Question about computers

[XXzz-Trauma-zzXX]

I am looking into getting a new graphics card for my PC as my current PC has an integrated Nvidia GeForce 6150 LE (Crappy yes I know). So my question is if I buy a new graphics card will I have to buy a new processor along with it to help the graphics run stable or can I install a new graphics card without worrying about anything else.

 

[FreakingHell]

You don't have to replace your processor, but you will need to know what graphics slot you have on your motherboard before you buy a new card.

Your old CPU will probably bottleneck newer GPU's, but I wouldn't be too worried about it; you will still get a nice performance increase.

 

[XXzz-Trauma-zzXX]

FreakingHell can you please explain to me what a bottleneck is?

 

[DragonD]

What type cpu do you have?
What's your PS?
What slots do you have available?
How much room do you have in your case?

budget?

 

[GBear]

Imagine the neck of a wine bottle lol. That's bottle necking. Your CPU will prevent a high end GPU from performing at it's maximum potential.

 

[XXzz-Trauma-zzXX]

Imagine the neck of a wine bottle lol. That's bottle necking. Your CPU will prevent a high end GPU from performing at it's maximum potential.

Ah ok. So its not going to really harm my computer if i only upgrade the Graphics card. The graphics card just wont run to its max?

And dragon here is my rig info.

Manufacturer:
Compaq Presario 061
Processor:
AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3400+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8GHz
Memory:
446MB RAM
Hard Drive:
112 GB
Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE
Monitor:
Plug and Play Monitor
Sound Card:
Realtek HD Audio rear output
Speakers/Headphones:
Keyboard:
USB Root Hub
Mouse:
USB Root Hub
Mouse Surface:
Operating System:
Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
Motherboard:
Computer Case:

The OS should be the only thing that isnt right.



Here is an image to show you guys how much room I have. That card in that slot has a green port that looks like an ethernet would plug into it but I dont use it. Im pretty sure those are the slots that a graphics card would fit into. I know its dirty inside. I need to clean it out a bit.

 

[JunK]

don't even bother trying to upgrade that, get a new one...its long overdue

could build something 900x better than that for like 4-500 bucks

 

[PewPewBangBang]

indeed.....as junk said, don't bother. Its a definite that you will bottleneck if you get a new GPU as all of your other components are slow and old.

YOU NEED A NEW OVERHAUL. Your gonna have to invest and buy a whole new computer, i recommend you build your own or something. Makes upgrading in future a lot easier.

 

[GBear]

indeed.....as junk said, don't bother. Its a definite that you will bottleneck if you get a new GPU as all of your other components are slow and old.

YOU NEED A NEW OVERHAUL. Your gonna have to invest and buy a whole new computer, i recommend you build your own or something. Makes upgrading in future a lot easier.

Not just easier upgrading but your parts will be higher quality. What a lot of companies do for cost reduction is include lower speed ram and a cheap PSU. They could say 8GB of RAM but the ram could be just terrible.

 

[Saeten]

indeed.....as junk said, don't bother. Its a definite that you will bottleneck if you get a new GPU as all of your other components are slow and old.

YOU NEED A NEW OVERHAUL. Your gonna have to invest and buy a whole new computer, i recommend you build your own or something. Makes upgrading in future a lot easier.

Yeah if you got a new GPU ex: a 9800GTX+ it would run like a couple percent better than your 6150LE.

 

[3vlNomad]

What's your budget Razor? What is the MOST you will spend on building a computer?

As the guys above said, custom made is the way to go. You won't have as many compatibility problems and you will be saving a lot of money by not buying a prebuilt comp.

here are a few suggestions for you:

Memory: ($225) CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

CPU: ($280) Intel Core i7 920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
[Don't get the i7 that are better than the 920, if you get watercooling you can OC the 920 to over 4ghz easily and save hundreds]

GPU: ($195ea) XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
(I would recommend getting two of these if you can afford it, or something similar to this quality if you prefer nVidia)

Any motherboard that will meet the requirements of the products listed above will work, but I recommend getting something of high quality. Also, any Full Tower ATX case will work but again, spending more on a GOOD case is never frowned upon. If you get a mid tower you might have problems getting the new GPU's to fit.

PSU: ($320) SILVERSTONE ST1200 1200W modular w/ Active PFC (80+ efficiency certified)
[I only recommend getting this 1200w psu if you plan on running 2 or more GPU's in the future, an 700-800w would probably be fine for just one GPU]


The build I suggest (above) will run you about $1500 if you keep your old hard drives and optical bays, but you will be close to the front edge of technology.

