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Budget upgrades


gigantibyte

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Here's my current rig:

 

i7, 3 gb ram

GTX 295

Vista 32 bit

 

 

Vista 32 only understands 3 gb, so before adding memory, I'd need to upgrade my OS to 64bit. This would cost $100++ and I may as well wait for Win8 at this point. Or get 7 on sale?

 

For video there are perhaps 2 options. I could buy a new card or add a second GTX295, used. For the first option, what is the equivalent # in the latest series. So many cards to choose from it's hard to tell. My video card has served me well over the years (and still continues to), and I've learned that a bigger number is not always better.

 

For the second option, the GTX 295 has 2 video processors, so it's already like running 2 cards. Can a game like Skyrim handle 4 video processors? Would a 2nd card help me run HD textures?

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

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have you heard anything good about windows 8, because i havent.

 

LOL yeah...

 

Better off getting Windows 7. You can get 7 Pro 64 bit on sale for $120 on newegg sometimes. It's normally like $140ish. From what I've seen of Windows 8, it's going to fail epically. The pattern continues :P

 

I think you'd be better off getting a new graphics card all together. Like a 560ti or the new 6 series ones if you are planning to stay with Nvidia.

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have you heard anything good about windows 8, because i havent.

 

LOL yeah...

 

Better off getting Windows 7. You can get 7 Pro 64 bit on sale for $120 on newegg sometimes. It's normally like $140ish. From what I've seen of Windows 8, it's going to fail epically. The pattern continues :P

 

I think you'd be better off getting a new graphics card all together. Like a 560ti or the new 6 series ones if you are planning to stay with Nvidia.

 

Most of the complaints I've read about are about the interface. I'm concerned about the way Microsoft "encourages" use of their latest products by releasing proprietary software/apps and the deals they sign with other companies to do the same.

 

So upgrading to 7 would be the biggest improvement for the price? How nice is the difference between 32bit and 64bit gaming with extra memory?

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Pretty nice. Just having extra RAM increases performance across your whole system. Not having Vista increases your performance too lol :P

 

Call me crazy, but I like Vista over 7. I'd play in Ubuntu if I could though. Very interested in how Steam for Linux turns out.

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Haha, Vista is such a hog though. I always say Windows 7 has the stability of XP and the prettiness of Vista :)

 

Ubuntu, ah the memories. I really don't like how it looks now though...seems too MacOS for my taste. I do like they are developing Steam for Linux, I'll probably try it out one of these days. ATI drivers for Linux suck so bad though :(

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Haha, Vista is such a hog though. I always say Windows 7 has the stability of XP and the prettiness of Vista :)

 

Ubuntu, ah the memories. I really don't like how it looks now though...seems too MacOS for my taste. I do like they are developing Steam for Linux, I'll probably try it out one of these days. ATI drivers for Linux suck so bad though :(

 

There are many services turned on in Vista by default. Using Gamebooster to temporarily turn them off while playing has had a great effect.

 

The Unity interface in Ubuntu takes some getting used to, but it can be switched to classic. When I need the least amount of overhead, I use Debian (for stuff like running an SNES emulator on an older/less powerful pc).

 

For a gamer, is there any difference between the Home and Ultimate versions of 7?

 

Thanks for the advice!

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Gamer wise..no, there isn't a difference between Home and Ultimate. Ultimate gives you language support for like 20 or 30 different languages and a few other features.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

 

Here's a little comparison chart for the different versions. I personally have Professional.

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For a gamer, is there any difference between the Home and Ultimate versions of 7?

 

Thanks for the advice!

Agree with the above, Windows 7 is about the best we're going to get for awhile. Unless I'm mistaken, the only difference between the two are some extra configuration options and maybe a little bit of flash, most of which you'll probably want to disable to save on system resources anyway.

 

But... You'll need the 64bit version to have more than 4gb ram, so you'd also need a 64bit processor.

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