for techie pros out there

after i found out sc2 and ra3 was coming out on Oct i did hours and more hours of research to how to improve my comp
my current computer is "hp 7360n"
which has:

PentiumD 920 (P) dual core 2.8 GHz
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
300 GB SATA with 7200 rpm
Video Graphics: GeForce 6200SE

if this info isnt enough theres a lot more here
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc [...] ct=1818344

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these are the items i want to buy for my system

http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] re=CORSAIR
Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan
Reg. Price: $124.99 After Mail In Rebate: $104.99 CAD

http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] chnologies
BFG GeForce GTX 280 OC 615MHZ 1024MB 2.214GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card
Reg. Price: $468.99 After Mail In Rebate: $438.99 CAD

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and i will buy these items on december because i have limited budget right now

http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] re=CORSAIR
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400 2GB 2X1GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory
Reg. Price: $59.99 After Mail In Rebate: $46.99 CAD

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/p [...] 50&catid=#
Samsung SyncMaster 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor (T220)
Our price: $339.99

im digging myself a hole for these upgrades
because i want the best quality images and still have very fast stable performance
my question is will everything work to its full potential?
will the items i want to buy work with my current system?
if i am getting the best i woudnt mind being broke for a long time

i already checked length available on my comp is 28cm and width is 15cm it should fit

I would start with a new case with more front to back room.
Then I would build from there.

i dont think that is true because i went to EBgames not to long ago and they told me that sc2 is coming out on oct 1 so i already paid $5 deposit to make sure i get the game i will be coming back on Oct1 to pay full i dont think EBgames would let me do that if they are not 100% sure that game will come out at this time

Venom, where have you been? As far as i know, ALL PENTIUM D'S are over 2.2 ghz... the lowest model is like 2.8, second is 3, third is like 3.2 and the highest is like 3.4

thats what I saw when i had a pentium D, and i had the 3 ghz one


as far as the gtx 280 OC

if your willing to dish out that much cash for a GPU, then get a 4870 X2, its better by a fair margin in most games than the gtx 280.

If you don't want to spend that much then I recommend the 4870, especially for 1680 by 1050, that looks like prime real estate for the 48-50/70 series.

your processor WILL limit any of that graphics cards above. I frankly recommend revamping your entire system if you want to keep for a lot longer...

get a good p45 mobo (asus p5q's work well) and a quad such as the q9550 and then overclock it, if your not willing to dish quite that much out for a processor, get a e8500 and then overclock with the xigametek s1283 cpu cooler


and then get 2 X 2 GB ram modules because the fewer dimms of ram you have, the easier it is to achieve stability at higher overclocks

Although you currently have a pre-built system, i'd recommend next time you build just building from scratch, its more fun (a lot more), cheaper, and more satisfying, and there are many more ways to customize ones computer

That's a fairly good system to be selling by the look of it, over and above many standard new PCs (except the processor of course), should be able to get £100 for it, which would get you a nice start on a new system.

I would follow the suggestion of building a new system. That CPU will not be able to feed any current GPU. A GTX 280, especially an OC version, with that CPU is a waste of money.

do you rec i buy a new case?
maybe ill buy faster hardrive later i was thiking 10000rpm

i dont understand
The RAM will not be able to hit high OCs.
The Mobo does not even support OCs.
The CPU even if OC'd which you can't will not match current systems.

There has never been a version of the Pentium D that slow; Netburst had a much longer pipeline and was not capable of doing as many instructions per clock cycle, so the clockspeed was generally pushed a lot higher than even Core 2 chips today, even though they are A LOT slower when it comes to real performance.

Here are a couple of links to some good discussions.
First, how good a vga card do you need for good gameplay?
http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga_3/
next, how much cpu (duo vs quad) do you need to drive a high end vga card?
http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga_3/ Look particularly at the budget cpu in the charts.

I come to the conclusion that the best vga card that your processor can drive is much lower than what you are considering.
At most, I would look at the 9800GX2/GTX260/4870 cards which are comparable.
Probably, you would love something less, like a 4850.

Use some of the savings to get an additional 2gb of ram. Here's why:
http://www.corsairmemory.com/_appn [...] alysis.pdf


When you get the funds, upgrade to a E8400.

Do NOT put a GTX 280 OC into that system. You will NOT get the card running up to it's potential and will be throwing money away.

Simply dropping in an HD4850 would be a major upgrade to that rig, anything more will be a waste.

Get the 4850 out of you current budget and put the rest aside. Keep saving and adding to that fund until you can put together a new system.

Or, as others have said, sell the machine you have and build a new one right away.

Well your resolution is going to be 1680 x 1050 so it will be good to have a powerful card. Even so your CPU is really going to limit you. Consider getting an nvidia 260 or a Radeon 4870 since without a more powerful CPU the 280 will not be much of an increase over these two cards but it will be a big increase as far as the strain on your wallet . The Radeon 4850 is a good buy, but I think that at 1680 x 1050 you will appreciate the added power of the 4870 or the nvidia 260. The money you save buy going with one of these cheaper cards can be put towards a better motherboard and CPU latter.

after looking at that chart and reading what these charts are all about
i found out that with with a 22" monitor and with a native res of 1600X1200
gtx260 has 93 fps at this res and gtx280 has 102fps at this res
that is not a big difference and i will still exp the built in physics of gtx260 and only one class lower than gtx 280
so i might not even see the difference im going for gtx260 now please tell me its a good idea

When you get the funds, upgrade to a E8400.
im not sure if that is a wise buy im looking at $220 item
just for another .2ghz improvement i dont think i would go for it

When you get the funds, upgrade to a E8400.
im not sure if that is a wise buy im looking at $220 item
just for another .2ghz improvement i dont think i would go for it
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The pentium d 920 is a different architecture; you can't compare the cycle times. The E8400 is more than twice the power. Look at tom's cpu charts.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts [...] U,370.html

im looking at benchmark chart comparing of NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 SLI , NVIDIA Geforce GTX 280 SLI
the gtx280 X2 is faster than gtx280 how is this possible?? im shocked but thats a good news for me since im looking forward to buying gtx 260 now =)

refresh

I don't see if its that necesary to change the 945 board for something better, I think its enough, maybe the Pentium D is low, but you could always put something better to that 945 board.

I would upgrade the video card NOW, the 4870X2 or the 280 sounds cool to me but both will eat a lot of power so the PSU will be a must. Also check if those modern video cards got some kind of compatibility issues with the older PCIe built in the 945 board.

You got 2GB already there, its ok, but I like to have 4GB just in case. However, as DDR3 is on its way to be in the lead, I wouldn't invest in RAM too much as you won't be using it in the future upgrades anyway, and having such a good amount like 2GB is ok I think.

So, If you see that video upgrade isn't enough, then I would throw in the best CPU you could get to work in that 945 to replace the Pentium D. But again, new sockets are coming, investing in a great CPU available today isn't that good step in my opinion.

WARNING: I'm always thinking about the money spend, optimized to the max, and thinking for myself as if the upgrade was in my case.