The wifes allowed me out :)

[Greymack]

Hi guys

The wife has allowed me (will cost me big time) to buy a new graphics card and at first i was well chuffed but now i realise i haven't a clue about some of the potential pittfalls.
First up i fancy XFX 6800 GT i have read nothing but good things about this card, it's expensive but not as bad as the ultra which is a little out my reach.
So first question how do you guys rate it?
2ndly my pc config is MSI K7N2 delta M/Board with 512mc PC3200 ram, an audigy soundcard and an thlon XP 2500 barton.
Thats not cutting edge and it may hold the card back a bit but i'll still see a big performance boost correct?
3rdly Power i have a Zalman 400watt PSU i hope that'll be enough...will it?
apart from the parts i mention i only have 2 dvd drives and sata hard drive to run.
Finally as i said i have 512MB of PC3200 ram the thing is it's CL3.5 if i bought another 512mb ram and it's CL3 would that be a problem?

Is there anything else i haven't taken into consideration?

Sorry there's so many questions but i'd very much appreciate some help, any answer to any question would be great :)

[Damins]

You will see a huge upgrade with that card forsure and 400watts should do just fine for what ya got. There was a link on here somewhere to a site you could add all your hardware to and it would tell ya what you needed for power. I run about the same as you and I think it came up with like 260watts or something for what I needed. That card should also play any games that come out for awhile.

[porsch1909]

OMG its somebody else from scotland!!!


yeh its a gr8 card. you cant really go wrong with any of the new generation cards. but the 6800 GT seems to be the one to buy just now.

plus........control the wife not let her control you!!

[Midknyte]

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168657&highlight=6800

The XFX is a reference 6800GT.

The GT should be a good match for your setup. An Ultra would be bottlenecked by the cpu.

400W is plenty for a GT.

CL3.5? I think you mean 2.5. The motherboard will default to the SLOWEST overall settings. If you get CL3.0, then all your ram will run at that speed.

[Greymack]

No it's CL3.5 when i got it, it was one of the first batch of pc3200 and 3.5 was all i could get from crucial. Not sure how slow that is incomaprison to CL3 or even 2.5, butobviously if i got more i should try and get 3.5, yes?

Is there any point in getting anymore?

[Midknyte]

i have never seen CAS3.5 ddr. The highest I've seen in the bios settings is 3.0. something is wrong there. you better double check that.

You can get anything lower than that and it will work fine in your system. don't bother looking for CAS3.5

[Greymack]

Just checked my receipt and it states Crucial PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB CL3 5ns. Unbuffered Non-Parity 2.5v 64meg x64

Just noticed there's no '.' between the 3 and the 5, what i've written does that seem like CL3?

Also as i said i have 512 mb of ram already is another 512 pointless?

[Midknyte]

it is CAS3.0.

I don't think you'll see a huge improvement going to 1G, but it depends on what programs you use.

[Cyan]

for my piece, I don't see that system being a massive bottleneck to graphically intense games - the next generation maybe a little, nothing huge or massively noticable (doom 3 HL2 - basic physics stuff - AI for HL2... maybe not doom...)

[Greymack]

I'll tell u what it is this is my big chance to upgrade before i have to 'settle down' :)
I can't afford to buy new motherboards, CPU etc, then totally new components as i believe PCI express will force you to do when it becomes the norm.
So i figure this new graphics card will last a good while and if i can spin it out a bit longer with very little expense buy buying some more ram then all the better.

Of course if it's a waste of time then perhaps not.

I enjoy the odd game, can't wait for Half Life 2 currently playing Rome Total War.

I do use photoshop quite a bit and obviously ripping music and internet browsing etc

[Midknyte]

the extra ram would help photoshop.

you can also try this:
http://www.acropdf.com/

[Greymack]

I actually use adobe as i use it home and and at work.

I will ask this in the memory forum or wherever is appropriate but if i was to buy more ram shouldi buy another 512 or can u go with 256 as well as the original 512?

Also shouldi stick to same brand?

sorry for all the questions :)

[Midknyte]

you can mix and match sizes. I would go for a 512, but you can get a 256 if you want. you don't need to use the same brand.