Graphic and memory upgrades

Ksynnott · 06-22-2008, 04:13 AM

Currently my PC has the following:

Asus P5B Delux/Wifi
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
2 gb ddr2 800mhz
ATi Radeon 1950pro
2 320 gb hd
turtle beach santa cruiz sound card
wintv pvr 150
500w psu
6 fan case
and two light scribe lg dvd burners

I was thinking of upgrading my graphics to a crossfire system. And add 2 more gigs of ram, maybe 4. I heard Vista doesn't like the over 4 gb of ram thing. i don't know if this is true i have been told it by a couple friends. I need the graphics for graphics software, and video games such as Age of Conan, and other heavy loaded games. I wanna run them on fairly high level of graphics quality with shader, and texture quality on full. I would think i needed more ram to load faster but i don't know. I was looking at the ATI radeon 3870HD 512mb video card, with just some ocz gold pc6400 ram. I wanna do crossfire of the 3870 because there not too expensive. would this be good, i wanna keep that price range, so alternatives may be acceptable. Do you think i should upgrade my processor or is it good enough? or any other suggestions.

badRick · 06-22-2008, 05:31 AM

Unless you have a 64-bit version of Vista, or any OS for that matter, getting over 4gb is a waste of money as it simply cannot be used. That said, if you do have a 64-bit OS then extra ram is a nice plus, ive got 6gb of DDR2 at 1100mhz and vista is much snappier than when i had just 2gb. However 2gb is fine for pretty much everything, nearlly all of my ram is just sat idle msot of the time.

If your considering crossfire, look to getting a single 4850 from ATI as these cards are looking hot. You would probably get on fine with one card, but the option for 2 in crossfire is there and i reccon your PSU should be ok. If the 4850 is too pricey then a seccond hand 3870 might be a good idea, im sure loads of people will be looking to upgrade to the 4XXX series cards so you'll get a bargain

Hope it helps

**casecutter** · 06-22-2008, 09:01 PM

Skip the 3870. Get a 4850. THere is no comparison and for $200 or less, the 4850 is one of the best bargains. They are already found on sale for under $170 too.

randomness · 06-22-2008, 09:17 PM

If u run crossfire 4850 u may find massive CPU limitations unless u overclock it. Plus the motherboard only supports PCI-e x16/x4 which limits the graphics cards' potential. take a look at tweaktown's article comparing pci-e x16 1.0 and PCI-e 2.0

**casecutter** · 06-23-2008, 01:59 AM

LOL!! That is a load of crap. 4850 Crossfire will run perfectly fine with no issues on PCI-E 1.0. Anyone that tells different needs to rethink their testing methodology.

I also did not mention Crossfire and considering you just don't need multiple GPU's unless you run over 1920X1200 resolution. A single 4850 is roughly as powerful as 2 X 3870 as well.