Was thinking of upgrading my computer...

[Black Mesa]

If you play the Sims and have a lot of expansions and custom content, SSD would really help with the load times.

WD Black HDD is plenty fast enough unless you got the attention span of a mule LOL.

 

[BlackAzrael]

Well honestly, what i am thinking right now is to get the 120gb SSD and the Gigabyte 670 GTX OC 2gb.

Gigabyte GeForce 670 GTX: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=71107&vpn=GV-N670OC-2GD&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1219

120gb SSD: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=59354&vpn=VTX3-25SAT3-120G&manufacture=OCZ Technology&promoid=1219

My only concerns, except the price of course, are that will it fit in my computer and will i have enough wattage with my power supply for the card and the SSD? (and if i overclock too)

Just a remainder to be on the safe side
My case is: Antec 900 (Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Compu...)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W (Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W ATX12...)
Motherboard: Gigabyte ga-ep45-ud3p (http://ca.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2919&dl=1#sp)
Current GPU: Radeon HD 6850 1gb (http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1037&pid=497&psn=&lid=1&leg=0#)

 

[Black Mesa]

Well honestly, what i am thinking right now is to get the 120gb SSD and the Gigabyte 670 GTX OC 2gb.

Gigabyte GeForce 670 GTX: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=71107&vpn=GV-N670OC-2GD&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1219

120gb SSD: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=59354&vpn=VTX3-25SAT3-120G&manufacture=OCZ Technology&promoid=1219

My only concerns, except the price of course, are that will it fit in my computer and will i have enough wattage with my power supply for the card and the SSD? (and if i overclock too)

Just a remainder to be on the safe side
My case is: Antec 900 (Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Compu...)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W (Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W ATX12...)
Motherboard: Gigabyte ga-ep45-ud3p (http://ca.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2919&dl=1#sp)
Current GPU: Radeon HD 6850 1gb (http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1037&pid=497&psn=&lid=1&leg=0#)

SSD will not run games better it will just make windows feel more snappy and responsive albeit WD Black is plenty fast for me an most. That being said you're PSU is of very nice quality and it will run any single GPU perfectly with OC. It will be better money spent thought IMHO of you forgo the SSD and then put the money toward a better GPU. Get the 680 or 7970 instead of an SSD with lesser card IMHO.

 

[TRWOV]

An SSD should be one of the last upgrades you add to a rig as it doesn't increase performance. In your case I would just wait and save.

Your 6850 is enough for current games and if you haven't yet, you could OC it to extend its life a little longer.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

An SSD should be one of the last upgrades you add to a rig as it doesn't increase performance. In your case I would just wait and save.

Your 6850 is enough for current games and if you haven't yet, you could OC it to extend its life a little longer.

Are you high? I would love whatever herb your trying. An SSD is one part that gives you a huge boost to overall system performance if you have Windows running on it. Then if you have games load times are very quick. The SSD is what removes the everlasting HDD bottleneck.

 

[TRWOV]

Are you high? I would love whatever herb your trying. An SSD is one part that gives you a huge boost to overall system performance if you have Windows running on it. Then if you have games load times are very quick. The SSD is what removes the everlasting HDD bottleneck.

An SDD won't give you more fps, it just decreases load times.

 

[Black Mesa]

Are you high? I would love whatever herb your trying. An SSD is one part that gives you a huge boost to overall system performance if you have Windows running on it. Then if you have games load times are very quick. The SSD is what removes the everlasting HDD bottleneck.

WD Black HDD is plenty fast enough plus it actually has the space for more than just a few games and an OS for the same price you get 1TB storage HDD whereas the competing SSD gets only 128GB = FAIL.

