PC upgrade. Considering...

[Kingsnake661]

What i have...

I7 965 3.2ghz
GTX 280
6 gig of ram, not sure the speed. (how importent is speed anyways?)
1 TB harddrive, 7200 rmp.
SB sound card, unsure of make or modle.
Windowns Vista... 64 bit.

It's not a bad system IMO. But i have a few PC games i'm really looking forward to this year, (ME3, Batman AC, and maybe TOR.) And I'm considering an upgrade, but have a few questions.

First and formost i want to upgrade to win 7, but am NOT in love with the idea of reinstalling EVERTHING on my pc to do a clean install... have windows upgrade software gotten good enough that upgrading is a decent option at this point, or does it stil cause alot of proplems and it's just eaiser/better to format/reinstall.

Next i'm considering a new video card. I've typically stuck with Nvidia for the last few years because it worked better with City of Heros, a game i was addictied to for like 6 years. Well, i quit the game a while back, and have no real desire to go back, so i guess i'd consider AMD if they would work as good or better for the games i am playing the most atm, (Mass effect 1, 2 and evetually 3, Batman AA and AC, Civ 5, Starcarft 2, ect.)

I was eyballing a gtx 460, maybe 2 for SLI as i've read good things about that on Toms hardware site... Thoughts? Per his site, my 280 is still a pretty decent card... think it'd be albe to max out ME3 and do good on batman?(I can max my Mass games currently, but Batman gets to choppy at it's maximume level... with my 280, but i can still crank it up and make it look better then the 360 version with my current hardware..)

Then i'm depating memeory. I've heard win 7 is less a memeory hog then vista, and so far, i've been good with 6 gig. I've also read that much over 4 gig is kind of wasted since companys still have to configure software to work in 32 bit inviroments... but the old pc twicker in me still kind of lives by teh moto, more ram is always a good thing... but is it?

As for budget, my pc is my one vice. I don't drink, or smoke, gamble, ect. I'm pretty much a tightwad in most area's of my life, but when i comes to my pc, i tend to splearg. But i never go crasy. So, if i did do this, i'd want to keep any upgrade cost under a grand.

thanks in advance for the advice guys!

 

[Assassin Xaero]

When I first upgrade to Win7 64bit, I just did the upgrade thing from XP and it put all my stuff in a Windows.Old folder (or something like that), and it all ran fine. It would probably be better to reformat, but it is fine without it.

As for video cards, I have a GTX 470 and it runs great. Metro 2033 and Crysis run on max setting fine at 1680x1050, same with Homefront at about 60fps. Anything over 4gb of ram is worthless if you are using 32bit (or so I heard). I have 4gb and don't really have problems with anything.

Keeping it under a grand shouldn't be a problem. That is about what I spent last time and I got a new case, motherboard, ram, processor, and a bluray burner.

 

[Fooz]

i dont know about reinstalling everything etc but it shouldnt be too bad, plus windows 7 is better for gaming

as for upgrading, i would recommend that if you do get a gtx 460 then get two

6 gig of RAM is fine, un;ess you have the spare money then maybe get another 2GB

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

6 gig of RAM is fine, un;ess you have the spare money then maybe get another 2GB

1st gen i7s are set up to use triple channel RAM.

OT: Vista 64 -> Win7 64 is a pretty straight forward deal and keeps a lot of your installs and settings.

As for your setup... if you really feel the need to do some upgrading, I'd just drop a spanking new GPU in like the GTX560 or the HD 6870. Everything else is good enough to give you a few more years of good service.

 

[Kingsnake661]

6 gig of RAM is fine, un;ess you have the spare money then maybe get another 2GB

1st gen i7s are set up to use triple channel RAM.

OT: Vista 64 -> Win7 64 is a pretty straight forward deal and keeps a lot of your installs and settings.

As for your setup... if you really feel the need to do some upgrading, I'd just drop a spanking new GPU in like the GTX560 or the HD 6870. Everything else is good enough to give you a few more years of good service.

Yeah, the triple channel think would prolly have me replace the 3 2 gig chips i've got with 3 3gig or so. Honestly it's kind of low priority for me, 6 gig is running well enough for me atm.

I've been eyeing a higher end gtx... and i'm kind of glad to here i may get by ok with just a win upgrade instead of a full install. I'd don't have the free time i did in years past and reinstalling and reDOWNLOADING all the game i've digitaly downloaded is a time sink i wanted to avoid if at all possible... heh. thanks for the advice all!

 

[MrTub]

What is ur psu and can you link your mobo? Which resolution are you using? 6gb ram should be enough for gaming so no need to buy more imo.