upgrading for gaming

[thunderdome]

I am a Mac guy with a new PC that I want to make better for gaming.

Currently the specs are:
i7 3.4 ghz processor
6 gigs DDR3 ram
ATI Radeon Hd 5679 1GB DDR5

I want to upgrade to a better video card, but need a better power supply before I can do that, so I was thinking of putting in this:
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Power Supply
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Power Supply (OCZ600MXSP) | Canada Computers

so I can run this video card:
Sapphire 100282XTREME Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme Edition Video Card - 1GB, GDDR5
Buy the Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme 1GB DDR5 Vidoe Card at TigerDirect.ca

I like the price of both and don't want to go any higher. I am a bit of a noob when it comes to hardware upgrades in a computer, so my questions may seem silly, but here it goes. Is the power supply above ok for this card? Is it an easy install?

Will I notice a huge bump in performance with the video card, coming from what I have already?

Cames I want to play are crysis, wow and second life


thanks

 

[TheDancingFetus]

You will notice a huge bump in performance going from a 5679 to a 5850. The 5850 still performs very well compared to the newer 6850. The 5850 even beats the 6850 on many benchmarks. I also like the choice of power supply.

 

[TheDancingFetus]

Here is a link for Crysis Warhead benchmarks that have the 5850 included.

AMD

 

[thunderdome]

You will notice a huge bump in performance going from a 5679 to a 5850. The 5850 still performs very well compared to the newer 6850. The 5850 even beats the 6850 on many benchmarks. I also like the choice of power supply.

Thanks for the reply. Is the power supply something easy to change out myself? Not sure how complicated those things are, never swapped one out before. Only really things I have changed in a computer before is the hard drive and ram.

Regarding the video card, how do I know if my computer supports PCI-E 2.0? Is that a standard for new computers? I dont want to get the card if it doesnt work in my new computer.

 

[TheDancingFetus]

Changing a power supply is very easy. If you have swapped a hard drive you will have no problem with a PSU. Also, your motherboard supports PCI-E 2.0. I have never seen an I7 board that doesn't.

 

[thunderdome]

Changing a power supply is very easy. If you have swapped a hard drive you will have no problem with a PSU. Also, your motherboard supports PCI-E 2.0. I have never seen an I7 board that doesn't.

Thanks! I just ordered the 5850, will grab a new power supply this weekend. Very curious to see the improvement it will make. Coming from a mac background, these kind of upgrades are really only done with a new computer, unless its a mac pro, but I prefer the all in one iMacs, so never swap out graphic cards (not that you can).

 

[Trotter]

Once you get the upgrade/performance bug it is hard to shake. That's the beauty of PCs that are not macs.

Good to see you, DancingFetus.

 

[thunderdome]

Once you get the upgrade/performance bug it is hard to shake. That's the beauty of PCs that are not macs.

Good to see you, DancingFetus.

well its good and bad. The number of updates that need to be done with a new windows computer is astonishing and seems to never end, the a mount of bloatware that comes with the PC (Dell) another bad thing. Once I cleared that all off, finally get everything updated, got CCC to finally work, then it was good. I did miss my Mac and the simplicity of a new computer: Plug in, run the combo update, use computer.

Graphics card shipped today, was hoping I would get it today, but guessing not till monday. Will pick up the power supply and put that in and hopefully not destroy my computer