Advice on upgrading BareBones computer.

[pompeiiable]

Hey guys,
So glad I stumbled into your site! Some amazing minds here! I like!
I have a quest. If you would be gracious to answer for me... I just
purchased a bare bones and I will post what I upgraded to in it...
I am having slow buffering. Have gotten alot of advice and have done
alot of changes to system and it is faster now as far as buffering goes.
My system is only monitoring at 3 on MS site... They tell me to get a graphics
card. I do have onboard NVIDIA but, I switched over the MS Media player and
having better media now although, buffering still slows at times...
I am looking at two Gigabyte cards and I am stumped... Looks like the
first Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SGagabyte GV-N550D5-1GI GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Femi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCILI Support
Model price is 119.99
BrandGIGABYTEModelGV-N550D5-1GI
InterfaceInterfacePCI Express 2.0 x16
ChipsetChipset ManufacturerNVIDIAGPUGeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi)Core Clock900MHzShader Clock1800MHzStream Processors192 Processor Cores
MemoryEffective Memory Clock4100MHzMemory Size1GBMemory Interface192-bitMemory TypeGDDR5
3D APIDirectXDirectX 11OpenGLOpenGL 4.1
PortsHDMI1 x HDMID-SUB1 x D-SUBDVI1 x DVI
GeneralRAMDAC400 MHzMax Resolution2560 x 16003D VISION Game ReadyYesSLI SupportSLI ReadyCoolerWith FanSystem RequirementsMinimum of a 400 Watt power supply.Power Connector6 PinDual-Link DVI SupportedYesHDCP ReadyYesCard Dimensions8.8' x 5.4" x 1.6"
FeaturesFeaturesGIGABYTE latest 100mm Fan cooling design

Support NVIDIA 3D Vision

Support NVIDIA CUDA Technology

Support NVIDIA PhyX TechnologyFirst from newegg looks to have only one fan and maybe only hookup
for one display. The second is from PortaTech
GIGABYTE nVidia GeForce GTX550 Ti 1GB DDR5 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card Price of this one and specs below:
Price of Advertised Item: $137.97

• Mfr Part Number: GV-N550WF2-1GI
• Chipset: GTX550 Ti
• Engine Clock: 970 MHz
• Video Memory: 1GB DDR5
• Memory Clock: 4200MHz
• Memory Interface: 192-bit
• Bus: PCI-Express 2.0 x16
• RAMDAC: 400 MHz
• Max. Resolution: 2560 x 1600
• Connectors: VGA, DVI, HDMI
• Thermal: Fansink(WindForce 2X )
• Support Microsoft Window 7
• Support nVidia PhysX Technology
• Support nVidia CUDA Technology
• Support nVidia SLI Technology
• Support nVidia 3D Vision Technology
• Support HDCP - High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection
• Support Microsoft DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.1
• Minimum 400W or greater system power supply w/ 1x 6-pin external power connector
• RoHS Compliant
• Would you tell me what one you would purchase if you were buying?
• Thanks with Gratitude!
• Trisha

I was looking to spend up to 200. But not so if it
isn't neccessary. I just purchased this
machine so I would like to have a good gaming card on board also
with good media (video) quality. What do you dudes think?
The second is from PortaTech

GIGABYTE nVidia GeForce GTX550 Ti 1GB DDR5 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card
Computer has as follows
Biostar Group N68S3+ Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit OS
Motherboard : [MB-AM3-BI-N68S3P] qty 1 Biostar N68S3+
CPU : [CPU-AM3-A2-645R] qty 1 Athlon II x4 645 @ 3.1GHz
BIOS VERSION, DATE AMERICAN MEGATRENDS INC. 080015, 8/26/2010
SMBIOS VERSION 2.6
LOCALE UNITED STATES
SYSTEM TYPE X64-BASED PC
INSTALLED PHYSICAL MEMORY RAM 8.00 GB DDR3
TOTAL PHYSICAL MEMORY 7.97 GB
AVAILABLE PHYSICAL MEMORY 5.69
TOTAL VIRTUAL MEMORY 15.9 GB
AVAILABLE VIRTUAL MEMORY 13.7 GB
PAGE FILE SPACE 7.97GB
POWER SUPPLY 600 watt Power Supply : [PS-VTK-600W-24PIN-V2] qty 1 Viotek 600W
Seagate 1000GB 1TB 7200RPM SATA New
[DVDRW-LT-IHAS324-24x] qty 1 24x SATA Lightscribe DVDRW/CDRW
[ND-WN-TP-TL-WN851N] qty 1 802.11n Wireless Card
Add a Cooling Fan : [FAN-CAS-80MM-MOL] qty 2 Generic Sleeve 80MM Case

[ShyguyXPC]

Well for starters, you should of made your own thread instead of hijacking someone elses.


