Looking to upgrade my rig

[Vicissitude]

i have about a $400 dollar budget, my goal is to be able to run planetside 2 and armas 2 (Dayz) smoothly.

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: GA-MA790FXT-UD5P

Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X3 720 Processor (3 CPUs), ~2.8GHz

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.120824-0336)

Memory: 4092MB RAM Corsair XMS ddr2

BFG tech psu 650W

I have an onboard soundcard, im wondering the benefits of actually purchasing a soundcard.

The gpu i was looking at was Radeon HD 7770, Radeon HD 7850 2 GB, the former mostly because its supposed to be great with power, which im kinda guessing means less heat problems. I might also add that im using a shoddy hp monitor right now, so i dont know if id get anything out of an HD card.

 

[Rockdpm]

I would get a 7850 and perhaps a Phenom II 965. This way you could live off that computer for another year before having to rebuild it all

 

[Vicissitude]

I feel like i need to upgrade my ram, i tend to run opera/pandora while im gaming.

 

[Rockdpm]

Yes another 4GB of ram would be good as well

 

[jsrudd]

I feel like i need to upgrade my ram, i tend to run opera/pandora while im gaming.

It's probably not worth it to upgrade your RAM. DDR2 is actually pretty expensive and you will not be able to reuse it on your next build.

Stick to a video card upgrade or something else that you can reuse when you do finally rebuild.

 

[Rockdpm]

It's probably not worth it to upgrade your RAM. DDR2 is actually pretty expensive and you will not be able to reuse it on your next build.

Stick to a video card upgrade or something else that you can reuse when you do finally rebuild.

Good point. I didn't even notice he had DDR2

 

[Vicissitude]

whats wrong with grabbing some gskill ripjaws? they are like 40 bucks and ddr3.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
Phenom II 965 $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161405
7850 $190

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA&gclid=CNXxl7KZt7QCFSFyQgod-2oATA
gskill ram sticks $45

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007
paste $10


adds up to $345

Not sure if thats a decent card, im not experienced with brand names nor radeon gpu's. Since i have another $55 i could throw that into a better processor maybe? Or save for a monitor, i dunno if it would be worth it or not

 

[Rockdpm]

Yea he can get another RAM kit as long as he can fit it into the upgrade budget

 

[Vicissitude]

actually i think i understand the confusion, i think i messed up, the ram is actually ddr3. Its dark and my computer is under my desk so its hard to see. But i know my chipset is ddr3 compatible which means the ram must be ddr3.

yeah here is the chipset, and the page says its ddr3
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3005#ov

 

[Rockdpm]

Oh well either way try to get another RAM Kit

 

[Vicissitude]

Oh well either way try to get another RAM Kit

Do you think that processor would warrant a liquid cooler? Im using a non-stock air one right now. And would those gskills be compatable with the corsairs i have in my rig currently? I tried to throw a random pny stick i got in their as a gift a year ago and my computer started crashing until i removed it.

 

[Rockdpm]

What cooler you using right now? there isn't any "Quality" liquid coolers within your 55$ budget.

 

[Vicissitude]

What cooler you using right now? there isn't any "Quality" liquid coolers within your 55$ budget.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181029

corsair as far as i know is a pretty solid company.

Its just a non-stock fan i got at frys when i built the computer, i cant remember the brand name and the packaging is long gone. Though i paid somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-40 bucks for it 3 years ago, if that gives you any idea of its quality. I probably wont grab a water cooler until i rebuild, i dont think its necessary. My computer does get hot during the summer but i think thats mostly the gpu as i can practically fry an egg on it.

 

[Vicissitude]

someone is telling me that vista would be holding me back and that win7 or 8 would be a smart upgrade, any thoughts on this?

 

[Rockdpm]

Yes Windows 7 would be a more better investment over a liquid cooler