Upgrading my computer.

[Chukchi Husky]

When I first got my computer I knew I had to upgrade it as it didn't come with a dedicated graphics card, and it was £200 cheaper than an equivalent model that came with one. At the time I thought it would be cheaper to get the one without the graphics card and buy a graphics card later, but I found out I also need to get a new power supply.

This is the specifications of my computer so far:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz
4GB DDR2
640 GB hard drive
Windows Vista Home Premium

It has one PCI-Express slot (16x) and the power supply is 250 watts.

The graphics cards that I looked at are the GeForce 9600 GT for £83 or the 9800 GT for £90. I don't know which one of those to choose or to get something more powerful, but I don't really want to spend too much. I also don't know anything about ATI cards. Another thing I need to buy is a power supply, and I don't know what I should get for one of them.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Seasonic and Corsair are my top two picks for Power Supplies. Im guessing you'd be fine with a 450W unit from either of those.

If you can hold off a month, the next gen of GPU's should begin coming out and the prices on current stock oughta drop. If you do decide to go for something now, I suggest either the 9800GT like you said, or a HD4770 if you can find one at a comparable price ( I dont know what its price is like in the UK)

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I found the HD 4770 for sale for £82, and a HD 4850 for the same price.

I planned on upgrading my computer in November, when the warranty runs out, and it'll be the first time I'll be able to open it up and clean it (at the moment my computer sounds like a jet engine).

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Well, by that time there should be decent price drops. The new AMD GPU came out yesterday, the HD 5870 and 5850, so in the next week or so, AMD GPU's should begin to drop in price, and possibly nVidia ones too to compete.

 

[Maniacal]

Stick with NVIDIA, less headaches due to drivers and game incompatibilities. If the prices are dropping soon, maybe hold off a bit or check web vendors for sales on the 200 series, even the GTS 250 is a good card, or the GTX 275.

Not sure about power supply, but probably something like 500 or so watts. Might want to google that. Same with cleaning the computer, get like 4 or 6 cans of compressed air and check that they are safe to sue on computers. My computer was so dusty after less than a year I used 3 or 4 cans on it.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

I dont know what problems your have PrinceScamp, but AMD drivers are pretty good, and just about as stable as nVidia ones. They have less incremental releases, but for the most part they do well. nVidia doesnt have nearly as good of a lineup of midrange hardware as AMD does. Maybe the GTS 250, but thats a last ditch effort.

 

[Maniacal]

My roommate has a GTS 250, and while it's mid-ranged, it still plays everything at max (so does my 8800GT ). ATI/AMD cards DO have many more issues with games, way more than NVIDIA. There are often threads where the the problem is the ATI card, whereas very few are caused by NVIDIA cards.

Not that ATI cards can't be good, I just see no advantage in them.

 

[Fëanor]

I've had a HD4850 for quite a while and i am quite happy with it, the only flaw it had was that it was loud and became very hot until i installed a custom cooler on it.

Will probably upgrade to an HD5850 as soon as models with better and quieter cooling are available, hopefully by that time nVidia will have release something that can compete with it and drive prices down. Who knows maybe nVidia will actually release something with a better price/performance ratio for the first time in years and i'll go back to the Green team.

As for ATI driver/compatibility issues, I've never had any or heard of any in the last 5 years. Maybe if you use Linux or Mac's but absolutely not if you stick to Windows.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

It's now November and I began to look at graphics card prices again. The GeForce 9600 GT and 9800 GT are the same price as before, and it's the same for the Radeon HD 4770. One card that has gone down in price is the GeForce GTS 250, which was around £140 and now down to £100.

 

[Steve2000]

Since only one person has weighed in on the Power Supply question, I will add my 2 cents:

As GenocidicBunny said, a 450W PSU should be fine - but make sure you go with a reputable brand. There are a lot of cheap PSUs out there that make claims about their wattage that are only true under MAX load - not continuous. A 450W MAX PSU might actually only be around a 350 under regular conditions. Look for a PSU that is certified to be at least 80% efficient.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I looked at two made by Corsair. One is 450 watt and the other is 550 watt.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Excellent brand. The 450 and 550 Watt Corsairs are slightly old, so they may only be 80 Plus Bronze, if even that much, efficient, but they will deliver their advertised power continuously.

As for GPU, seems that due to the low yileds, the new AMD GPU's havent forced the older ones down in price, so you're most likely be best off with whatever is cheapest now. You said the GTS 250 went down in price, and that is a fairly capable GPU. Its essentially a sped up 9800GTX ( I believe this is correct), so at that price its a pretty good deal for budget gaming.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

If I get the GTS 250, which PSU should I get for it. There's a £10 difference between the two PSUs, the 450 one costing £57 and the 550 costing £67, but the next one up. which has 620 watts, costs £110.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Id go with the 550 Watt. The GTS 250 needs two 6-pin power connectors, so itd be better safe than sorry.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Would it be a problem that my computer has a nForce 610i chipset with an integrated GeForce 7050?

 

[GVBN]

Why would it be. Disable onboard graphics in BIOS in case it doesn't do it automatically

 

[Chukchi Husky]

There isn't an option to disable it in the BIOS.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

You'd need to make sure all the drivers for it are wiped off your system.

And there should be an option to at least set the primary video card. Look in your manual (You can also find the manual online most likely, or find the answer to your specific question through a little googling)

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Would running an uninstall wipe the drivers, or do I have to do more?

I think I saw an option that said something like set primary video source and it was set to PCI Express.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Would running an uninstall wipe the drivers, or do I have to do more?

Sometimes they leave registry entries behind. I had lots of problems with this on my old computer.