# Is this a good idea?



## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

As time passes, my ancient rig is getting older and I have found myself in a situation where I'm 10fps away from happiness. What I have is:


```
Asus P5K
Pentium D @3.4GHz
2GB DDR2 @667Mhz
Gigabyte 8800GT 512mb
2x medium-end HDD
550W
```
I've decided to spend just a little cash on upgrading it, and I'm stuck between chosing a Radeon 4870 or 5670. I've heard that the 4870 (512mb) is better, but on the other hand I actually do need that 1024mb offered by the 5670.



I found the two cards on our equivalent of ebay. One 5670 is 85$ 'Buy now', whilst a 4870 is at 75$ and hasn't any bidders yet.



Should I go ahead and buy the 5670, the 4870 or something completely different? Will my system support it, or maybe should I upgrade a different part? What do you think?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

What is the brand name of the power supply, some will support more powerful cards, and some won't.


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## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

It's a BeQuiet 550W Quad Rail


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## JMPC (Jan 15, 2011)

5670 doesn't really seem like much, if any, of an upgrade from an 8800GT. 4870 would be a jump in performance but depending on the game might not be that much of an improvement.


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## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

JMPC said:


> 5670 doesn't really seem like much, if any, of an upgrade from an 8800GT. 4870 would be a jump in performance but depending on the game might not be that much of an improvement.


Whenever I'm playing a game, it will most likely be TF2, which is getting constantly updated with content. The 512mb memory is constantly above 90% use, often leading to crashes.
Whatever games I play will be at 1152x864 resolution, and very often I'll be finding myself 10fps from perfection



Originally I've thought of getting an 8800GTX (somewhat 65$), but on the other hand a 5670 only costs 20 bucks more and seems to be a greater improvement. Or should I just get an 8800GTX and buy better ram instead?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Herpert Derpton said:


> Whenever I'm playing a game, it will most likely be TF2, which is getting constantly updated with content. The 512mb memory is constantly above 90% use, often leading to crashes.
> Whatever games I play will be at 1152x864 resolution, and very often I'll be finding myself 10fps from perfection
> 
> 
> ...


As a personal choice, I would opt for the 5670, The power supply you have is of questionable quality, but it might do the job for you (don't know for sure)as you get a more dmanding video card. I think you might also benefit by adding 2 more gigs of memory if the budget will permit it.


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## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

Tumbleweed36 said:


> As a personal choice, I would opt for the 5670, The power supply you have is of questionable quality, but it might do the job for you (don't know for sure)as you get a more dmanding video card. I think you might also benefit by adding 2 more gigs of memory if the budget will permit it.


So it's more reasonable to get a 5670 than a GTX right?

Also, what kind of ram would I have to buy to make it work? Does it have to be an identical set of [email protected], or can I just slap on some DDR3 and treat the current ones as secondary?


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

While all of you are looking at gpu and psu and doing fine there, I am stunned that you would live with a Pentium D processor for a board that can take some of the newest Core 2 Duos at least which are decent dual and even quad core processors while the Pentium D cpus were absolute dogs!
And the board will take 1066 ram and you content to use 667 ram? Why not make a real upgrade and leave the 8800 gpu, get a decent psu and upgrade the cpu and ram? You will see a much bigger difference where with what you are doing you will be unlikely to see any difference.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

I agree I think you would see a lot more improvement by a CPU upgrade rather then a GPU upgrade, I kind of doubt the 8800 is running it's full potential with a Pentium D pushing it.


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## JMPC (Jan 15, 2011)

Herpert Derpton said:


> Also, what kind of ram would I have to buy to make it work? Does it have to be an identical set of [email protected], or can I just slap on some DDR3 and treat the current ones as secondary?


You need the same ram. You can't just use DDR3 in a DDR2 board. Get as close to what's in there now as you can for best compatibility.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Herpert Derpton said:


> So it's more reasonable to get a 5670 than a GTX right?
> 
> Also, what kind of ram would I have to buy to make it work? Does it have to be an identical set of [email protected], or can I just slap on some DDR3 and treat the current ones as secondary?


Go to the Asus website for your motherboard and buy only the "recommended ram model numbers" if you want smooth sailing!


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

G.Skill-Mushkin-Corsair RAM for performance. I use Asus Mobo's almost exclusively and I've found all of those brands to be compatible. I would suggest a 2X2GB matched pair of 800MHz.
BeQuiet PSU's are made by FSP. Not the best quality but OK. If you do upgrade the PSU I would suggest a better quality PSU.


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## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

Me again, with a rather delayed yet rathet important question. Which of these rams would work best with my Asus P5K?



All are 2x1 GB:

CORSAIR CM2X1024-6400C4 @800MHz 

CORSAIR CM2X1024-6400C5DHX @800MHz 

CORSAIR CM2X1024-8500C5D @1066MHz (costs more. Will it be worth paying ~40$ more for these?)


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## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

The other parts I have settled on are these. Will they all work?

