My graphics card melted :(

[ThunderPeel2001]

Unfortunately, it's really only worth upgrading at this point if you're going to do the whole chipset at once (Mobo, CPU, RAM). I guess if you really wanted to squeeze as much out without doing that, you could get one of the Intel Core 2 Extreme processors and try them out. Not really a good long term choice, I have to stress.

Ah, yes. I wonder what the cheapest band-for-buck chipset currently is, then? (I'll do some research.)

(Oddly enough I asked this question on SuperUser.com and before it got closed for being too open-ended, everyone was focusing on my harddrives... Weird!)

[subbes]

Was it SSDs? SU is in love with SSDs lately.

[Patters]

Hmph. Sorry to continue this, but I now I think my machine is being held back by the rest of its four year old components. I don't really want to spend a huge amount turning it into a beast of a machine, instead I'd rather just like to cheaply bring it up to date... if at all.

Does anyone here have an idea of what the least amount of components I could replace to bring it closer to the level of my graphics card? Or to put it another way: Is there a bottleneck, and if so, how do I reduce it?

PROC:

Intel E6600 Core2Duo 2.40GHz

RAM:

4GB (4x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)

MOBO:

Gigabyte 965P-DS3P (1333MHz FSB)

GFX:

MSI R6870 Hawk (ATI Radeon HD 6870) 1GB

HD:

2x 400 Gb Seagate ST3400620AS Barracuda 7200.10 (RAID 1)

You could go for a Phenom II X4 processor on a AM2+ board, keeping your ram usable., or perhaps an Athlon II X4. It's the cheapest viable way to go for a quad core at this point (probably in the region of £130). The 955 I have is still going strong without me needing to overclock it.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Was it SSDs? SU is in love with SSDs lately.

Yes! Now you're making me thinking something suspicious is going on. Are SSD manufacturers trying to socially influence buying? :-/

[subbes]

Nah, it's just a "brand new toy" thing.

[ThunderPeel2001]

You could go for a Phenom II X4 processor on a AM2+ board, keeping your ram usable., or perhaps an Athlon II X4. It's the cheapest viable way to go for a quad core at this point (probably in the region of £130). The 955 I have is still going strong without me needing to overclock it.

Yeah, I was looking at

AMD Athlon II X3 460

Asus M4A87TD EVO

4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333

Based on Ars Technica's guide. Comes to £182 :-/

[Gwardinen]

I would note you currently have DDR2 RAM, and it might well be fairly cheap to upgrade to a similar amount of DDR3 RAM. Chances are to see a real change you'd still have to also change your CPU, and if you're changing both memory and CPU it might be worth going all the way and changing your motherboard, as JonCole said.

I doubt your hard drive is slowing anything down, except for the fact that after four years it's probably full of crap. An SSD would of course be faster, but they're still very expensive per MB by comparison to a standard hard drive.

[Patters]

Yeah, I was looking at

AMD Athlon II X3 460

Asus M4A87TD EVO

4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333

Based on Ars Technica's guide. Comes to £182 :-/

From OC UK

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail

Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 (AM3) Motherboard - Retail

OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK)

£147.37shipped.

[JonCole]

You could go for a Phenom II X4 processor on a AM2+ board, keeping your ram usable., or perhaps an Athlon II X4. It's the cheapest viable way to go for a quad core at this point (probably in the region of £130). The 955 I have is still going strong without me needing to overclock it.

I concur, a Phenom II X4 is exactly what I did when I was doing a similar half-generational jump you were considering, TP. I also managed to snag a mobo for a pretty low price ($40 or something) and the upgrade slid just under $300.

[Murdoc]

Howdy all! So my graphics card decided to take a dump last night and wont work.

The good thing about this was that was the one component in my computer that needed to be replaced the most.

This thread is a couple months old, so I am sure the standards have already changed(maybe?) But could anyone recommend a good card these days for not a lot of cash.

