What areas do i need to upgrade to get a excellent gaming pc.

[hewittinspain]

Ok I was gonna get a Playstation 3 but why should i pay over the odds just because it supports Blu-Ray so i thought id spend the money into tweaking my pc as some games in the future will be better than any console will produce ie Crysis.
This is my pc spec
Pentium Dual core 2.66 x 2 ,64bit
Geforce 7600gt graphics card
300gb hard drive
1gb ram
dvd drive
motherboard ASUS P5LD2 SE. X-Power psu (400w or 450w..not sure)
Running on windows xp 32bit

I dont want to spend loads of money on upgrades that im never gonna use but my theory is perhaps if i could add an extra 1gb of ram,purchase a better graphics card(maybe geforce 7950- 8800gtx) upgrade to Windows Vista 64bit,and perhaps upgrade the PSU. I think my processor speed could be fast enough as it is Dual core although a guy overclocked the 2 processors to 3.6ghz each and it ran perfect with Prime95. Unfortunately since I had to reinstall my Windows which brought it back down to 2.66,bit still I reckon it could be fast enough for next gen games.
So have i answered my own question or is there something else I should be looking to buy?

Just another thing.When the guy overclocked it he changed the FSB in Bios.It is back at 533 but he put it higher. I know how to locate the FSB but has anyone any tips what I could change it to to get the speed back to 3.6ghz?

[George Hallam]

ok firstly a PS3 is an ok gaming system but by the time you have bought new things for the pc you will have properly spent more than you would on a PS3.

ok your processor should be ok but you would be better off with a Core 2 duo but thats not the problem. another 1gb of ram would be wise as well.
on games now its all about the graphics card the 7950 is a good card (i have it :)) but now it would be good to get a Dx 10 card, depending on the gaming you will be doing you can go for the 8600 or the better 8800gts/gtx depending on you budget. how much are you wanting to spend? if you get a new PSU go for something 600w or over then it will be ok for the future and for SLI, but i am not sure that you mobo has two PCI x16.

im sorry don't no anything about overclocking but all i do no is that is it goes wrong be prepared to buy a new CPU. :p

[hewittinspain]

Thanks for the reply.I guess my overall price would be in the region of £500 or 900usd but i guess the graphics card would take up most of the cost thats why i want a good card thats not gonna beak the bank. The minimum requirements for Crysis are 2.8ghz pentium but the 'Recommended' requirements state PentiumD,which thankfully falls into my catagory.Im guessing the next gen games will be of Crysis standard so they also say that DX10 is pretty much essential if you wanna get the graphical extras. I dont wanna upgrade just for this game but I would say this game is gonna set the standard for the next few years,do u agree? Ill go for a PSU around 600w but is there anyway of me checking the current power without physically taking my pc to bits? Im just presuming its 400w-450w,it could be higher for all i know but the PSU is tucked away in my tower and would be a pain to unscrew it just to check.
-So ill buy 1gb of ram, (
-a good graphics card with DX10,,(any ideas without breaking the bank?)
-and change my PSU (if it needs more power)

According to my motherboard spec it says i have 1 x PCI express x 16 slot, 2 x PCI express x 1 slots, 3 x PCI slots

What would i need to PCI x 16 slots for? (sorry im a complete novice)

[odannyboy000]

Get that GB of ram, and I recommend the 8800GTS 640MB edition. It's around 500 US and won't break your bank of 900. That leaves 400 for ram and PSU. I saw that your motherboard only supports maximum ddr2 667. Make sure you get sticks of that.

You might not need a new PSU.

In order to overclock back to 3.6GHz, you have to enter BIOS, and change your FSB mulitplier there. But, if I were you I would not change it. You obviously aren't ready for overclocking, so don't try it unless you can afford to replace every part of your computer, because overclocking can damage it very easily.

So, I recommend spending the summer reading about overclocking, then by the end try it after fully understand everything there is to know about it.

[hewittinspain]

thanks for the advice guys.Does it have to be a specific dd2 667 ram?I have 2 x 512 sticks so can i get a 1gb stick or will i have to get another 2 x 512 sticks to make it 2gb? Someone on ebay is selling them and they say one is cube and one is kingston(they are both 512 ddr2 667) would this be ok?

[George Hallam]

it has to be DDR2 667 because that is the max speed your mobo can support dont matter what make or model solong at it is that (then you no you cant go wrong)
i saw you asked about the x16 slot that is needed by all new graphics cards

[david eaton]

And don't forget, DX10 is NOT supported by WinXP, so you will need to upgrade to VISTA!

[saphalline]

Spend a bit more now and upgrade less later.

The first thing you need to do is open up your system and check the PSU. There should be a sticker right on the side of it facing out - no need to unscrew it or anything. Tell us what's on the sticker. We'll also need to know what connectors it has - ie, 24-pin ATX? How many 4-pin molex? 4-pin or 8-pin +12V EPS? Any 6-pin PCIe?

Assuming the PSU is up to snuff, I'd suggest the following upgrades:

2GB kit DDR2-667 (2 x 1GB sticks)
GeForce 8600 GTS vid card
Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card

(Save the rest of the money for an upgrade to Vista Premium later. Full retail version, though, no "upgrade" or OEM copy.)

With the above upgrades, plus a plan to move to Vista & DX10 later, you'll be fully prepared for new upcoming games like Crysis. The extra RAM won't be fully used by WinXP 32-bit, but no sense wasting perfectly good RAM slots on puny little 512MB DDR2 sticks anymore. 2GB kits are better and will prevent you from dumping RAM later just to upgrade again. In fact, 3GB of RAM should last the rest of that system's life. The vid card is fully DX10 compliant and the new 8600's are very budget oriented. Not quite as good as the big 8800's, but the price puts them in-line with the family's performance and the upgrade will be worth it. I threw an X-Fi sound card in there for pure gaming sensibility. The X-Fi is new and the price has been dropping steadily. You can get the baseline model (still way better than any Audigy) for a good price and the sound quality is simply amazing! Newer games like Battlefield 2142 are like never before and even music playback seems more lifelike. All in all, every gamer really should have an X-Fi, especially with Crysis coming. (You have a good speaker set, right? :p)

The eventual need for Vista will manifest itself as DX10 games are released. As of this moment, there's not really a need for it. WinXP 32-bit is still the gaming platform of choice. But as we move into Crysis and Allan Wake, that will change. Plan on buying a full retail copy of Vista Premium before the year is over, and plan on enjoying DX10 goodness, too! :D Hopefully... :rolleyes:

[hewittinspain]

Thanks Saphalline,Ill check out my PSU over the weekend and get back to you,this poor guy has to go to work now.:(. I see your theory about buying an x-fi soundcard,I do have a good speaker system although it isnt surround I have the Cambridge Soundworks THX megaworks 250D.Im curently using the onboard soundsystem that has SoundMAX ADI AD1986A hi-def audio CODEC upto 6 channel audio,5.1 virtual theater and the manual says it supports major game audio technologies inc. dirextx 9c,direct sound 3d,a3d,macroFX,zoonFX,multidrive 5.1,a3D and EAX. The sound at the moment is very clear but will the x-fi soundcard still bring out the best in audio for me?
Like you said i think ill leave the vista til last when ive purchased the rest of the upgrades.The geforce 8600 sounds a good choice too. I guess its just nice to get my pc kitted out for the next gen games.I dont want my friend with his PS3 thinking hes got a better games machine do i!! Ill get back to u with the PSU sometime over the weekend. Many regards.