Video card upgrade advice

voodoo47 on 9/4/2013 at 10:57

yeah, should be fine for that.

bikerdude on 9/4/2013 at 22:28

Before you go and buy a GTX660, yes voodoo is correct in that the GPU will held back but such an old slow cpu, but what he may have forgot about is shader perf in the latest games. Even with your older CPU you would benefit from more cores in the GPU and fyi the 660 only has 960, while the 660Ti & 670 have 1344.

The cheapest 660Ti is another Gigabyte model on (http://www.ebuyer.com/407084-gigabyte-gtx-660-ti-overclocked-2gb-gddr5-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-gv-n660toc-2gd) ebuyer @£230. The 660Ti will almost give 670 perf but at almost £100 cheaper, but the reason I suggested the previously mentioned 670 is because the stock clocks it matches a 680 and with the vapor cooler and tri fans its virtually silent.

I suggest with the £100 saved, get a better CPU. So if there is a branch near you of cex.co.uk, go there and trade in your old Q8400 cpu for later yorkdale Q9000 series socket 775 cpu - (http://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sortOn=sellprice_desc&stext=core2quad&section=all&rad_which_stock=1&catid=911).

And now that I think about it, you could trade in your old GTX460 while your at it - (http://uk.webuy.com/search/index.php?stext=GTX+460&ispostback=1&mode=buy)

faetal on 12/4/2013 at 11:22

Excellent tips bikerdude.
When I get my next cash injection, that's what I'll do.

faetal on 16/4/2013 at 12:24

Bikerdude - I can't find anywhere that sells Q9000 chips for S775. Don't suppose you know of anywhere do you?

bikerdude on 18/4/2013 at 18:02

Er yeah see the link in my post above mista!...

- (http://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sortOn=sellprice_desc&stext=core2quad&section=all&rad_which_stock=1&catid=911)

faetal on 22/4/2013 at 08:55

Ah, right you are!
Apologies - I'm in the final year of a PhD, so I am more scatty than a jazz man who prefers to eschew lyrics.

Will (http://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SCPUINYQX6850) THIS do it?

bikerdude on 22/4/2013 at 09:33

Yup more than enough, looking on intels website the specs are good

- (http://ark.intel.com/products/30789/Intel-Core2-Extreme-Processor-QX6850-8M-Cache-3_00-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB)

But the C2Q Q9550 is better, newer tech, runs cooler, has 12Mb cache and its cheaper.

- (http://ark.intel.com/products/33924)

Those shops are in London which are near me, so you have three options.

1. buy the new cpu outright and keep you old one as a spare - quickest.
2. send them your old cpu to trade in giving you a discount - slowest.
3. send me your current cpu, I will go into the shop and then post u the new cpu - medium.

If you go for option 3 drop me a PM with your details etc.

faetal on 22/4/2013 at 09:53

That's very kind of you to offer, but I'm not currently able to go more than a day without home PC up and running as I'm not able to stay at the office past 11pm.

(http://cameraplanets.co.uk/intel-q9550-core-2-quad-proccessor-283-ghz12mb-l2-cache1333mhz-fsbsocket-lga77545-nm3-year-warrantyretail-boxed) THIS is the cheapest non-used I can find online. I will go ahead and buy this when I can afford to (probably start of July then).

Provided it works ok, I'd happily send you my current one for free in the post to use or sell however you wish, in return for the help you've given me.

bikerdude on 22/4/2013 at 18:28

Quote Posted by faetal

* I will go ahead and buy this when I can afford to.
* Provided it works ok, I'd happily send you my current one for free in the post to use or sell however you wish, in return for the help you've given me.

Don't buy that one new one online @ £207 that's a complete rip off. I should have mentioned you can buy that Q9550 Cpu from (http://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SCPUINTQ9550A) www.cex.co.uk online and at £90 its far cheaper.

And regarding your current one, its cool. Your better of keeping it as a spare :-)

faetal on 22/4/2013 at 19:53

Ah, £90 *is*much better :D