2nd, don't mean to be harsh or blunt, but that Power supply you have now, is junk, needs to be replaced.

600W doesn't mean crap if the PSU itself is junk.

I just did a quick price look up on pricewatch and its priced around $40. Even the Quality Brand names don't sell any 600W range units for that low, sure sign its junk.



As to the Video cards, the 2nd one is just a Factory Overclocked version.

for the price its a bit high, as you can get a GTX 460 or Radeon 6850 for that price range that will perform better.


If your in the US, I'd consider these for upgrades, with out breaking the bank


Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W ATX12V v2.3 Power Supply

The EVGA I trust better than Gigabyte, its also Factory Overclocked, better cooler design, and EVGA is the best brand name for Nvidia cards anyways, plus they also have a better Warranty/Customer Service rep as well.

the Coolermaster 500W PSU is a decent unit, its 500W, but only puts out about as many watts on the +12V Rail as many higher end 400-450W units do. For example, the Antec Neo Eco 400W puts out 30A on the +12V, and is rated at 400W total, the Coolermaster only does 30A for its 2 +12V rails combined, and is rated for 500W, so the Antec is a higher efficiency and rated unit.

But Coolermaster is still a good quality budget brand.

[pompeiiable]

Sorry, I thought you had to be a member for a month or so before you posted a new thread. Must be old forums I went into in 97... I owe an appolgy to Seraphim. Sorry Seraphim.
Shyguy, Thank you for the quick response. I was just reading many of your posts.
So you should make a new thread when you have a quest? I need to read the rules.
Sorry..All done with that.
I will replace the power supply and I will purchase one of the cards that you suggest just because I have been looking at your posts and I see that you are well respected. Cuddos man!

[ShyguyXPC]

its just the whole etiquette thing, this thread was someone elses topic and request, though very similar to your situation, its best just to make your own thread.

We have a lot of new people that come by and do the same thing all the time, where maybe only a single piece of hardware is similar to what they have or are looking for to the OP's scenario.

however the rest of the entire system itself may be completely different. they may have a larger or smaller budget, etc.

Helps keeps things organized instead of having to tread through pages of a single thread for 20 peoples different queries.

Along the same lines, making multiple threads for the same basic topic isn't recommended as well, won't get you banned, but its a pain to look through 3 or 4 or more threads for info for the same thing.

Recently we had a new member make 3 or 4 or so threads all for the GPU upgrades they were looking at for their PC, everytime they'd come back with some new possibilities for upgrades, or questions, it was like they had to make a new thread each time, and yet it was still for the same system they originally asked about.


All of us at some point, every now and then tend to "thread crap" in peoples threads (usually a small slightly off topic conversation is what happens), but for starting a new inquiry on a situation its best to start a new thread.


I can PM one of the mods that usually comes on in a little while since he's in the UK, see if he can move the replies to its own thread, and create a title for it.


as to be well respected... well, to an extent, I tend to get a bit cranky and pissy every so often with some of the new members that raise really old threads for pointless comments, and even some of the ones that have been around here for a while that do nothing more than post random stupid crap, with very little contribution to the Tech support side... this particular person tends to stop by at random and post all the "wonderful" things they discovered on the 50 Million or so forums their on (its just insane the amount of forums they've signed up at over the years, doing a google search for their name, and many of them, its the same carbon copy postings they post here)

Anyways, I've earned a bit of a lack of respect from some of the "community" members... but not a big deal to me, since they spend most of their time in the Community sections, or Debate sections, and not too much time in actually helping people on the forums.


I'm a bit humble when it comes to the GPU and some other hardware, I don't like to claim I know everything, and every so often I do learn something new that I thought I knew, but I didn't, I hate when people call me an expert on stuff, as I know I'm not.

but I do know quite a bit, and even though I don't read every word of a Hardware review, I do read most of the important stuff to help others, as well as myself.


there's a few others around here that know just as much as I do, even more at times, but they aren't on here as often, more on one of the other forums we're on than here, where as I spend more time here than over there.

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

(Posts moved to new thread)






(You're welcome)