Looking to slightly upgrade my PC

Fraz

Blu Hatte, Greyscale Backdrop.
aa
Dec 28, 2008
944
1,152
Well, I'm getting roughly $500ish (£320ish) and am looking to upgrade my PC, mainly Graphics and PSU.

My specs (I have a 300W PSU right now)

More info about my mobo

I am currently looking at buying:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/227181
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/200490

however am uncertain whether everything will work etc etc since I'm quite noobish when it comes to hardware. Any advice, changes or any other comments? I'm really looking for stuff that will play all Source Games at high settings, as well as play the new Call of Duty when it comes out etc. halp.
 

gamemaster1996

L13: Stunning Member
Sep 30, 2009
1,064
134
Well Sir i'd advise looking at graphics cards which are ment for these games and other new games. So i'd look at the ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 Graphics card if you want to go all out on amazing graphics and im uncertain about Processors.
 
Nov 14, 2009
1,257
378
Your videocard choice is fine. The PSU is overkill, you only need about 500 watts to run just about anything.

I have a friend who has dual 460s, and no slouch of a processor, and his computer runs at 485 watts on full load.
 

Terr

Cranky Coder
aa
Jul 31, 2009
1,590
410
When it comes to power supplies, the actual wattage isn't nearly important as looking at the "rails" that the PSU has. There's no point having a kerjillion-watt power-supply if if cannot deliver the power where you need it.

A while back, for example, there were a lot of problems where PSUs could easily power way more hard-drives at once (using 3-volt and 5-volt power) than most people needed, but the circuitry which supplied power to your video-card (12 volts) was comparatively weak, leading people to have to upgrade their PSUs to use newer video cards.

Reviews of PSUs done with actual electrical testing:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Review_Cat&recatnum=13
 
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lana

Currently On: ?????
aa
Sep 28, 2009
3,075
2,778
I've never really needed to swap out a PSU before, mostly because I'm too lazy to find one compatible with all the other components. Unless yours has given off its magic smoke, I feel there's no need to upgrade.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
I think the moral of the PSU story is don't buy company brand PSU's.

GPU and PSU seems fine to me. Besides the PSU make (your card is exactly the same as mine), they are exactly the same specs which i purchased about 3-4 weeks ago. I was after a mid range setup that can play current games no issue and that's exactly what i got, best value for money vs performance you'll ever get is the GTX 460.

They run fine, though the PSU runs a little hotter than i'd like when playing games (but i'm also running off 4 HD's and an i7). The insane thing is how quiet my computer is, but that's probably more my whole system than just those 2 devices.

Since you're upgrading your PSU as well you should have enough power cables to handle the next gen card (which will come with 2 6 pin power slots). You only really need to worry about compatability with the MB when getting new HD's, DVD-D's and CPU's (which you're not).

Assuming the rest of your computer is younger than 6 years, you shouldn't have any problems hooking your PSU to your older system.
 
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Nov 14, 2009
1,257
378
Once again, regarding PSUs, the trick is in getting one from a legit and reputable brand. These are, in order you should buy from, starting at best:

1) PC Power and Cooling
2) Corsair
3) Antec

Other than that, I wouldnt trust that many other PSU manufacturers.