If you have money to blow here are a few suggestions for hard drives:

Get an Areca raid controller, I think the cheapest one I've seen runs close to $400. These are meant for high end server setups but you will need something of this quality for the hard drives listed below as Marvell still hasn't perfected their raid controllers and their Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) tends to crap out.

Get some Fujitsu 150gb 15,000rpm SAS hard drives (they are server hard drives and are BUILT TO LAST). They blow the WD Raptors out of the water when it comes to speed and stability. These will run you close to $350/ea and you will need the Areca controller card or a motherboard that supports SAS (motherboards that support SAS have Marvell chips and tend to fail often)

If you have the Areca controller you will be able to set up raid using:
RAID 0, 1, 10(1E), 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, 60, Single Disk or JBOD
I am only suggesting getting an Areca for it's strong support of SAS.

Get a couple of the fujitsu's and put it em on RAID0 and you will have super fast hard drives. Server hard drives are only recently becoming popular with the gaming community, but SAS has been ahead of SATA for years now.


Just some thoughts

 

[PewPewBangBang]

What's your budget Razor? What is the MOST you will spend on building a computer?

As the guys above said, custom made is the way to go. You won't have as many compatibility problems and you will be saving a lot of money by not buying a prebuilt comp.

here are a few suggestions for you:

Memory: ($225) CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

CPU: ($280) Intel Core i7 920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
[Don't get the i7 that are better than the 920, if you get watercooling you can OC the 920 to over 4ghz easily and save hundreds]

GPU: ($195ea) XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
(I would recommend getting two of these if you can afford it, or something similar to this quality if you prefer nVidia)

Any motherboard that will meet the requirements of the products listed above will work, but I recommend getting something of high quality. Also, any Full Tower ATX case will work but again, spending more on a GOOD case is never frowned upon. If you get a mid tower you might have problems getting the new GPU's to fit.

PSU: ($320) SILVERSTONE ST1200 1200W modular w/ Active PFC (80+ efficiency certified)
[I only recommend getting this 1200w psu if you plan on running 2 or more GPU's in the future, an 700-800w would probably be fine for just one GPU]


The build I suggest (above) will run you about $1500 if you keep your old hard drives and optical bays, but you will be close to the front edge of technology.

If you have money to blow here are a few suggestions for hard drives:

Get an Areca raid controller, I think the cheapest one I've seen runs close to $400. These are meant for high end server setups but you will need something of this quality for the hard drives listed below as Marvell still hasn't perfected their raid controllers and their Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) tends to crap out.

Get some Fujitsu 150gb 15,000rpm SAS hard drives (they are server hard drives and are BUILT TO LAST). They blow the WD Raptors out of the water when it comes to speed and stability. These will run you close to $350/ea and you will need the Areca controller card or a motherboard that supports SAS (motherboards that support SAS have Marvell chips and tend to fail often)

If you have the Areca controller you will be able to set up raid using:
RAID 0, 1, 10(1E), 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, 60, Single Disk or JBOD
I am only suggesting getting an Areca for it's strong support of SAS.

Get a couple of the fujitsu's and put it em on RAID0 and you will have super fast hard drives. Server hard drives are only recently becoming popular with the gaming community, but SAS has been ahead of SATA for years now.


Just some thoughts

That is a high end system

 

[XXzz-Trauma-zzXX]

What's your budget Razor? What is the MOST you will spend on building a computer?

As the guys above said, custom made is the way to go. You won't have as many compatibility problems and you will be saving a lot of money by not buying a prebuilt comp.

here are a few suggestions for you:

Memory: ($225) CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

CPU: ($280) Intel Core i7 920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
[Don't get the i7 that are better than the 920, if you get watercooling you can OC the 920 to over 4ghz easily and save hundreds]

GPU: ($195ea) XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
(I would recommend getting two of these if you can afford it, or something similar to this quality if you prefer nVidia)

Any motherboard that will meet the requirements of the products listed above will work, but I recommend getting something of high quality. Also, any Full Tower ATX case will work but again, spending more on a GOOD case is never frowned upon. If you get a mid tower you might have problems getting the new GPU's to fit.

PSU: ($320) SILVERSTONE ST1200 1200W modular w/ Active PFC (80+ efficiency certified)
[I only recommend getting this 1200w psu if you plan on running 2 or more GPU's in the future, an 700-800w would probably be fine for just one GPU]


The build I suggest (above) will run you about $1500 if you keep your old hard drives and optical bays, but you will be close to the front edge of technology.

If you have money to blow here are a few suggestions for hard drives:

Get an Areca raid controller, I think the cheapest one I've seen runs close to $400. These are meant for high end server setups but you will need something of this quality for the hard drives listed below as Marvell still hasn't perfected their raid controllers and their Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) tends to crap out.

