Graphics Card And Ram Help!!?

[bigshot514]

hey. i have a acer e830 that i got about 2 years ago and i finally decided to upgrade it. i havent been keeping up with my computer technology lately so i'm lost. i'm having a hard time finding out what type of ram and video card would be compatible with my desktop. here are the specs

Acer Support - Aspire E380 Specifications

i been looking at the 8800gtx will this work? my acer has 1 PCI Express x16 slot but i'm guesting it is pcie 1.0 because 2.0 came out in 2007 and my acer came out in 2006. what video should i get?

edit: i just found out that if my desktop has a pcie 1.0 it can use pcie 2.0 video cards? is that correct?

which type of ram would be compatible for me? (# of pins, speed, etc..?)

thanks for the help!

 

[Hefemeister]

You could get any pci-e card because 2.0 is backwards compatible. The problem you will have is your PSU which is only 300 watts. You will need to upgrade it to run any of the newer cards.

For example the 8800gtx requirements are:
A minimum 400W system power supply (with 12V current rating of 30A)
with 2 x 6pin pci-e psu connectors


as for memory you can use ddr2 800 up to 1gb per slot so I would get a set of 2x1gb of some nice ddr2 800 ram.
something like this:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Desktop Memory

 

[bigshot514]

thanks hefemeister, i guest ill get a new power supply too. how does my cpu stack up against current cpu's? its a amd athlon 64 x2 4200+. would my cpu and a 8800gtx + 4gb ddr2 800 be a alright setup? or is the cpu to outdated and slow? thanks again

 

[Hefemeister]

Well it is not that great compared to current cpu's but you will see a vast gaming improvement with more ram and a gpu versus onboard video.

What is your budget? Might be better served saving for a new build but if it is tight and you want some improvements you will see them.

4gb for xp (assuming 32 bit) would be overkill as you would only be able to use around 3gb of it when taking the gpu into consideration.

 

[bigshot514]

i'm actually in the process of upgrading from vista to windows 7. how much ram is ideal for windows 7?
i was thinking of upgrading pretty much everything (ram,cpu,motherboard,video card) except the hard drives, but i have to find a motherboard that would fit my acer case since the case is really well built and nice. its niether upgrade my desktop or buy the new hp envy. i dont want to spend to much on the desktop since ill need a laptop soon but not now...

do you have any motherboard surgestions? ill most likely get a i7 if my current amd cpu doesnt work to well with a higher end video.
oh is there any requirements to having a high end video like a certain cpu speed or amount of ram?

 

[Hefemeister]

your cpu will be ok (not ideal) with a newer gpu. Plus you can always use the gpu and psu in a later build.

If you go win7 and get 64bit then 4 to 6gb of ram is nice. If you go i7 go for 6gb.

Nice boards are the asus p6t and some of the offerings from evga and gigabyte.

an i7 upgrade will be expensive.

for a PSU a nice 550watt from a good brand like corsair will give you plenty of juice.

 

[bigshot514]

yea.. i'm going to start off upgrading the psu gpu, ram and upgrade other things later on... do you think the 9800 gtx is a good option, any flaws about it? iis it possible for a cpu to bottleneck a gpu?

 

[Hefemeister]

It will bottleneck it a bit but will be nice. What is your budget for gpu?

I thinks the 9800gtx is around $100 for $134 you could grab this:
Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-1150-TR GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

The 4850 would be the equivalent ati card in that price range as well.

take a look at our graphics ratings.

http://www.techist.com/forums/f76/graphics-performance-list-212331/

 

[bigshot514]

my budget is about 150ish for a gpu.

 

[95BlackGA]

A 4870, 5770, or GTX 260 would be the top in your price range. After comparing a few benchmarks, the 5770 seems to be the top contender, as it's DX11. It also runs about the same as the GTX260 (a tad bit better). With improved driver support, we could see a nice jump in performance.