How Far Will Graphics Card, PSU, RAM and Win 7 Pro 64 Bit Take Me?

[eagl]

I wouldn't spend a dime upgrading that system, sorry.  You pretty much need to start over.  $600 would get you a VERY complete and upgradable basic rig.  Read some of the other system upgrade threads from the last month in here, to see what folks recommend.  But you really do need to start over and not waste any money on that rig.

[Chilli]

A little bit about me 

Last August I suddenly lost my boss (related to aggressive treatment for cancer).  Until then he held the trucking contract that barely squeaked out a living for my family.  Out of respect, me and the other drivers carried out the contract to the end of the year for his widow.  As of January, another driver and I went into deep hock to acquire the trucking contract and fulfill about 2/3 of the first quarter of the year.  Every night is a roll of the dice for economic disaster for me and my family, due to the weather and road hazards that we encounter (9pm to 4am every night 7 days a week).

Forgive me for going off topic for the moment, but I just felt that it would help some to understand the items that I am purchasing would hopefully also be useful in a new system build.  But for the present my garbage can of a computer will have to hold on, in which there is no doubt it is able to deliver smooth online gameplay as it is (depending upon my internet connection). 

The only sacrifices to be made currently are eye candies like shadows and detailed terrain.  With help from the community and all of your input here, I am going ahead with my UPGRADE of current computer and waiting at least until I am able to recover some funds with the current business to completely upgrade.

UPDATE:  Thermaltake SMART Series SP-750PCBUS 750W ATX 12V 2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply to be delivered in 4 days.  I will have to let you all know how the Win 7 Pro 64 bit goes hopefully by tomorrow night.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153174
 
ChiLLi

[BaldEagl]

My take is upgrade the GPU and PSU and leave the RAM and OS alone. 

At least in the past 32 bit windows applications could only use 2 GB of RAM anyway although additional RAM may be used by system resources.  If that's still true then the RAM upgrade won't help you one bit in game performance unless you're doing a lot of other things with your system while you play.

With the recent increases in GPU RAM this may have changed and if you're getting a RAM heavy GPU it may still be worthwhile to upgrade to a 64 bit version of windows otherwise you'll be limited to 4 GB of RAM (system and GPU combined) with a 32 bit version of Windows but you'll need to make sure the rest of your HW is 64 bit compatible (it may not be).

Sorry but, despite your current economic circumstances, your choices may be liimited and in that case you really don't need to throw money away.

[Chilli]

Thanks Eagl,

Yes, I agree with your assessment, however, I am pressing on with the operating system for other reasons than Aces High.  Looking into other limitations due to my bucket of bolts, it does seem that I may have maxed out the RAM at 4 GB (about to update my chipset wish me luck - maybe it will give me the capacity that I am looking for).

Again, thanks everyone for the thought and responses.  I am somewhat stubborn when it comes to tossing money to the wind (without a good lap dance at least)    So, maybe in a week or two I will be able to get into a Saturday Scenario or see some of my old buds in LWMA.

 

[TequilaChaser]

Good morning Chilli,
I know we have talked about the need and possibilities of getting you a new computer case...

I just want you to be aware of the inefficiency that dell case will have trying to dissipate the interior heat buildup inside of it...

That is something to keep as a high priority on your list....

I like your PSU choice! That Thermaltake single rail is much better than that dual rail PSU you listed earlier in this thread... My opinion anyways....

Cheers

TC

[Drano]

Okay, I have the wife searching for the Sea Sonic S12II 520 Bronze PSU and as far as I could see the dimensions are compatible and it is a better bargain, unless the extra juice could harm my current motherboard.

How it works is like this. You have a PC full of electronic components. Those components will require a certain ammount of amperage/wattage to operate properly. That is called load. The PSU size is designed to be able to supply that ammount of load. That's why some are of a higher wattage rating than others. It doesn't force the juice into your components--they draw it from the PSU. If you have an undersized PSU for the ammount of stuff you have in your PC it won't be able to supply the proper ammount of power to run all your stuff and your performance will suffer possibly to the point of either crashing or not starting at all. I have a 1000W fully modular PSU. The idea being it should future proof any expansion I might do. When I bought it I had the idea I might get a second video card and run them in SLI and that would require a lot more power. Keep in mind the PSU drives ALL of the stuff on your PC. Fans, lights, all the hard drives and optical drives. Everything. Most manufacturers have a calculator that will help you to size up what you need. IMO it's not a bad idea to go a little bit over. Surely it's better than going under. Don't cheap out on your PSU as it'll directly affect everything else.

[Chilli]

Thanks Drano,

Great information.  With that in mind and TC's very patient discussions with me, I am feeling confident that I am on a good track to be  in the virtual skies again.

After a long history of playing Aces High, the one thing that I am fairly certain about, is that they have gone through great lengths to make their game scalable to allow for lower end systems.  It has also been my pleasure to find that the community, has so much to offer to those lower end users in terms of tips and workarounds.  In short, HTC support and the BBS have been worth a ton of real money in my pocket instead of that of electronics manufacturers.

[SirNuke]

I didn't read the previous comments, but what struck me is the lack of CPU power of your computer, leaving your future videocard largely under exploited. You can buy the GPU and PSU now as you might be able to use them with a different motherboard, but I wouldn't spend any money on RAM that you will most likely won't use for very long.

that seasonic PSU has great value, mine is like 5 years old and currently powers a Core i5 with a R280X and 3 hard drives with no issue.

[Bizman]

Read through the entire thread after my first comment, and the last one by SirNuke is exactly what I was going to say. Only upgrade those parts you can use in your next computer!

About the eye candy vs. fps question, there really isn't any formula. I suppose you won't lose much by getting components in the same category, both price and performance wise. The price jump between the best and second best is usually higher than the difference in performance. There's lots of performance charts in the Internet, some even with prices. Trying to get the best bang for the buck in the high end gpu section and highest third of CPU's should give you a good rig for many years.

[Chilli]

Thanks Bizman,

Both links are very helpful.  Another update with current upgrade search:  Digisoft sales rep was such a dick about trying to handle an email issue that he actually hung up on my wife.  Let me tell you that I wouldn't recommend that company to any of my friends.  He was such a dick that I took a look at what others had to say in reviews.  Not to my surprise, one site listed them with a 10% rating (looks like they could have gotten worse if they had negatives on the scale).  I saw one comment that said they were selling used previously registered software.  I guess I was fooled by the Microsoft Partners stamp on the website. 

I was very much looking forward to reporting that I had made the Win 7 upgrade today, but all is not lost and search continues.

It does appear that I may be stuck with my 4GB of memory for the moment also.

On the up side, I am very much looking forward to reporting about the new Thermaltake PSU that should be arriving this week.   

[Chilli]

Bucket of Bolts may get tossed after all 

[lerxst]

I had the same problem over the summer,was running a HP setup was already 6 yrs old. I have a micro center right down the highway from me, so i bought a cooler master haf912 case,Asus z87-c mobo,intel i5 4670k processor,i installed a thermaltake 600w power supply,16 gigs of ram,i at the moment still have a nvidia gtx550ti vid card,i cant tell you what a relief it is to just turn the thing on and be able to play with no problems (other than my flying)!! all total i probably spent about 850-900.00 on build