Seeking some PC advice...

My computer is dying, its motherboard sending out distress signal beeps as it's old Penitum 4 core slowly dies, am hoping to upgrade it. Only updating the components below, I have a 430 W rated PSU and a Soundblaster X-fi ExtremeMusic. So far this is the config am looking at:

  • Intel Core 2 Quad 2.40 Ghz 8Mb Cache
  • Asus P5KR
  • 320Gb Sata II
  • 2 Gb DDR2 800mhz
  • Asus 8800 GTS 640mb

Will this be enough to say run Crysis on High? Call of Duty 4 on High? Would there be any benefit to going for 2GB of DDR3 1066mhz RAM? Would the Thermaltake 430 W PSU keep all this running smoothly?

MarineGunrock says...

I'll say yes, because you have the same GPU, CPU and Ram I do.
HOWEVER - You might need a better PSU - 430 is a bit low.
Also, I would recommend that you check out the Asus P5NSLI MoBo. It's a great board for the price (< $100 USD), especially considering that it's 775 pin socket supports the quad-cores and has SLI capability for when your 8800 gets old.

thesnipe says...

Agreed, COD4 -Big yes, Crysis - yes on almost all of it with minimal fps drop.

However a 430W PSU isn't enough imho, go with at least a 600W if you're going to run that Quad core and the HDDs.

twiddles says...

The power supply's ability to handle the new specs is going to depend a lot on what the total current rating is for the 12V rails. In general, today's higher end video cards are going to need at least 30Amps combined. Another factor to consider in selecting a power supply is its efficiency. A good power supply these days can operate at around 80% efficiency or better. A quick look at what I could find stat-wise on Thermaltake's 430W PSUs lists them as 65% percent which means it will run hotter and waste more energy. The ability of a PSU to deliver stable and sufficient current is critical to building a system. Upgrading the PSU may be a small price to pay for smooth operation and piece of mind.

Farhad2000 says...

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I thought 430 W looked a bit paltry overall, so am guessing that will be getting upgraded as well. Twiddles comment was great, I will definitely check on the efficiency of any PSU I end up getting, I just hope they stock decent ones because this is Kuwait and not all the vendors are in anyway savvy when it comes to computer systems, will to sell you schlock just to sell anything.

I like what MGR said about Asus P5NSLI motherboard, I would have to see and check if any of the vendors in Kuwait stock it.

Farhad2000 says...

Thanks for all the good advice guys, am going out to buy the system today. Along with everything people recommended am hoping to bag a new case with enough cooling solutions to make sure this doesn't run too hot.

I will also be picking up a fan for my older system, am probably gonna relegate it to being a torrent download system and broadcast center for the media players around the house.

TheSofaKing says...

I have virtually the same system which I built 3 weeks ago. It is running on my 2 year old Enermax 425W power supply with no problems. Slso, I know it sounds weird but the 512MB version of the 8800GTS benchmarks much better then the 640.

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