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PC Upgrade

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Lazy Bonzo, Feb 5, 2006.

  1. Lazy Bonzo Gems: 24/31
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    [​IMG] Ok now that I have a regular income coming in it's time to upgrade my old stagnating pc and bring in some fancy toys.

    Here's what I have in mind:
    I already have cd/dvd drives, and a gig and a half of ram to add in. I also have the monitor and speakers from my current pc to use.

    Seeing as I want to get some serious cooling on this rig I'm opting for a Coolermaster case (with 2 fans included) and an Enermax to power everything:

    Finally comes the graphics card, I'm going for a nvidia geforce 7800gt (my budget can't quite stretch to a gtx) and leaning towards one of the XFX factory overclocked ones (the price difference is small enough for the extra boost in perfomance). However I am a little confused by a site that appears to offer an identical XFX but with a £20 price difference.

    The two items are:
    This one and This one (the pvt70gudf3)

    Now aside from the "pvt70gudf3" in the name of the cheaper model I can't see any difference in specs. And googling pvt70gudf3 just gives me links to other e-tailers. Does anyone know what the (pvt70gudf3) indicates?

    Also on newer motherboard's that support SATA is it normally the case that they also have IDE sockets that can support IDE hard drives (because I have a 160gb IDE hard drive that I'd like to be able to use in this pc, if only for transferring data without using a mass of dvd/cd's).

    Finally if anyone has any suggestions on alternative parts or generally any comments (if anyone can suggest a cheaper UK site which they have personal experience with then that'd be good too).

    Thanks in advance :happy:

    [ February 05, 2006, 17:29: Message edited by: Taluntain ]
     
  2. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
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    GF7800 GT has its standards, so it doesn't matter which brand you pick. I personally went with MSI, since my previous GF4400 had worked reliably (despite the occasional noise). Just ensure that it is PCIe and that your motherboard supports it. Consider taking a 500 W PSU, though, if it saves you a few bucks. Otherwise OK setup.
     
  3. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    Yes, IDE is still widely supported, but expect SATA and SATA-2 to eventually completly phase out IDE.

    And the Barracuda hard drive is a good choice. If you're willing to sacrifice a bit of space in exchange for performance, definitively consider a WD Raptor. It's definitively worth every single extra buck spent.

    Otherwise, a good setup.
     
  4. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Why pay for an SLI motherboard when you aren't going for an SLI setup?

    Also, I haven't seen optical drives (CD or DVD) headed towards SATA yet, so as long as they're IDE, motherboards will have IDE support.
     
  5. Lazy Bonzo Gems: 24/31
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    Getting an sli motherboard to allow me to go sli in the future. Seeing as how whenever I've upgraded before I've gone for a middle-lowend motherboard which by the time I've been able to upgrade has been obsolete in terms of processor and compatibility. This way I have the option to add in a second graphics card in the future.
     
  6. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    BTA, SATA optical drives are uncommon, yes, but they indeed exist. But it goes without saying that they don't come cheap, however. I have never worked with one myself, however.

    Here's one model of SATA DVD drive
     
  7. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    @Lazy Bonzo: To be honest, that is an unlikely event. SLI is really for those who have money to burn and want the absolute best they can get right now. At some hypothetical future date, you would likely be better off getting one of the new generation graphics cards than a second identical graphics card to use with the one you have in SLI.

    But, if the motherboard has what you want and you can't find one with the same features without SLI, it's your money...
     
  8. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    Having an SLI motherboard is not a bad thing, but dual videocards is a definitive luxury. It's possible to find decent graphic cards with a reasonable price tag to fill the two PCI Express slots, nontheless.
     
  9. Lazy Bonzo Gems: 24/31
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    Thanks for the replies, I've ordered my upgrade parts now. Only real difference is the graphics card which I opted for an EVGA over an XFX model, still factory overclocked (about 5mhz less) but a better price, and actually available at the same e-tailer as other products I was buying - so I didn't pay extra delivery.
     
  10. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    True, the problem is that for the cost of two lesser cards, you can get a better single card with better performance (better than the two in SLI) and features. So, SLI is for those that want absolute top performance and can spend the money for two top-of-the-line Nvidia cards.

    Oh, and of course with SLI you are limited to Nvidia devices.
     
  11. Tap Dancing Oyster Gems: 7/31
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    Blackthorne is correct - by the time you want to invest in another card you'll be better off buying a newer generation card. For instance 2 6800gts are not much faster than a 7800gt and in some instances slower. And even at this point they are quite a bit more expensive. Nvidia has bought SLI forward in that you can now pretty much mix and match cards as long as they have the same core, but I'm still adverse to it unless your a real enthusiast.
    I have the Asus SLI premium - mainly because of the ease of use if and when I want to upgrade to a dual core processor. And if you do want to run SLI it was the only board you could switch it on and off in windows with (may have changed now) But I'm a great beleiver in getting the finest motherboard you can afford - its the hardest thing to replace and the foundation of your whole PC.
    You've made a good choice with the processor and graphics - I also have a 7800gt - its quick enough to play anything at 1280x1024 with most things turned up.
    I might have waited until M2 came out - as it might make 939 obselete fairly quickly.
     
  12. Abdel - Bhaal Spawn Gems: 13/31
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    To bad most of the AMD64 939 sockets will be out dated by mid to late 2007. If I had the cash right now I would hold on to it till 2nd Qtr or 3rd Qtr to purchase the new 940 sockets AMD is releasing. The old 939 socket is going to be used for their lower end CPUs after 2nd Qtr this year. Big price drop for the current AMD64 chips come 3rd maybe 4th Qtr.
     
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