best thing to do to improve this pc?

[H3RB]

i had a pc off my mate the other day it was only £120 so not to bad.
specs:
500w artic cooling psu
amd dual core 6000+ 3ghz cpu
4gig cosair (or however u spell it) ddr2 ram
bfg geforce 8800gts


and thats about it
i wanna upgrade it for gaming i dont want top notch but just decent. so what can i do? if i get another 8800 and run it in sli (as they are around £60 on ebay so quite cheap) will it be worth doing? or should i just spend extra on a better card?
im getting a new cpu fan (zalman 9700) so i can overclock the cpu
im also gonna up the ram to 8gig
im running windows 7 64bit
it scores 6.7 on the windows rating

what else could i do to upgrade for basically as cheap as possible lol
any help is great

[H3RB]

also can anyone recomend any good games? preferably ones that will run on that set up lol

[Azz]

Bigger heatsink and overclock it 3.6Ghz

I once over clocked a 733Mhz PIII to 940Mhz, Twoz fine.

[H3RB]

need a bit of help here. havent built a pc for about 3 years so im a little clue less atm..
my mobo is a socket AM2 so im limited to what processors i can use
but does anyone no which is the best cpu to run on AM2? the mobo is a M2N-SLI delux
out of the 2 which is the better cpu
amd dual core x64 6000+
or
AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition 2.5ghz

im looking to get a decent machine going but not sure of the best way to go about it atm

[RobCrezz]

need a bit of help here. havent built a pc for about 3 years so im a little clue less atm..
my mobo is a socket AM2 so im limited to what processors i can use
but does anyone no which is the best cpu to run on AM2? the mobo is a M2N-SLI delux
out of the 2 which is the better cpu
amd dual core x64 6000+
or
AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition 2.5ghz

im looking to get a decent machine going but not sure of the best way to go about it atm

The Phenom x4 is far superior. Check on the website of the motherboard manufacturer, might be able to take higher upgrade with a bios flash.

[H3RB]

yeah ive updated my bios just need to get some money to get the cpu now. ive over clocked mine to 3.4ghz atm and its running ok got a huge cooling heatsink/fan on the cpu with a fan control dial so oc'ing isnt too bad. just need some money for an extra gpu and a new cpu:( lol

[un1eash]

Phenom are better then the X64 6000+, its not really worth clocking the 6000+, i have the same CPU and it doesnt repsond well and you can only really push it to 3.2/3.3ghz.

If you want a gaming machine i'd look at decent ram, a faster HD and a better graphics card. I run a HD4750 with my 6000+ and 4 gb Ram and dont have any problems running the latest games. I built my pc about a year and a half ago.

[H3RB]

Phenom are better then the X64 6000+, its not really worth clocking the 6000+, i have the same CPU and it doesnt repsond well and you can only really push it to 3.2/3.3ghz.

If you want a gaming machine i'd look at decent ram, a faster HD and a better graphics card. I run a HD4750 with my 6000+ and 4 gb Ram and dont have any problems running the latest games. I built my pc about a year and a half ago.

yeah im buying 8 gig of ram of my mate is 800mhz made by giel i think it is.
and im gonna get another 8800gts and run them in sli until i can afford better cards my mate has 2 4870's running in his but he's upgrading soon so ill be having his cards.

[un1eash]

2 4870's will need some massive cooling and PSU(1000w), a single 4870 takes a 4 and 6 pin power supply plus they run hot, 70+ under load.

[H3RB]

2 4870's will need some massive cooling and PSU(1000w), a single 4870 takes a 4 and 6 pin power supply plus they run hot, 70+ under load.

got several 120mm fans sucking in from the bottom of the case and blowing out the top and sides cpu has a venessa l-type cpu cooling fan. i only have a 500w psu atm but have seen 1000's for about £45-£60 so not too expensive

[un1eash]

I didnt spend to much money on my PC build but i then spent alot more trying to make it silent which reminds me i really need to upgrade the GPU cooling fan as the stock one sounds like a dyson on anything above 30% fan speed.

[excalibur1814]

Get a 9800 GX2 for a small amount of cash. It's basically two 8800's in sli. (I think)

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_ge ... x2_us.html
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=12294

Hefty card though! Your power supply should have 2x6pin or 1x6 and 1x8pin connector. If you have 2x6, then you can use an adapter.

I did think of going to the next gen of cards but I play at 1650x1080 and nothing above and the new cards offered nothing UNLESS I played above that res.

http://tinyurl.com/yjo2but


500w artic cooling psu - Fine
amd dual core 6000+ 3ghz cpu - Fine
4gig cosair (or however u spell it) ddr2 ram - Fine
bfg geforce 8800gts - ok

Recently built a gaming pc of this spec:
HP dx2400, removed the cpu and fitted
- Core 2 Q9650 Quad 3.0Ghz
- 8Gb ram
- nVidia 9800 GX2 card
- Western Digital Black 7200rpm 32Mb cached drive
- Antec 550w PSU (Can apparently handle 650w under test)
Runs very well.

[H3RB]

just won a second bfg geforce 8800 gts on ebay for £41 they usually go for about £70-£80.... just hope it works ok.
need the sli adapter now tho.

hopefully the 2 cards in sli and the cpu oc'd to 3.4 should be enough till i can afford something better

[excalibur1814]

I have an SLI adaper doing nothing. Pm me your address if you like and I'll send it over.

[excalibur1814]

It's on it's way...

[toxo]

i only have a 500w psu atm but have seen 1000's for about £45-£60 so not too expensive

I would be absolutely amazed if any 1000w PSU you buy for £45-£60 is capable of anything higher than 600w reliably. I would say I'd eat a sock but excalibur knows how that turns out

[excalibur1814]

Twas tasty!

I chose an Antec 550w which, for some odd reason while under testing conditions, managed to hold up at 650w. I wouldn't push it though.

Power supply = probably the most important part.

"Real tests made by the guys at Anandtech revealed that a high end PC that uses an 8800GTX series card consumes about 320W. And I�m talking about a high priced Core 2 Duo with 2GBs of Ram here.

The conclusion is simple. 25-27A on the +12V lines for a single 8800 is more than enough. And in case you need a SLI configuration, make sure you have at least a 30-34A capable PSU. Note that not all PSUs run according to their specification and current on the +12V line may be lower in reality. In order to stay away from trouble, a good quality 430W-480W from a top manufacturer should be enough. "

[RyanRs]

could you possibly splice the power 'on' trigger from the 20-pin motherboard psu loom and wire it to a 2nd psu, thus running 2 PSU's ?

[toxo]

Yeah, you just have to connect the grounds of the two PSU's together and then link the green wires together in the ATX plug. The motherboard grounds the green wire when it wants the PSU to switch on.

[excalibur1814]

.... a 750w power supply that you could buy for £45 if you like?

Purchased for the Q9650 / 9800 GX2 machine but decided to buy the Antec instead due to reviews.

I can post pics on Monday