upgrades
judgedredd — Tue, 10/12/2010 - 12:11
looking to upgrade some parts on my computer. here are the specs. one thing i want to do right away is my ramm. Feel free to post any sugestions. GFX card is not a concern as I have already dealt with it.
Processor, Operating System and Memory
Operating system installed
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
Processor
Intel ® Viiv™ Processor Technology with an Intel ® Core™2 Quad Processor Q6600
• 2.4GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 677MHz Front Side Bus
Chipset
Intel ® P965 Express Chipset
Standard memory
3072MB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory (2x1024MB & 2x512MB for ultimate performance) (expandable to 8GB)
Memory type
DDR2-SDRAM
Memory slots
4 DIMM (240-pin, DDR2) (occupied)
Internal drives
Internal hard disk drive
640GB
Hard disk controller
Serial ATA
Hard disk drive speed
(7200 rpm)
Optical drive type
SuperMulti DVD Burner with LightScribe Technology
Optical drive speed
16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R DL, 8x DVD-R DL, 12x DVD-RAM, 16x DVD-ROM, 40x CDR, 32x CDRW, 40x CD-ROM
Second optical drive type
HD DVD Player for high definition movies
Second optical drive speed
2.4x HD DVD-ROM, 5x DVD-ROM, 15x CD-ROM
System features
Memory card device
15in1 memory card reader
Modem
56k modem
Network interface
Ethernet 10/100/1000BT integrated network interface
Video adapter
NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS graphics card with
256MB dedicated video memory, TV-out, DVI, and HDMI capabilities. Up to
1023MB Total Available Graphics Memory as allocated by Windows Vista®.
Video RAM
256MB
Compatible interactive TV services
NTSC TV tuner, over-the-air ATSC high-definition television tuner, and FM tuner (antenna included)
Internal audio
High Definition Audio, 8 speaker configurable
Keyboard
HP wireless keyboard with extended range (up to 30 feet)
Handheld remote control
HP Media Center remote control with IR (infrared) receiver
External drive bays
2 external optical drive bays, 2 internal HDD bays, 1 external HDD bay
External I/O ports
6 USB 2.0 ports (2 in front); 2 FireWire®-IEEE-1394 ports (1 in front)
Expansion slots
3 PCI slots (occupied), 1 PCI Express x16 Slot Slot(s) (occupied)
Software
Included/Pre-installed software
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7.0; Windows Mail; Adobe® Reader 8.0
Software - education / reference / entertainment
Windows Media Center
Software - internet & online
Internet Solutions (Up to 3 months service included)
* Bell Sympatico High Speed Internet
* EastLink High Speed Internet Access
* Netscape High Speed Internet Service
* Netscape Accelerated Internet Service
* Shaw High-Speed Internet Access
Software included
Recovery partition (including possibility
to recover system, applications and drivers separately); Optional
re-allocation of recovery partition; Recovery CD/DVD creation tool;
Symantec™ Norton Internet Security™ 2007 (60 days live update)
Dimensions / weight / warranty
Weight
13.80 kg
Package weight
20 kg
Dimensions (w x d x h)
192 x 420 x 385 mm
Package dimensions (W x D x H)
500 x 600 x 340 mm
Warranty Statement
Service Options:
- Hardware: One year parts and labor from date of purchase
- Software: 90 day technical toll-free phone assistance
- Service Delivery: Customer Replaceable Parts; Return to hp for
repair; Authorized Service Provider. For information, visit
www.hp.ca/support
The best choice
Alakuu — Thu, 10/14/2010 - 10:51Now sure you can upgrade things, and if you do alot you'll out perform what I'm about to suggest. But for bang for buck this is probably the best idea.
Windows 7. 64bit would be best, but I don't know the q series intel cpu so I can't exactly say if you have a 64bit system.
Vista was great, I loved it. Never had issues with it. But than again my comp out performed what was needed to run vista by miles. But swaping to 7 I gained back so much that vista had been using. I swear I gained a good 20+fps in the more modern games alone.
Then after that I'd advise if you get a 64bit system/have it, 4gbs of ram +. It makes things play together better. No more applications fighting for memory, and no more HDD usage as ram.
Looking at other things. Videocard, but you say you've got that handled.
I personally would suggest a sound card, something with EAX and hardware acceleration. Why? Because firstly you'll realize how crapy your internal sound card sounds. And secondly it saves cpu cycles, aka games run faster (Hardware acceleration is a must, otherwise this last statement doesn't work.)
With the way computers have been evolving I'd suggest waiting on major upgrades / rebuilds. At least gen2 DX 11 cards, and possibly the next gen Intel / amd cpus.
Harddrives are the other largest upgrade. Though that gets tricky and very expensive. SSD is the expensive and small space choice, but when I say expensive I mean it. Then you could go instead RAIDS this you won't hurt so much with hd space but instead will have a small chance of HD failure = complete loss, well sometimes. The big thing about RAID is you could spend less and get about the same speed, or spend more get about the same speed as a SSD and have less chance of failure. But either way its a very time consuming and tech required process.