Looking to spend $250-$300(Canadian), but preferably under, don't mind going a little over. I just don't want to spend top dollar. Looking at the Geforce 570s, but there's few reviews on the site I usually buy from.

Seems like everyone is recommending Radeons right now... is that right? I was never in the ATI camp, always went with Nvidia.

[Patters]

Howdy all! So my graphics card decided to take a dump last night and wont work.

The good thing about this was that was the one component in my computer that needed to be replaced the most.

This thread is a couple months old, so I am sure the standards have already changed(maybe?) But could anyone recommend a good card these days for not a lot of cash.

Looking to spend $250-$300(Canadian), but preferably under, don't mind going a little over. I just don't want to spend top dollar. Looking at the Geforce 570s, but there's few reviews on the site I usually buy from.

Seems like everyone is recommending Radeons right now... is that right? I was never in the ATI camp, always went with Nvidia.

If you can get a 570 for that price go for it, it's a great card, if not then you are looking at either a 560ti or an AMD 6950, both are great cards.

[Murdoc]

Cool, thanks,Patters.

I'm sure anything will be better then my old/fried 8800, but just wanted to raise the possibility there could be something better or this is just a dud in the line.

On the plus side, I might be able to play Skryim on the PC now.

[Patters]

Cool, thanks,Patters.

I'm sure anything will be better then my old/fried 8800, but just wanted to raise the possibility there could be something better or this is just a dud in the line.

On the plus side, I might be able to play Skryim on the PC now.

The Skyrim requirements just came out and they are incredibly low. All 3 cards are well above recommended (will run the game well at high settings). From a few NA sources I've heard of the 570 being below $300 USD, maybe CAD too, but I cannot be sure.

[Murdoc]

Oh yeah it is, thats why I mentioned it

[miffy495]

Jesus, have all three of us had 8800s melt in the past few months? Wonder if there's something up there.

[Gwardinen]

I had an 8800 die too... not sure on the exact timing now, at least a few months ago, maybe as much as a year. Bought it in late 2006 or early 2007.

[Patters]

Jesus, have all three of us had 8800s melt in the past few months? Wonder if there's something up there.

8800s did this a surprising amount.

[Brannigan]

I replaced my 8800 just in time actually, I built a PC for my mother and used my old 8800 instead of buying a new card, thing died within a week.

[JonCole]

My girlfriend has my old 8800gt and it seems to be going strong. Might start running a temperature monitor just to be safe after reading all this shit, though.

[Brannigan]

My girlfriend has my old 8800gt and it seems to be going strong. Might start running a temperature monitor just to be safe after reading all this shit, though.

I had my 8800 for a good 3-4 years before it pooped, dunno if I'd worry that much

[ThunderPeel2001]

I had my 8800 for a good 3-4 years before it pooped, dunno if I'd worry that much

Same here. It lasted about as long as I imagined it would.

[Thompson]

I bought an 8800gt in 2007, it's now in a second computer and still going strong. Believe me, it got USED.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I bought an 8800gt in 2007, it's now in a second computer and still going strong. Believe me, it got USED.

I give it a week.

[Murdoc]

I had an 8800 die too... not sure on the exact timing now, at least a few months ago, maybe as much as a year. Bought it in late 2006 or early 2007.

Yeah I had mine for what seems like forever, it was in two different builds of mine. So its not like this comes as a surprise.

I even had a weird memory last night that I need to check up on, but I think the cpu fan made too much memory and I unplugged it at one point... that was over a year ago. hehe.

***

I guess I got mixed up, a 570 was a bit more then I wanted to spend and the nerd in me always wants to just spend a lot more for a little better... which is why I hate upgrading these things because it just snow balls and I never get any use out of it.

But ah well. Hopefully will be here next week.

Edited October 26, 2011 by Murdoc

[elmuerte]

Oo... I replaced a 8800GT earlier this year because it died. It was a little over 3 years old.