 

[xBruce88x]

I think 7870 or 660Ti would suffice

I was gonna say 560TI... its around the same price point as a 7870

yea... DDR2 800 is fine. You could boost performance a bit by grabbing a generic set of 2x1GB from corsair or kingston and the like (the basic kind w/o heat spreaders). That'll bring your total to 6gb and keep dual channel mode. the extra 2GB will help quite a bit. seems to be the sweet spot, though 8GB is so cheap in DDR3, that's probably why most get 8GB rather than 6GB. Overclock that cpu to at least 3.4-3.8. Don't set it at that speed all at once though... do smallish bumps, like 100mhz at a time and when it becomes a bit unstable bump the voltage a tad. Make sure the VRMs around the cpu have decent airflow around them... many after market cpu coolers neglect this in their design... its why intel/amd use a spiral/square downward (airflow wise) shape and design... the air is supposed to cool the VRMs a bit after coming off the cpu heatsink. Also...I'd get a new PSU to go with the new GPU when you get the GPU... since you can transfer them over to the new build. that Q2Quad will use more power when overclocked, that and the 620w PSU you have is probably getting old at this point. I can attest to the difference in SSD vs HDD. Well.. I went overkill and made a ramdisk for SimCity 4... I got tired of the choppiness and was frustrated with 10fps performance. So I ploped the game onto a 2GB ramdisk made with my ddr2 @ 600mhz (odd clock rate i know... its overclocked 533 sticks... tho 2 are 800 but i gotta keep the others from frying lol). Well anyway... the game jumped to a smooth playable 30+ fps with no lag!

Here's a shot of my system specs... I'll upload a youtube vid of SC4 in a bit and show what a difference the HDD makes. This rig plays everything from Half Life to Crysis just fine.

this ram will match nicely CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2... Yea you could get more DDR3 for that price, but for now to add some performance, Its not that expensive, and it'll add more resale value once you sell your current rig.

 

[BlackAzrael]

Just to make it clear, i do know an SSD doesn't increase actual performance but only loading times. But the SSD would probably be only for Windows and programs, not really games.

I checked a few benchmark charts for graphics cards, and the 560Ti is not a really noticeable increase. Whereas the 660Ti is almost 3 times the score of the 6850 and the 670 is even higher. Also, the 7870 is a little bit higher in score than the 560 but still doesn't seem like a big upgrade to me. So personally, i find it more worthwhile on the long run to buy a more expensive card so that it lasts longer and then so it can kick ass when i get my new rig. (which i thought maybe i should buy that during the boxing day for deals)

As for the CPU overclock, i am a bit stuck cause i checked how to reset the BIOS on my motherboard, and i have no jumper on the motherboard to clear the CMOS. So i'm not sure if i really should try to overclock just yet. There is that DualBIOS feature on this motherboard though, just don't know if that really works.

Sorry if i have so many questions guys, just want to be 100% sure hehe. I want to thank everyone for all the help given to me so far!

 

[Black Mesa]

Just to make it clear, i do know an SSD doesn't increase actual performance but only loading times. But the SSD would probably be only for Windows and programs, not really games.

I checked a few benchmark charts for graphics cards, and the 560Ti is not a really noticeable increase. Whereas the 660Ti is almost 3 times the score of the 6850 and the 670 is even higher. Also, the 7870 is a little bit higher in score than the 560 but still doesn't seem like a big upgrade to me. So personally, i find it more worthwhile on the long run to buy a more expensive card so that it lasts longer and then so it can kick ass when i get my new rig. (which i thought maybe i should buy that during the boxing day for deals)

As for the CPU overclock, i am a bit stuck cause i checked how to reset the BIOS on my motherboard, and i have no jumper on the motherboard to clear the CMOS. So i'm not sure if i really should try to overclock just yet. There is that DualBIOS feature on this motherboard though, just don't know if that really works.

Sorry if i have so many questions guys, just want to be 100% sure hehe. I want to thank everyone for all the help given to me so far!

Ya the 7870 will walk all over a 560ti and right know the 560ti should not even be on the market at it's current price and the 7850 trashes it let alone the 7870 and the 560ti is just a hair faster than you're 6870. As for you're BIOS how you manually reset the BIOS is simply by pulling out the coin battery on the mobo to reset it BIOS back to factory default settings. Oh and make sure you put the battery back in after you remove it.

