Cheap RAM and GFX upgrade

jozi

I'm looking for an inexpensive way to give my current pc a little boost with some extra ram and a gfx card.

I've got the following pc at the min:

• ASUS M4A87TD/USB3
• AMD Athlon II X3 440
• 4GB Kit OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 Platinum Low-Voltage CL7
• nVidia 8800 GTS

I suspect my gfx is on it's way out as the pc locksup or reboots when ever I do something gpu intensive. I'd need something that will run with Revit the odd time I need it (1gig ram).
And I need more ram as I find both Lightroom and Photoshop can slow down depending on what I'm doing, I reckon 8gig's should be a nice improvement.

marco_polo

What sort of money are you hoping to spend at most?

Edit: PSU details would be good too.

jozi

Under 100 would be great! I rather more ram than gfx tbh. I did a little stress testing yesterday on the gfx card and came to the conclusion I have a problem other than the gfx card acting up so maybe it's still ok.

Ram on the other hand I really need, I'm using over 3gig with Lightroom open and firefox with a number of tabs.

I have a Corsair HX520 which should we well up to the job.

marco_polo

Well you could sell your 4GB (for about €15 I'd say), and pick up 8 GB ram for about €35-40 (You could throw in another 4GB either but I prefer not to mix and match personally although 99% of the time it works just fine)

I suppose you could just start there and see how it goes, I don't think a GPU upgrade would be of any major benefit for Lightroom or Photoshop anyway TBH.

jozi

Just looking on memoryc (are there better places?) and I'm nearly tempted by something like this: http://www.memoryc.com/computermemory/ddr3ram/16gbteamvulcanddr3pc312800quadkit4x4gb.html 16gig for 75ish euro doesnt seem bad.

Or maybe I should get this and the same again in a month or so: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-xms3-dominator-pc3-10666-(1333)-non-ecc-cl-9-9-9-24-dhx-xmp-16v

-( i )- Wicker

Regarding the lockups, it sounds like your computer is overheating. Open it up and clean out any dust, make sure your fans are all spinning properly. Try something like CPUID to monitor your temperatures.

marco_polo

jozi wrote: »

Just looking on memoryc (are there better places?) and I'm nearly tempted by something like this: http://www.memoryc.com/computermemory/ddr3ram/16gbteamvulcanddr3pc312800quadkit4x4gb.html 16gig for 75ish euro doesnt seem bad.

Or maybe I should get this and the same again in a month or so: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-xms3-dominator-pc3-10666-(1333)-non-ecc-cl-9-9-9-24-dhx-xmp-16v

Scan will do you for £10.99 postage, where as memoryc is free so it is one of the best places.

Not sure if 16GB would be of any benefit over 8GB but I guess that depends what sort of work you are doing.

I'd probably just start off with a set of this and add a second kit down the line if you need to as you have 4 RAM slots.

(Normally I would just recommend getting a second set of matching OCZ ram but as they have pulled out of the RAM business it would probably be very hard to find so you might as well just sell it and get a new kit)

jozi

marco_polo wrote: »

(Normally I would just recommend getting a second set of matching OCZ ram but as they have pulled out of the RAM business it would probably be very hard to find so you might as well just sell it and get a new kit)

That explains why I was having trouble find it!

I'll try 8gig and see how I get on. G.Skill won't be a hard brand to find the same ram of?

Wicker: I'll keep an eye on temps but I should be ok. I have a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 (H.D.T.) 120mm on the cpu (although I'd need to check if it's fanless or not :rolleyes: )

jozi

Getting strange crashes, any software that's good for stressing my system to find out what's going on? I let furmark run for 15mins the other day and all seemed stable temp and voltage wise.

Also, what's a cheap enough gfx card that will perform as good as or better than the one I have, or is this not possible? Fanless wouldn't be to much to ask would it :cool:

marco_polo

Its just the ram you changed? If you download memtest and put it on a usb it will error check the RAM.

As for the GPU something like the HD 5670 would be a very close Match. There should be liada of passive versions around. Amazon might be the best bet to go shopping with supersaver delivery.

http://www.hwcompare.com/166/geforce-8800-gts-g80-320mb-vs-radeon-hd-5670/

jozi

Haven't received the ram yet, maybe tomorrow.

I like the look of this and it wins slightly over the card I have + it's passive
http://www.adverts.ie/graphics-cards/9600-gt/2513392