PC upgrade advice

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Kayoss

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I was recently given a decent pc which i'm looking to give a bit of an upgrade.

CPU - i5 3.3ghz
RAM - 4gb ddr3 1333Mhz
Mobo - Gigabyte H61M-S2V
HDD - 500gb SATA
Windows 7 Home Prem (32 bit)
Video Card - Onboard
PSU - 250W

So, i'm gonna try upgrade the Windows to 64 bit by simply downloading the 64-bit version and using the same activation ID. I have about R1000 to upgrade it so would like to make the most of it. I see another 4GB of RAM is a little over R200 at esquire so that would give me 8gb which i'm sure will be plenty.

My biggest worry comes with the gfx card. Do i look for an older, but quality card like a 4890 or a 5850? Or rather go for a newer 7750? Surely a 4890/5850 is better than a 7750 but my worry then comes with the PSU. Surely a 250W psu wouldnt be able to handle either of those and, if that is the case, a bigger psu probably wont fit in my case. So do i get something in the 4890 range + a new psu and a new case or, just settle for a less powerful card?..

Of course, it all depends on what i intend using the pc for and i think it's fair to say it will be used for a bit of gaming but nothing crazy. Essentially, if you had this pc and +-R1000 to spend, what would you do?..

Thanks.
 
Kayoss said:
I was recently given a decent pc which i'm looking to give a bit of an upgrade.

CPU - i5 3.3ghz
RAM - 4gb ddr3 1333Mhz
Mobo - Gigabyte H61M-S2V
HDD - 500gb SATA
Windows 7 Home Prem (32 bit)
Video Card - Onboard
PSU - 250W

So, i'm gonna try upgrade the Windows to 64 bit by simply downloading the 64-bit version and using the same activation ID. I have about R1000 to upgrade it so would like to make the most of it. I see another 4GB of RAM is a little over R200 at esquire so that would give me 8gb which i'm sure will be plenty.

My biggest worry comes with the gfx card. Do i look for an older, but quality card like a 4890 or a 5850? Or rather go for a newer 7750? Surely a 4890/5850 is better than a 7750 but my worry then comes with the PSU. Surely a 250W psu wouldnt be able to handle either of those and, if that is the case, a bigger psu probably wont fit in my case. So do i get something in the 4890 range + a new psu and a new case or, just settle for a less powerful card?..

Of course, it all depends on what i intend using the pc for and i think it's fair to say it will be used for a bit of gaming but nothing crazy. Essentially, if you had this pc and +-R1000 to spend, what would you do?..

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Step one. Get a decent power supply. that alone is almost a grand. Then when you save more get a 7770.
 
Kayoss said:
So, i'm gonna try upgrade the Windows to 64 bit by simply downloading the 64-bit version and using the same activation ID.

I have about R1000 to upgrade it so would like to make the most of it. I see another 4GB of RAM is a little over R200 at esquire so that would give me 8gb which i'm sure will be plenty.
Click to expand...

As far as I know you can not use the same serial key. Make sure not to get Axtrom ram.

This ram would be prefect: Transcend JM1333KLN-4G, JetRam, 4GB, DDR3-1333, CL9, 1.5v, 240-Pin - R187.00

Look at getting a PSU such as this one if you are on a tight budget: Corsair GS500, 500w - R728.00

Otherwise I higher end one if you can afford it.
 
Rather go for the XFX550w retails for ~R699 at wootware and ~R650 at computers only
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Looking through that site, what may i ask is wrong with something like this? http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=30&products_id=5673

I understand that it isn't made for a gaming rig but what real difference would it make? Would adding that, plus 4gb ram, and finally a 4890 work? Alternatively, would a 7750 work? (Although thats probably both worse and more expensive than a second hand 4890) But surely that wouldn't require too much power?

Again, if you only really had about R1200 or so to spend on upgrading this unit, what would you buy? surely spending R1000 on a psu isn't going to get me very far.. Lastly, i'm really not looking to play battlefield 3 at the highest settings on this. Just simply want to improve it as much as possible for as little as possible. And i doubt leaving it with on board gfx is the best for it. I have absolutely no problem with going second hand on items too just btw..

Thanks again for the suggestions.
 
There's nothing wrong with it, it's just better to rather buy the Corsair or XFX because they are geared more towards gaming and can handle stresses. If you want to get that Thermaltake then go for it, I got one of them for a client and I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was.

You must just be very careful that the unit actually provides enough power and isn't another Gigabyte Odin case where it says 585w but actually only provides 460w of power.

ATI Radeon™ HD 4890 Graphics System Requirements

Buying a new system - will my ThermalTake Litepower 450W PSU be enough?

