Upgrading Comp, First time, please help

[dtm_992]

Hi, i recently got a system upgrade, here are the stats

ECS PM800 VIA 800FSB All-in-one Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 2.4ghz 533MHz
Samsung Ddr400 512mb Memory

There are some other things, but basically i just want to upgrade my video card and RAM at the moment. I'm wondering if i can put this memory,
Ultra 1024mb pc3200 (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1071020&CatId=1043) and fit it with my existing Samsung Memory (http://www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?item=16709).

Also, in terms of a video card, i'm a bit of a gamer and i play warcraft III on my free time. I'm getting F.E.A.R. soon, and i want to make sure that it'll run smoothly on my computer. I'm kind of set on this Diamond Radeon X1600 Video Card (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1892478&sku=D10-2084) at the moment, but i've never dealt with video cards before so it's no surprise if someone can convince me to change my mind otherwise. In terms of the price range, i would like to keep it under 200 USD. I'm kind of strict on the budget, so please no suggestions past that. I'll be using a HEC Orion Power 585W power supply with the video card, so hopefully that'll be all i need.

My computer as of now is nothing special, it's everything i've mentioned plus a harddrive and cd drive. If i look into a sound card, i don't want anything too expensive. The soundblaster live looks great for 50 dollars, but i read the reviews, and some of them don't look too good.
Hopefully you guys will be able to help me out, thanks in advance!
Cheers

Edit: I found out the video card is pci express, im curious if it'll still work with my motherboard. Also, i found the stats for the motherboard Here (http://eglobalci.com/ProductDetail.asp?id=7666)
Thanks

[PrntRhd]

Merged threads. Please post one time in one forum for one problem. We do read all the posts and it helps keep things to be less confusing when we reply to a thread.

[dtm_992]

Thanks, can anyone actually help me out?

[PrntRhd]

Well this is a bulletin board and not a chat room, give your post 24 hours and I am certain several members will post their advice.

Oh, and Welcome to the PC Guide forums!

[hockey man]

Fist off are you in Canada or the US? If you are in the US then check this out for a video card: eVGA 256-A8-N397-TX Geforce 6800GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130264) that would be the best bang for the same amount as the card you posted. Then again, what PSU rating do you have? Please post back and let us know were you are ordering from and your PSU ratings- both the wattage and the 12 voly rail ratings.

[dtm_992]

TY hockey_man, i'm in canada, and i'm actually looking at this now http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1240060&CatId=0, i don't believe my motherboard has pci express ports.

In terms of psu ratings, i'm looking at this http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1828919&sku=V133-6041. As i mentioned in my first post, it's 585 watts, so it should work for the video card.

[hockey man]

Okay. . .well for starters that PSU is not what I would recommend. It is a no-name manufacturer. Plus, it does not have the ratings for each power rail. . .which is worriesome at best. This (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1389575&CatId=0) is as cheap as I would go. It is an okay manufaturer with okay voltage ratings. With that video card, I thinl that a 6600 GT with 128MB or Ram would be better than a 256MB 6600. Like this eVGA GeForce 6600 GT (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1182887&CatId=694). See what Saphalline thinks though. Yes, your MOBO is an AGP only. With RAM, never get generic stuff. Stick with Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, or OCZ. I would recommend this Kingston 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1430963&CatId=1043) module over what you linked to.

[Deagle]

I found the link to manufacturer's spec: link (http://www.hecgroupusa.com/FLEX1.php?id=54). I must say it looks good if what HEC claims are true. Ultra memory, haven't heard from them since BH5 days but they're not bad at all. Although certainly not up there with the big boys mentioned by hockey man. I would go with the 6800GS as well since someone else had upgraded to the same card(diff' maker) in this is thread (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=45475). Notice he only had a 380W PSU(albiet made by Antec) so IMO your new HEC 585W should as well.

[hockey man]

Those are decient specs. -Thanks for the link Deagle- but that dose not meant that the PSU is a good one. Reliability is very important. Tom's Hardware Guide did a PSU test that showed that just becuase a PSU is rated for something, does not mean that it can actually output that. I would still urge a purchasing a well known/tested manufactuer/model PSU.

[saphalline]

I wouldn't recommend that PSU for the simple fact that it can't output its full power. Check the ratings: +3.3V @ 36A, +5V @ 36A, +12V1 @ 19A, +12V2 @ 20A. Add them all up and you'll see it's way over the 585W that the PSU can pump out, meaning that if you have more of a load on the +3.3V rail you have less power available for the other rails. High quality PSU's provide all their power. So if you use 30A of the +3.3V rail, you still have the full 36A available for the +5V rail, etc. The easiest way to check a PSU's potential quality is to add up the rails like this. If the rails add up to a figure higher than the quoted wattage of the PSU, move on... it ain't worth it...

dtm_992 - You said you "recently" upgraded your system to those specs, correct? How long ago was that? Were you on a really tight budget or something? I only ask because a P4 2.4 GHz on Socket 478 is an older CPU on an older socket.

