I definately need some help with upgrading...

**aevitas** · 2012-08-20, 01:06 PM

Hi guys.

I'm not exactly a noob when it comes to computers, as long as it does not get to the hardware side of things.
For 3 hours I am trying to figure out what kind of ram would be best to buy and what would fit in my computer etc.

I have finally figured out what my rig is running right now as of a motherboard and memory. These are the specs:

Mainboard is a MSI-7392 which seems to also have the name P31 Neo2. In the user guide I've managed to find that it supports DDR2 ram (only?). By downloading CPU-Z I found out I am currently using 2x 2048 MB memory sticks of DDR2 with a 398.6 MHz frequency. To me that sounds low, as I am already finding 800+ MHz on the website I will order it from: For the Dutch/Belgium speaking people, it's www.paradigit.nl. For the English people, please do give me the name of the product you advice and I'll figure out if I can buy it there at what price.

Now I want to know a few things:

Is it WORTH it to get 6 GB of new ram with 800 or so Frequency? Or should I just get 1x 2 GB with 398.6 MHz or something?

I would also like to install an SSD driver as second HD to install windows on and my games, I've learned that this will improve the loading time of windows/games and such. Can I even install that on this motherboard? Would I need to put additional fans in my PC against overheating?

Thank you very much in advance!

**alteam** · 2012-08-20, 04:18 PM

Your RAM memory is already running at 800 Mhz. 398+398=~800. Since RAM memory are really cheap i would absolutely go for 6 or 8GB. I would suggest you to get a new motherboard since that is a really old one. I don't know if an SSD will work well on that motherboard or if it even will function at all.

**demonskies** · 2012-08-20, 05:24 PM

The board only supports 4Gb of ram according to MSIs website so you probably shouldnt be looking at adding more memory.
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/P31-Neo.html#/?div=Basic

**aevitas** · 2012-08-20, 10:03 PM

Right.. But I've seen memory of 1GB running at 800 MHz, thats twice as fast then?

Is a new mobo worth the hassle? I guess ill give the rest of my specs as my cpu will have to be moved as well.

Intel Core2Quad Q9550 @2.83 GHz
GeForce GTX 560

What motherboard + memory, SSD would you advice? Or should I just go for a CPU upgrade aswell?

Thanks in advance!

**aevitas** · 2012-08-23, 09:29 AM

No chance for some help?

**n0cturnal** · 2012-08-23, 09:44 AM

I'm not sure what the question is really.
I would not advise you to buy Socket 775 motherboard now, it is a waste of money, the same goes for DDR2 RAM.
You should save up to replace it all. Motherboard, CPU and RAM. If that is what you are looking for.

As for the SSD go with Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 of at least 128GB.

**Mortol** · 2012-08-23, 09:46 AM

Your ram is runnning fine.

DDR/DDR2/DDR3 are all Double Data Rate chips; you have to multiply a frequency in things like CPU-Z by 2 if they seem a bit low (e.g. I have DDR2-667, CPU-Z shows this as 333.5MHz). The thing is, all these numbers like DDR3-1600 do not represent frequency. DDR3-1600 is not at 1600MHz, it is at 800MHz and has double the data rate, which means it transfers at 1600MT/s, and has a maximum bandwidth of 12800MB/s.

I dont know paradigit ill buy all my stuff from alternate.

Any ssd wil improve load times.
I have 3 versions and no problems so far.

**aevitas** · 2012-08-23, 10:12 AM

Thanks for the answers, pretty much what I was looking for.

Will the SSD fit to this motherboard? I read that using a USB to connect a extern SSD to my computer is not worth it due to the USB cable slowing down the SSD.

I'd like to keep my current HD and put a SSD along with it. Is that possible?

**n0cturnal** · 2012-08-23, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by aevitas

Thanks for the answers, pretty much what I was looking for.

Will the SSD fit to this motherboard? I read that using a USB to connect a extern SSD to my computer is not worth it due to the USB cable slowing down the SSD.

I'd like to keep my current HD and put a SSD along with it. Is that possible?

You can run a SSD along with your normal hard drive yes, but it will cap out at SATA2 speeds, it will still be a huge upgrade since what you really are after is the access time and IOPS.

**aevitas** · 2012-08-23, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by n0cturnal

You can run a SSD along with your normal hard drive yes, but it will cap out at SATA2 speeds, it will still be a huge upgrade since what you really are after is the access time and IOPS.

Okay sweet. Thanks alot for the answer! Ill get one of the SSD you mentioned.

What is the best "setup" with a HD/SSD for best improvement?

Windows/games on SSD and rest on the HD or so?

**n0cturnal** · 2012-08-23, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by aevitas

Okay sweet. Thanks alot for the answer! Ill get one of the SSD you mentioned.

What is the best "setup" with a HD/SSD for best improvement?

Windows/games on SSD and rest on the HD or so?

Windows, programs and a few games that have long loading times or that you play often on the SSD, the rest just put it on the HDD.

**aevitas** · 2012-08-23, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by n0cturnal

Windows, programs and a few games that have long loading times or that you play often on the SSD, the rest just put it on the HDD.

Okay, wow quick answer.

Thanks a lot, Ill get the SSD tomorrow!

---------- Post added 2012-08-24 at 09:45 AM ----------

Ugh.. Now I've got a new question..

After putting the SSD in my PC, is it possible to first install windows on it before formatting my current HD?

So I can first move my music and photo's to the SSD before formatting, it's about 17 gb of stuff.

Could doing this cause problems of any sort ? As I can imagine trying to launch 2x windows on one PC may cause some.

---------- Post added 2012-08-24 at 10:02 AM ----------

Can't bump this post up..?

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