result in a system that won't boot (worst case scenario) or a complete loss of dual channel capability (about a 15-20% performance hit!). Also, it works out to be cheaper to buy the kit more often than not.

personally, this is the upgrade path I would choose:
AMD 8GB ram kit
Phenom II X4 955
Corsair 500 watt PSU
AMD 7750 Video card

I think that may work out to be a tad over budget - if it does, then drop back to the AMD Athlon X4. You will need a small CPU upgrade for BF3.

Note that while I listed a powersupply that is a lower wattage on the label, it can actually output the power it is rated for, and will do so with considerably more stability. When you start gaming on a PC quality is worth more to the machine than quantity.

I agree about the PSU. However, I've never seen a case where two different ram sticks (with the same specs) would cause problems. For instance, I'm running the stock 2GB module as well as a gskill 2GB module in my laptop right now (both with the same speed, timings, voltages, etc). That said, I agree with the components you listed.

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 23 April 2012 - 03:04 PM, said:

I agree about the PSU. However, I've never seen a case where two different ram sticks (with the same specs) would cause problems. For instance, I'm running the stock 2GB module as well as a gskill 2GB module in my laptop right now (both with the same speed, timings, voltages, etc). That said, I agree with the components you listed.

Not only have I seen it, I have owned it. The Corsair XMS2's that I bought - 2 kits of 2x2 800mhz ram. One was revision 3.x (I don't remember exactly right now), and the other a 4.x. I can only use ONE set in a machine at a time - and I cannot mix the sets. They will fail to boot every time if I do anything else.