upgrade advice FX-60 & 8800 GPU on Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe system
Hi. I am thinking of making some upgrades to my gaming computer. My current setup is:
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe NF4 Motherboard
AMD 64 3500+ (socket 939)
3Gb Corsair RAM
Samsung DL DVD burner
74 GB 10k rpm primary drive
250 GB storage drive
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS
Antec True550 power supply
Leadtek TV2000XP tuner card
EVGA 6800 Ultra graphics card
Second generic 6800 in an unsuccessfull SLI setup (use the second card just to drive a 3rd monitor for non-3d)
Matrox Triplehead2Go (for gaming across 3 monitors)
3 x Samsung Syncmaster 204B (20 inch 1600x1200 LCD)
The second graphics card was an attempt to better drive the 3 screen setup. I just can't get the SLI to work. So, of course I am considering spending more money. I am thinking this will give me another 2-3 years of use out of this setup without needing to do a full rebuild. Here is what I am considering:
- Processor to FX-60 or near-equivalent (4400+ or Opteron)
- Main GPU to 8800 (or some other DX10 card if others appear); I would keep one 6800U to drive my 3rd monitor when not gaming.
- Upgrade to Vista from XP (not sure if this would get me anything but trouble - I am tempted by the idea of 64 bit OS)
I have 4 questions:
(1) does this sound like a good upgrade?
(2) would the faster processor and GPU work with my MoBo, or would I have incompatibility and/or bottlenecks? (as far as I can tell, they should but wondering if anyone has experience)
(3) how hard are these upgrades to do? I know a bit about computers, but the SLI attempt taught me that there are some things that will stump me.
(4) for gaming performance with current games, is Vista worth it at all? I know I need it for DX10, but I could delay for a while until problems are ironed out.
I would also be interested in alternate upgrade approaches if anyone has thoughts. Thanks for your help.
- Chuck
Hi. I am thinking of making some upgrades to my gaming computer. My current setup is:
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe NF4 Motherboard
AMD 64 3500+ (socket 939)
3Gb Corsair RAM
Samsung DL DVD burner
74 GB 10k rpm primary drive
250 GB storage drive
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS
Antec True550 power supply
Leadtek TV2000XP tuner card
EVGA 6800 Ultra graphics card
Second generic 6800 in an unsuccessfull SLI setup (use the second card just to drive a 3rd monitor for non-3d)
Matrox Triplehead2Go (for gaming across 3 monitors)
3 x Samsung Syncmaster 204B (20 inch 1600x1200 LCD)
The second graphics card was an attempt to better drive the 3 screen setup. I just can't get the SLI to work. So, of course I am considering spending more money. I am thinking this will give me another 2-3 years of use out of this setup without needing to do a full rebuild. Here is what I am considering:
- Processor to FX-60 or near-equivalent (4400+ or Opteron)
- Main GPU to 8800 (or some other DX10 card if others appear); I would keep one 6800U to drive my 3rd monitor when not gaming.
- Upgrade to Vista from XP (not sure if this would get me anything but trouble - I am tempted by the idea of 64 bit OS)
I have 4 questions:
(1) does this sound like a good upgrade?
(2) would the faster processor and GPU work with my MoBo, or would I have incompatibility and/or bottlenecks? (as far as I can tell, they should but wondering if anyone has experience)
(3) how hard are these upgrades to do? I know a bit about computers, but the SLI attempt taught me that there are some things that will stump me.
(4) for gaming performance with current games, is Vista worth it at all? I know I need it for DX10, but I could delay for a while until problems are ironed out.
I would also be interested in alternate upgrade approaches if anyone has thoughts. Thanks for your help.
- Chuck