Get some Fujitsu 150gb 15,000rpm SAS hard drives (they are server hard drives and are BUILT TO LAST). They blow the WD Raptors out of the water when it comes to speed and stability. These will run you close to $350/ea and you will need the Areca controller card or a motherboard that supports SAS (motherboards that support SAS have Marvell chips and tend to fail often)

If you have the Areca controller you will be able to set up raid using:
RAID 0, 1, 10(1E), 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, 60, Single Disk or JBOD
I am only suggesting getting an Areca for it's strong support of SAS.

Get a couple of the fujitsu's and put it em on RAID0 and you will have super fast hard drives. Server hard drives are only recently becoming popular with the gaming community, but SAS has been ahead of SATA for years now.


Just some thoughts

Thanks for putting those out there Nomad. I dont have any money at the moment because im still in high school without a job. Not to mention my family isnt exactly rich. I guess Ill just have to save this page till after I save up alot of money and get everything. But knowing computers this probably wont be as good by the time i get the money to do it.

 

[3vlNomad]

That is a high end system

Not really, that's my system I just built a few weeks ago (more or less) and I got "BELOW AVERAGE" on 3dmark06, scored like 13k or something liek that. Average is 17k and really good is like 47k. I lost the screenshot, but it's insane.. I need more gpu's and watercooling so I can OC this i7 like crazy

 

[Ph?bus]

Not really, that's my system I just built a few weeks ago (more or less) and I got "BELOW AVERAGE" on 3dmark06, scored like 13k or something liek that. Average is 17k and really good is like 47k. I lost the screenshot, but it's insane.. I need more gpu's and watercooling so I can OC this i7 like crazy

haha 47k is really good?
isnt the max anyone has gotten around 44k?
lol average is not 17k, more around 10-12k.

 

[babyJam]

i cant remember the last time i bought a prebuilt.. but then ive neer had an unlimited budget to build my ultimate pc.. but the next one will be that way.. prolly this time next year ill be droppin a couple grand and makin a topodaline machine

 

[PewPewBangBang]

Not really, that's my system I just built a few weeks ago (more or less) and I got "BELOW AVERAGE" on 3dmark06, scored like 13k or something liek that. Average is 17k and really good is like 47k. I lost the screenshot, but it's insane.. I need more gpu's and watercooling so I can OC this i7 like crazy

Well....its not a crazy high end system after looking at it more closely........your problem is that your GPU is lacking. A 4890 should get you higher 3dmark06 score though. Im running a Q6600 @ 3.65 ghz and a custom OC 4850 and my high like like 15,000 3dmark 06.

The expensive components of your PC that could be swapped for cheaper yet = performance parts are the PSU, Case, and Ram.

Im running a 1000w PSU, Cooler Master HAF 932, much cheaper yet amazing performance still and a great price for it.

Im really shocked that you only got 13k 3dmark06 score though, considering ur system is much better than mine and i still got 15k. I plan on getting a 5850x2 when it comes out or a 5870x2 if they are at a crazy price. Hopefully like $500-$600

 

[RurouniKenshin]

i gotz a 9800 :drool:

 

[FreakingHell]

The expensive components of your PC that could be swapped for cheaper yet = performance parts are the Case, and Ram.

Fixed. Never skimp on the PSU. When you get cheap ones they have awful ripple and voltage regulation, which can kill your components, among causing other issues. The more stable the voltage, the more stable your computer. Not to mention efficiency comes into play too.

As for RAM, I sort of agree. Corsair memory is terribly over priced, so you can get other big name brands like G-Skill, Muschkin, Patriot, etc for much cheaper. I would still stay with the big names though, just not Corsair.

 

[PewPewBangBang]

Fixed. Never skimp on the PSU. When you get cheap ones they have awful ripple and voltage regulation, which can kill your components, among causing other issues. The more stable the voltage, the more stable your computer. Not to mention efficiency comes into play too.

As for RAM, I sort of agree. Corsair memory is terribly over priced, so you can get other big name brands like G-Skill, Muschkin, Patriot, etc for much cheaper. I would still stay with the big names though, just not Corsair.

Well im not exactly tlaking about skimping on the PSU..........hes recommending a 1200w modular!?!?!?!? is that even needed at all.......quad-fire requires like a little less than 1000w.
Tuniq makes solid PSU's and their 1000w PSU is only $80 after a $80 rebate. I have it right now and can vouche for it, the thing runs great and definitly a steal for the price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817611009&Tpk=tuniq 1000w