GPU and Memory upgrade advice?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to upgrade this PC so I can actually play some newer games at 1080p:

CPU: Intel Core i7 3.3 GHz

Memory: 4 GB DDR3 664 MHz

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H61M

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX series 1 GB

Power Supply: MSI 550W

From what I gather, the processor is still decent, but everything else is struggling. I’d really rather not swap out the motherboard or the power supply because the costs just add up too fast. I read somewhere that this board only supports 1333 MHz memory—is that right? If I go to buy more, how much should I get and what speed do I need?

I also want to pick up a new graphics card. Any recommendations for something that won't blow my power supply or clash with the motherboard? I've got about $200-$$833 total to work with. Also, if you think skipping an SSD would be a huge mistake, let me know. I should probably add one to the list.

Thanks in advance!

Corsair Vengeance DDR3
Super Flower FX 550W - 80 Plus Bronze power supply

EVGA GeForce GTX series

Total: $2,444.69 at Best Buy

You’re going to need a new power supply too... do you happen to have a single 4GB stick of Memory? If so, maybe you could just grab this instead:
http://www.bestbuy.com/memorija-adata-...g9-b-bulk.aspx

It brings the price down by about $50.

What’s actually going on with this power supply? I'm wondering if maybe switching to a slightly weaker graphics card would make it more stable, or if the unit is just fundamentally junk.

Also, I'm a little confused about the Memory situation. Would it be smarter to just ditch my old sticks and pick up a 2x4 GB kit instead? That was my initial thought.

Bryan Jackson12 said:What's the deal with the power supply? Is it just struggling because of a weaker GPU, or is the unit actually trash?

And I'm still a bit confused about the Memory—would it be smarter to ditch the old sticks and just grab 2x4 GB? That was my plan.

That power supply is bottom-of-the-barrel junk. Putting components worth over $667 into a unit that costs $33 is honestly pretty reckless 😉 You don't need to throw out your old Memory. If you've already got one 4 GB stick, just pop in another one and you're set. But if you're running 2x2 GB, you'll have to swap them out for a single 1x8 GB stick since both slots are taken.

Adam Moore3 said:It’s just a bottom-of-the-barrel power supply. I really don't think it's worth risking it by plugging in brand new components that cost this much. $667 What kind of power supply am I looking at that's actually worth buying? $33 It’s honestly a little crazy. 😉 Don't bother throwing away that old memory just yet. If you're running a single 4GB stick, you can just pop in another one and call it a day. But if you've already got two 2GB sticks in there, both slots are taken, so you'll have to pull those out to make room for a single 8GB stick.

Aha, okay. I didn't realize it was such a piece of junk. I guess I'll go ahead and grab a new power supply then. Regarding the memory, I checked my setup and I've got two 2GB sticks (DDR3 - 1333 MHz, though it's weird because CPU-Z says 664 MHz—not sure why that's happening). Now, I'm a bit stuck on whether higher clock speed memory would actually work here. From what I've read, this motherboard only supports up to 1333 MHz. My plan was just to pick up two 4GB sticks at 1333 MHz. Would that be alright?

Bryan Jackson12 said:Aha, okay. I didn't realize it was such a piece of junk, so I guess I'll pick up a new power supply too. Regarding the Memory, I checked and I have two 2 GB sticks (DDR3 - 1333 MHz, which is weird because according to CPU-Z it shows 664 MHz, strange). Now, I'm not sure if memory with a higher clock than 1333 would work? Because from what I've read, the motherboard only supports up to 1333. I was planning on just getting two 4GB sticks at 1333 MHz. Is that alright?

Nah, anything faster than 1333 MHz will work fine, don't sweat it. And since you're buying anyway, just grab one 8 GB stick. Otherwise, when you want to upgrade next time, you'll end up tossing both old sticks just to swap in a single one. If you had gone with 1x4 GB earlier, you'd have a free slot right now and could just pop another stick in, and that's that. 🙂

Bryan Jackson12 - Your Memory is actually running at ~ 1333MHz; CPU-Z just shows half because of how it calculates the double data rate.

On another note, the power supply isn't an issue with MS (since they don't even make PSUs), but rather those specific units that are junk 99% of the time, while the 1% (like FSP) are actually solid enough to trust.

Ah, I see how it works now. Thanks so much for clearing that up, everyone. I think I'll just go with what Smartic suggested.