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So I got my new dell. I got a base model system and planned to upgrade parts myself since it will be cheaper or I could add better things than Dell had for their build options, and I also wanted a base model so I could get it quicker. it's a i7 with windows 7 64 bit premium. I want to eventually build a nice gaming system. not bleeding-edge high tech, but good.

So, first off I added a 2nd hard drive. main drive for OS and apps, 2nd for stuff and games. I read it's good to add the windows page file / swap file to the 2nd drive, but I also read you need to keep a small swap file on the main drive still. anyone know if that's true? or should I put it all on the 2nd drive?

I have 3 gb of DDR3 ram, usually about 40% full when the system is just idle. planning to add more, possibly to 6 gb. I think the ram is the slower bottom barrel kind, would I be better off just adding 3 gb more of better, faster ram or will it always be as slow as the slowest kind in there? should I replace it and get 6 gb of all new fast ram?

I have built in sound. My speakers are just 2 pc speakers with a subwoofer, I won't be watching HD movies since I have a home theater and won't need 5.1 surround sound for my pc, but do I want to consider a sound blaster card instead of integrated? will there be any performance boost if I do? I doubt it could make my system sound any better than it already does, but if it will help the processor process stuff better I might consider it...

now for the video card. it's got a ati 4350. I downloaded the crysis demo and I got around 2fps in full HD So I want a new video card. I don't want to spend a lot though, so I won't be getting any $500 mega cards. I also can't do SLI or crossfire so I can only really have 1 card. I almost bought an ati 4850 this weekend, but would that be a worthwhile boost? on ATI's site their newer cards are up in the 5000's now, so I don't wanna buy something old and out dated. I was considering nvidia but I heard their current GTX cards are pretty much discontinued now and they are gonna release a whole new set around February. Is this true? I think I can spend around $200 on my video card, maybe $250 max. Any recommendations?

If it's an i7 you could definitely go with the radeon 5870, goes for 350. If you find that it's stretching your budget, try the 5850 - goes for 250 at most. They're AMD's new figureheads, with DX11 support and according to a few tests I read on magazines, are very effective mean machines.

EDIT: besides, the GT branding is said to be just a rebranding of older 9xxx Nvidia cards. I think that you could get a 4870x2 (single, huge mother******* card packing two 4870, as the name implies) for maybe 300, if you look right. Don't know how it fares against the 5850, though.

for ati is there generally a difference between say a 4850 and a 5850, other than direct x 11 support? on newegg the 5850s are all around $300, there's 5770 and 5750 though that are much cheaper, but why are they so much cheaper? I'm on a budget, but at the same time I don't wanna get something that I'll just need to upgrade again in a year.

I also only have a 475 watt power supply, so I can't get too crazy with the cards. I read though on dell's site that the power supply is fine for any cards rated at 500 watts, but I shouldn't go higher than that.

Hum, the 5850 is basically a 5870 that didn't pass the quality tests, so it's functioning at peak efficiency (this is rather normal in the industry afaik). As for the 5770 and 5750...

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5750.23245.0.html

I'm not too sure about them as I haven't seen any reviews :s but whatever the card, just be sure it has gddr5 if it's ATI.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_5870/

http://hothardware.com/Articles/AMD-ATI-Radeon-HD-5850-Performance-Review/

http://www.ultimatehardware.net/

did some googling, looks like the 5770 is around the same as a 4850 only with direct x 11, but they say the 5850 & 5870 are like 2x faster or even more. I guess I'll look for a 5850 and just save up a little more.

Unless you really need it, it'll probably go down after New Year, though it might take longer, seeing as nVidia is delaying the launch of it's new gpus.

bah, i just bit the bullet and got a 5850. Guess I'll just have to skip models for january. no biggie, I already have a trygon

Har har! Hope it works fine