Hardware upgrade time

[hoffman259]

I am looking to do some upgrades to my system. I currently have a 2.40ghz quad core with 3gigs of ram. I want to double my ram and update my video card. I have no idea of what card to get now days, but want to play graphic intense FPS games with good settings. I am running windows vista and have had 0 issues with it. I might upgrade to windows 7 at a later time.

Can someone recommend what video card to get, that wont break the bank and still offer performance. Around $250.

[JDay]

The Radeon HD5870 is the fastest graphics card out currently. Its also the only DirectX 11 card on the market.

[JimmyD]

Get the 4870

[patman]

Here's what I did with my last graphics card update.

1) Get them from a place where you can return with no penalty.
2) Try the cards out in your system with latest drivers.
3) The one that works to your satisfaction is the one you keep. Return the others.

I settled for the 3870. My cpu was a limiting factor - AMD dual core 939 . My wallet was the primary limiter. On sale at BB and out the door with RZ coupons for under $100.00. COD4 and BF2 (even with this months 1.5 patch) work fine now. I use to be near the bottom scores in BF2 and now my K/D ratio is greater in Kills than D! Too bad my fingers and brain are still too slow for COD4 but my sons are happier with the new card. I'm still running XP Pro SP3.

The 4870 or 5870 might be more suitable for you with a much newer system than mine.

[hoffman259]

Thanks for the info guys. I used to be up to date on the latest, but my time and interest have shifted. I might give the 4870 a look. Any geforce cards to look at?

[armygunsmith]

You'll have to switch to a 64bit OS if you're going to double your RAM. Make sure to check out game compatibility with the games you're going to play.

[Brianguy]

A 4890 is just under your price limit. I like nvidia but ATI is more performance for your buck at the moment. I just got in on some windows 7 promotion for students. I got 7 pro 64-bit for $30. All you need is a .edu e-mail address.

[armygunsmith]

Where did you score such a good deal on Windows 7? Did you go direct through Microsoft or your educational institution?

[locosway]

You'll have to switch to a 64bit OS if you're going to double your RAM. Make sure to check out game compatibility with the games you're going to play.

This...

Also, why do you need to upgrade the whole system? Just get a newer video card if you need more video power.

[Brianguy]

Where did you score such a good deal on Windows 7? Did you go direct through Microsoft or your educational institution?

http://windows7.digitalriver.com/

It's just the upgrade version but you can do a clean install if you have xp or vista discs.
To get the pro verison:
After you get the first confirmation e-mail and open the link. Theres a link on the page about is windows right for you or some crap. click on it and theres another link asking if you need to connect to your school network. presto theres pro and you can select 32 or 64 version.
It's 30 for the image download but you can have the discs shipped to you for a few extra bucks.

[JDay]

A 4890 is just under your price limit. I like nvidia but ATI is more performance for your buck at the moment. I just got in on some windows 7 promotion for students. I got 7 pro 64-bit for $30. All you need is a .edu e-mail address.

You probably could have got Windows 7 for free.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/default.aspx

[M198]

http://windows7.digitalriver.com/
It's just the upgrade version but you can do a clean install if you have xp or vista discs.
To get the pro verison:
After you get the first confirmation e-mail and open the link. Theres a link on the page about is windows right for you or some crap. click on it and theres another link asking if you need to connect to your school network. presto theres pro and you can select 32 or 64 version.
It's 30 for the image download but you can have the discs shipped to you for a few extra bucks.

You can do a clean install with the update disc. The update disc will just verify that you have a version of windows already installed on your computer before you choose clean install or upgrade choice. Atleast that's the word on the internets.

[Corbin Dallas]

Interesting you were able to purchase win7 before the official release to market.

[JDay]

Interesting you were able to purchase win7 before the official release to market.

I've had it since Aug 6 when it hit TechNet and MSDN. If you're thinking about buying Windows 7 you may want to just get a TechNet subscription, cheaper than buying Ultimate, you get 10 keys and they never expire. You also get access to most MS software. Well worth the price.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx

List of software here (login with hotmail account). http://technet.microsoft.com/subscri...s/default.aspx

ETA: Enter code TMSAM03 to get $100 off.

[Brianguy]

I've had it since Aug 6 when it hit TechNet and MSDN. If you're thinking about buying Windows 7 you may want to just get a TechNet subscription, cheaper than buying Ultimate, you get 10 keys and they never expire. You also get access to most MS software. Well worth the price.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx

List of software here (login with hotmail account). http://technet.microsoft.com/subscri...s/default.aspx

ETA: Enter code TMSAM03 to get $100 off.

So i can download office and all that other crap too?