Need advice for upgrade!

[chippy]

O.K so I want to upgrade my video card and memory my current setup it:

Windows 7 64 BIT
500W power supply
Nvidia BFG 9500GT
5GB Ram (don't ask me why 5, the PC came with 3 1GB sticks and a 2GB stick....wtf.)
AMD Phenom QUAD 1.8 GHZ

I want to get 8 GB RAM, I was checking out crucial.com but found there little up-grader thing confusing, any suggestions for ram?

Also for the VID card, I didn't really want to get a different power supply so I thought the 9800GT from NVIDIA looked good and it required 400W or less, and it wasn't a bad price, anyone know of a better card (I want to stick with NVIDIA) or setup for my constraints?

I'm not looking for a GOD setup or anything, just something on the nicer end of the spectrum, right now it runs everything I play fine (TF2, COD, Company of Heros, blah blah blah...)

Any advice is welcome, thanks in advance!

 

[SoulTerror]

Well first we need to know what kind of RAM you need. I've had some friends say that 8GB RAM slows your computer down more then help, but I have no first hand experience with it. I thought about upgrading my laptop to 8GB to just max it out, but didn't want to spend like $200+ on RAM.

As for video card you would probably be good to look into a CrossfireX (I think that's what it's called) setup which is when you install 2 video cards and they split the work amongst each other.

Also you probably will need a bigger power supply. Newegg.com has a power supply calculator that gives you a recommend range for what you want to run.

Hope this helps some. Let us know what kind of RAM you nee and from there it's easy to upgrade the RAM.

 

[wodin6]

The question of whether you need a new power supply is very dependent on how good of a power supply it is. Open up your case and tell me what brand/model it is.

SouTerror - Crossfire is for ATI video cards and SLI is for NVidia. He stated he wants to stick with NVidia. Also running dual cards is pointless unless you have a good one to start with. A 9800GT will beat two 9500's for example. Also, running SLI will definitely require a more powerful power supply and I can guarantee his motherboard doesn't support it if it came with 5 GB of ram LOL

Also, running 8gb of RAM is pointless at this time. 5gb is plenty for any task that you would be doing.

Tomshardware has some good benchmarks. Here is a link to a list of NVidia cards and their performance at a lot of games. Charts, benchmarks Gaming Graphics Cards Charts 2009 (High Quality, Update 3), Sum of FPS Benchmarks 1680x1050

Yours is equivalent to the bottom two...

The most important thing you did not mention is your budget. How much are you looking to spend with these upgrades? Your processor is fine, RAM is fine, and your power supply might work. Getting a much better video card and a better power supply (if needed) can easily be had for ~$200 or less.

 

[SoulTerror]

I can build a computer, but don't know all the fancy stuff for a gaming machine