Name: Jophster (by jophster) Date: April 3, 2008 at 06:35:15 Pacific Subject: Choosing a Graphics Card OS: Win Vista Ult. CPU/Ram: PHENOM 9500+/6GB Ram Model/Manufacturer: N/A
Comment:
Hi I am planning a PC upgrade with 6GB of ram and an AMD Phenom 9500. I currently have a Radeon X1600/X1650 (not sure which one). I am being told on test sites that is what is the next thing that needs upgrading. £40($80) is about my budget and at the moment I am really interested in the Nvidia Geforce 8500GT with 1GB of dedicated ram. If you think there is something better out there please let me know!
The 8500GT is a very low end DX10 card, regardless of it having 1GB memory. Don't buy it based on the 1GB memory, it's just a marketing ploy. If you're looking for a low cost gaming card, have a look at the 8600GT or 8600GTS. This article should help with your decision:
If you haven't gotten the Phenom 9500 yet, you might wanna reconsider...there's a problem with the L3 cache. A temporary fix has been implemented thru BIOS updates, but the "real" fix will be in updated CPU revisions with xx50 designation. The fixed 9500 will be 9550, 9600 will be 9650, etc. They *should* be released soon.
BTW, if you're not running the 64-bit version of Vista, 6GB RAM is a complete waste. Even 4GB won't be fully used. If you're running the 32-bit version, it would be best to have 3GB configured as 2 x 1GB + 2 x 512MB.
Hi Thanks for all the help! I have already got the Phenom 9500 so hope its not too serious... With regards to the 6GB I have got Vista 64x so that shouldnt be a problem. I will have a look at the above regarding graphics cards.
The L3 cache on the Phenoms is semi-defective & can cause instability & system lockups. AMD was aware of the problem but released the CPUs anyway. They then had to come up with a fix & had motherboard manufacturer's incorporate the fix into a BIOS update. Unfortunately, the fix reduces performance. Will you notice it? I have no idea. What do you use your system for that requires a quad-core CPU & 6GB RAM?
Nothing really. I am just trying to get a good upgrade, just got a Logitech diNovo and a georgeous new monitor so just doing a general pc upgrade. Do it every few years and really in need of one... getting all kinds of blue screens and crashes and still dont know what the problem is so just waiting on the monitor and processor and hopefully that will sort it but I'm not so sure... Just have to wait and see...
I'm not sure if we discussed this before but when installing RAM, there's what's known as the "point of diminishing return". If all you really need is say, 1GB, increasing the RAM total to 2GB, 4GB or 6GB will do little or nothing to improve performance. Same goes for blowing your wad on a quad CPU if you don't run apps that make use of it.
"getting all kinds of blue screens and crashes and still dont know what the problem is"
Chances are, it's the RAM. Try running memtest86 & see if it any errors are found. If there are, you'll have to determine which stick is causing the errors & take it out of service.
Hi I have used the windows mem diag tool and nothing came up. I will give that one above a go. I know that what I have bought is really over the top but I only do it every few years and it means that its future proof. I will let you know about the results of the memtest. Thanks for all your continued help. You are a credit to computing.net!
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