-Core 2 Duo E8400/E8500/E8600 (each just under, equal or above ~100$ respectively)

-GTX 465 if I can still be arsed to spend >100$ after buying ram and the CPU


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

They are not current Corsair model numbers, the 1066(DDR2 8500) is not worth more as it's no longer in production Corsair is replacing it under warranty with DDR2 6400.

If your current ram(Assuming these are additions and not replacements?) is C4(timings 4-4-4-12) then use the 6400-C4 if not then use the 6400-C5DHX(5-5-5-15 timings).


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The CPU choices are good, make sure you flash the bios to the latest version first before swapping> ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Motherboards- ASUS P5K


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Herpert Derpton said:


> Me again, with a rather delayed yet rathet important question. Which of these rams would work best with my Asus P5K?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Corsair ram more trouble than it's worth. I would use Crucial and the answer to your questio0n is whatever model numbers are listed as compatible with your board on the Asus website. Why guess?


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

G.Skill-Mushkin-Corsair if you're looking for performance RAM.
Speeds per wrench97's suggestion in Post# 15.


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## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

Rich-M said:


> Corsair ram more trouble than it's worth. I would use Crucial and the answer to your questio0n is whatever model numbers are listed as compatible with your board on the Asus website. Why guess?


They are all from the list, or at least I think they are. If there's CM2X1024-8500 on the list, then will CM2X1024-8500C5D work?


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

wrench97 said:


> If your current ram(Assuming these are additions and not replacements?) is C4(timings 4-4-4-12) then use the 6400-C4 if not then use the 6400-C5DHX(5-5-5-15 timings).


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## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

Just downloaded CPU-Z and it turns out that my current ram has 5-5-5-18, and... 400MHz


Maybe I should replace them altogether


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

DDR = Double Data Rate the ram reads and writes on the up and down of the pulse so 400 x2 = 800 speed ram, DDR2 PC2 6400 C5 is 5-5-5-18, so you could add but personally I prefer using 2, 2 gig sticks to get 4 gig rather then filling all the slots which puts extra load on the chipset, the ram sticks use the same amount of current regardless of capacity so 2 gig sticks use the same current as 1 gig sticks using 4 1 gig sticks doubles the load on the chipset to provide current over using 2, 2 gig sticks.


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## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

Right, I ended up buying the CM2X1024-6400C5DHX. I got two pretty Corsair 1GB DDR2 @800MHz sticks for my Windows XP. They're used, but come with a 1 year warranty and cost me the equivalent of 35$ inc. shipping. I think that's a fair deal.


Here's what I found (assuming that *1 PLN = 0.36 USD*)
E8400 - 97$ 
E8500 - 103$ 
E8600 - currently 115$, but there's only one, and it's an auction.


The auction for the E8600 ends in 20 hours. From what I heard, a 5% faster clock is more than a 5% improvement, so I thought I'd ask just how much more it is really worth. That and we should finally be done here, hooray!


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

I've never used the 8600, new they were close to $100 more then the 8500 which will easily overclock past the stock 8600 speed, from what I've seen/heard the 8600 would only clock a little above what the 8500 was capable of, I have a E8400 in what's now my son's PC that been running 3.8 for several years without an issue.


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## Herpert Derpton (Apr 2, 2010)

Me again, with one last annoying overcautious question :1angel:




Since an E8500 is less power hungry, there's even more power left over. Say that I was to stick a* Radeon 6850 *in there.
Using the nifty power consumption calculator FOUND HERE I have calculated the following:

Assuming that the P5K is a high-end motherboard
Assuming that both of my HDD are 15,000 rpm
That I have three sticks of DDR2 FB DIMM (I have two)
E8500 and Radeon 6850 and the *entire system working at 100% power*
Including all the fans, USB items and such
Assuming that my 550W power supply has lost 35% effectiveness overtime
With all of these over-estimates, the calculator spits out that exactly 550W would be required. I tried with a GTX 465 and it showed almost 700W.



I thought I'd doublecheck with you guys, since watts may not be everything and there may be an issue with power rails or other wotsits, about which I know nothing. Heck, that is assuming the 6850 will work on my P5K anyway
Here's some statistics

```
12 V Rails (Multi-Rail operation)
4

12 V Single Rail operation
-

Overclocking key
-

+3.3V (A)
25

+5V (A)
23

+12V1 (A)
18

+12V2 (A)
18

+12V3 (A)
18

+12V4 (A)
18

+12V5 (A)
-

+12V6 (A)
-

-12V (A)
0.5

+5Vsb (A)
3

Max. combined current 12V (A)
40

Max. combined power 12V (W)
480

Max. combined power 3,3V + 5V (W)
150

Hold-up time (ms)
19
```
And here's the exact link


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

If it were a single 12v rail it may, but multiple 18 amp rails and a supply not know as a quality supply I would not trust it.

Too many PSU brands are rated at a lower temp then they actually run a 550w @ 25c is more like 450w at 45c, and then you'll see 550w Peak rating, or 550w Continuous rated, 
Yours I'm pretty sure is Peak rated @25c for 550w.


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