Thermaltake Litepower 450 W Power Supply Review - Hardware Secrets

Personally I would not take the chance and rather be safe than sorry.

Update: The 4890 requires the following: 500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)

So the Thermaltake isn't suited for the job.
 
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What you have to remember is that older technology is normally allot more power hungry than the equivalent performing cards today.

I personally think you have your sights set too high. It's doable, but you'll have to look on carbonite for good deals.. If you bide your time i'm sure you'll come across a GX550 or some other suitable PSU for around ~R400 You can then use the rest to put toward a nice card. I would focus on getting the PSU sorted first. Even though you won't see a performance increase, you are laying the foundation for future upgrades.
 
550W is overkill unless you go for a highend gfx card like the gtx670. I installed an AMD HD6950 in my friend's PC that has just a 460W Vantec Ion2 PSU, and we're overclocking his i5 750.
My Conrad Energy Monitor 3000 show that the power consumption was below 120W even after playing BF3 at 1920 on high detail! I'm not sure if it could be correct though, seeing that my i7 940 +2x gtx460 idles at 140W!
Just don't get an ultra cheap PSU like Gigabyte Odin or Thermaltake Lite!
Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express
 
Kayoss said:
Thanks for the suggestions. Looking through that site, what may i ask is wrong with something like this? http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=30&products_id=5673

I understand that it isn't made for a gaming rig but what real difference would it make? Would adding that, plus 4gb ram, and finally a 4890 work? Alternatively, would a 7750 work? (Although thats probably both worse and more expensive than a second hand 4890) But surely that wouldn't require too much power?

Again, if you only really had about R1200 or so to spend on upgrading this unit, what would you buy? surely spending R1000 on a psu isn't going to get me very far.. Lastly, i'm really not looking to play battlefield 3 at the highest settings on this. Just simply want to improve it as much as possible for as little as possible. And i doubt leaving it with on board gfx is the best for it. I have absolutely no problem with going second hand on items too just btw..

Thanks again for the suggestions.
Click to expand...

You want to power a multi thousand PC with a R200 power supply?

Are you high?

That PSU will take your pc with it. No more pc.
 
Qwikslver has a very valid point there!

I'd say roughly spend 10% of your PC's worth on its PSU.
 
Kayoss said:
My biggest worry comes with the gfx card. Do i look for an older, but quality card like a 4890 or a 5850? Or rather go for a newer 7750? Surely a 4890/5850 is better than a 7750 but my worry then comes with the PSU. Surely a 250W psu wouldnt be able to handle either of those and, if that is the case, a bigger psu probably wont fit in my case. So do i get something in the 4890 range + a new psu and a new case or, just settle for a less powerful card?..
Click to expand...

I dont think the 4890 would be that much ahead of the 7770, maybe even slower in some games.

Just get yourself a quality PSU and save up for the 7770...
 
Potentially Free (Albeit small) Upgrade

Convert "Windows 7 Home Prem (32 bit)" to a 64-bit OS if possible (Hope you've had experience re-installing Windows ;D)
You'll gain an extra 0.75GB RAM (A 32-bit OS cannot allocate more than 3.25GB RAM) :P

And yea - Upgrade that PSU - 250W is useless for other upgrades :|

- Edit -

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/463877-Upgrading-Windows-32-bit-to-64-bit

Nevermind ;D
 
Last edited:
Pada said:
550W is overkill unless you go for a highend gfx card like the gtx670. I installed an AMD HD6950 in my friend's PC that has just a 460W Vantec Ion2 PSU, and we're overclocking his i5 750.
My Conrad Energy Monitor 3000 show that the power consumption was below 120W even after playing BF3 at 1920 on high detail! I'm not sure if it could be correct though, seeing that my i7 940 +2x gtx460 idles at 140W!
Just don't get an ultra cheap PSU like Gigabyte Odin or Thermaltake Lite!
Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express
Click to expand...

I agree that 550w is more than he'll need. But the problem comes in with the PCI-e connectors. Any PSU below 550w with the exception of some 500w here and there have one PCI-e connector or none.

For low end cards it's fine. But if he's set on a 4890/5850, I'd rather make sure he has 2xPCI-e then let him use one or far worse two of those converters..
 
Good point nakedpeanut.

My friend is currently running an HD6950 with one of those 2x molex to 1x 6-pin PCI-e connectors and it works well.
 
Upgrade the PSU is a no brainer.
Upgrade the Windows to 64bit but I am not sure that the same windws key is going to work so you would need to investigate that.

You might want to also consider looking at SSD after upgrading the graphics card.

Regards

Tim
 
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