 

[BlackAzrael]

Alright so i read the guide a bit and i must say i'm really not comfortable changing voltages, espescially for hardware other than the CPU. Do you have to change voltages? Cause i was thinking of OCing it to maybe 3.2 or something.

 

[Black Mesa]

Alright so i read the guide a bit and i must say i'm really not comfortable changing voltages, espescially for hardware other than the CPU. Do you have to change voltages? Cause i was thinking of OCing it to maybe 3.2 or something.

OCin the CPU is a good idea and you have no need to add volts unless you are going for a max OC 4Ghz+ which I do not ever recommend and 3.2Ghz will be a good idea stoke volts no need to worry about changing it. The GPU is hardly ever a good idea to OC because 3-5fps is nothing and that's a typical OC.

 

[Jetster]

Do you have to change voltages?

No

 

[BlackAzrael]

So basically all that i need to keep in mind is the cooling in my computer and just increase the fsb bit by bit right?

But yeah, i don't intend to go to 4ghz, just maybe 3.5ghz.

I guess i should be fine with the cooling since my cpu idle is usually around 28-33 celcius.

 

[Black Mesa]

So basically all that i need to keep in mind is the cooling in my computer and just increase the fsb bit by bit right?

But yeah, i don't intend to go to 4ghz, just maybe 3.5ghz.

I guess i should be fine with the cooling since my cpu idle is usually around 28-33 celcius.

if you have a decent aftermarket cooler OCing is fine if it's a stock cooler than do not OC. The idle temps will be around the same it's the max temps when the CPU is being used that will change. Also it's the Volts that really make an OCed CPU cook so being that you are not upping the volts you should be fine.

 

[BlackAzrael]

I do not need to set timings and voltage for memory?

Cause it says so in this guide: http://www.scan.co.uk/images/shops/intel/Intel_Q9550_Core_2_Quad_basic_overclocking_guide.pdf

 

[Black Mesa]

I do not need to set timings and voltage for memory?

Cause it says so in this guide: http://www.scan.co.uk/images/shops/intel/Intel_Q9550_Core_2_Quad_basic_overclocking_guide.pdf

You have to ask someone whom is familiar with Intel CPUs I buy AMD Phenom II BE CPUs because they are unlocked and super simple to OC.

 

[BlackAzrael]

Isn't there anyone on this board who is familiar with Intel CPUs? :S

I know i can only change the FSB not the multiplier with mine.

 

[Black Mesa]

Isn't there anyone on this board who is familiar with Intel CPUs? :S

I know i can only change the FSB not the multiplier with mine.

What Intel CPU do you own ? and i will direct you to the best Youtube instructional video on how to OC it.

 

[BlackAzrael]

Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83ghz 12mb cache

 

[Black Mesa]

Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83ghz 12mb cache

You got a good CPU there its a golden oldy but a goody maybe even a bit better after OCing it than my Phenom II x4 955 @ 3.6Ghz. Also OCing will matter allot on you're motherboard so take that into consideration as well.

Watch this video first.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 - CPU Review - YouTube

 

[BlackAzrael]

What do you mean for the motherboard part? That it will shorten the life span of it or?

 

[Black Mesa]

What do you mean for the motherboard part? That it will shorten the life span of it or?

The motherboard BIOS is what will allow you to do the OCing each one is different.

 

[BlackAzrael]

Oh okay yeah, and i just watched the video but i'm not sure how it is supposed to help me there though. Cause it's mostly a review.

 

[Black Mesa]

Oh okay yeah, and i just watched the video but i'm not sure how it is supposed to help me there though. Cause it's mostly a review.

It just shows basic information on OCing.

Overclocking a Core 2 Quad Q8400 to 3.0Ghz - YouTu...