[deejones]

yeah you good to go you could put tha memory and video card in
the mother support the memory up to 2gb thats 1536mb on memory
cant forget the video card which has it own 512mb of memory this is hot let me kown if you got it!

[dtm_992]

I wouldn't recommend that PSU for the simple fact that it can't output its full power. Check the ratings: +3.3V @ 36A, +5V @ 36A, +12V1 @ 19A, +12V2 @ 20A. Add them all up and you'll see it's way over the 585W that the PSU can pump out, meaning that if you have more of a load on the +3.3V rail you have less power available for the other rails. High quality PSU's provide all their power. So if you use 30A of the +3.3V rail, you still have the full 36A available for the +5V rail, etc. The easiest way to check a PSU's potential quality is to add up the rails like this. If the rails add up to a figure higher than the quoted wattage of the PSU, move on... it ain't worth it...

dtm_992 - You said you "recently" upgraded your system to those specs, correct? How long ago was that? Were you on a really tight budget or something? I only ask because a P4 2.4 GHz on Socket 478 is an older CPU on an older socket.

It was 6 or 7 months ago.....hehe i only spent 450 cad. I wasn't too concerned about getting something incredibly expensive or anything. This is the first time i'm not just using a stock computer on it's own, so i wasn't too sure about the upgrades. It wasn't the budget or anything, i just didn't want to spend a lot of money on a computer i wouldn't use on a daily basis. I got my laptop, and i use that for everything else.

Hockeyman, thanks for the video card suggestion. I looked at it and it looks good(but what do i know) hehe but it says it needs a molex power dongle. Could you(or anyone else) explain that to me?

[hockey man]

Before you decide on a video card, you need to figure out what you will be doing about the PSU. The quality of the PSU determines the video card we can recommend.

[dtm_992]

Alright, for a psu, how bout this Thermaltake Purepower 430-watt.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1389575&CatId=1078
The card only needs 350 watts, so im guessing this would work fine?

Also, hockeyman, in an earlier post you said the 128 would be better than the 256. I'm a little confused by what you mean. Shouldn't i shoot for the better one? Also, my local store is having a sale on the kingston 512mb ddrpc3200 400mhz memory, so i think i'll just get that.
Thanks for the replies guys

[dtm_992]

Sorry i forgot to mention but i'm doing this mostly so i can run the game fear at medium to high settings smoothly

[saphalline]

Vid cards are a really confusing world. It's all incredibly complex stuff, and it only gets more difficult as you try to compare the price/performance ratios. hockey man was referring to the fact that you linked to a GeForce 6600 and he was recommending a GeForce 6600 GT. Big difference!

6600
300 MHz core, 8 pipes
250 MHz RAM, 128-bit DDR
8.0 GBps RAM bandwidth

6600 GT
500 MHz core, 8 pipes
450-500 MHz RAM, 128-bit DDR
14.4-16.0 GBps RAM bandwidth

Compare the specs and you'll see that a 256MB 6600 has a fraction of the gaming performance of a 128MB 6600 GT. The GT's core is 66% faster and has up to twice the RAM bandwidth, which is very important for modern games. Most people don't know the raw specs of GPU's/VPU's (the graphics chips themselves) and they commonly get less powerful vid cards with more RAM because it has a bigger number. ;) That's why we have the forums - to fix these misconceptions.

For more specs on all sorts of CPU's and vid cards, check out the link in my sig. My friend and I (Orion here on the forums) put together that website in the hopes of educating people about hardware and providing a central location for specs. We're still working on it, though.

[dtm_992]

Wow thx alot saphalline! I'll be sure to pick up that video card then, but just a question, i found this on the description:

Note: Requires a minimum of a 350 Watt power supply and an available molex power dongle.
What's a molex power dongle? and will the thermaltake power supply i suggested be reliable?

[saphalline]

Yeah, the Thermaltake will be fine. I would move up, but then again I'm a PSU fanatic. It depends on how much money you're willing to spend here. Like we said before, that Thermaltake is as low as we could possibly recommend without feeling guilty. :p

You know those power connectors that you plug into CD drives and hard drives? The vid card needs one of those. That's what a "molex power connector" is - it's the type of plug used.