Upgrading Power supply and RAM -Advice much appreciated.

[dillinger88]

Hey Guys,

My current set up is:

Asrock ConRoe1333-D667 R1.0 (http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ConRoe1333-D667%20R1.0&s=n)
Intel Core2Duo E2180 @ 2.2Ghz - 800Mhz Bus speed. (http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLA8Y)
XFX GeForce 8600GTS (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/nVIDIA+GeForce+8+Series/XFX+GeForce+8600GTS+256MB+PCI-E+Retail+?productId=29713)
Vista Home 64bit.
SATA II Hard drive.

2GB Budget crappy at 667Mhz Bus Speed.

All this is running on a £10 power supply :S (Shocking, I know)

Anyway, I just got a little bonus from my work and I'd like to iron out these 2 problems.

I was thinking of going for the the Corsair 550W VX Series PSU (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/500w+%2B/Corsair+550W+VX+Series+PSU+?productId=29383). Would this supply be suitable for me? can I go a bit cheaper or would you not risk it? Would it allow me to accomodate a sdecond Hard drive if I needed it it?

Secondly, the RAM. I was considering the OCZ 4GB PC2-6400 Vista Upgrade (2x2GB) (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+(PC6400)/OCZ+4GB+PC2-6400+Vista+Upgrade+(2x2GB)+?productId=33983). Is it worth going for any higher bus speeds to make it more future proof or will this suffice? Also, what do the RAM timings mean? I noticed with a more expensive RAM module, the only difference was the timings. (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+(PC6400)/OCZ+4GB+PC2-6400+Titanium+XTC+Edition+(2x2GB)+?productId=33984 )

Hope I've given enough information.

Thanks for reading/replying :)

Regards,

Dan

[alexnifty]

That PSU should be good.

RAM Timings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_timings) are basically the amount of clock cycles required to access data on the memory. So the OCZ Titanium is the better RAM because it has lower timings.

EDIT: According to your mobo specs: "Supports DDRII 667/533" which means that you probably wont be able to run that OCZ memory at 800Mhz, you should look in the DDR2 667 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+667+%28PC5300%2F5400%29/?p=cF9zdHlsZT1saXN0JnBfcHJvZHVjdHNQZXJQYWdlPSY=) section.

EDIT2::rolleyes: I think your board can actually do 1333 FSB with the latest BIOS, so I presume you can run your memory at over 800mhz too.

[dillinger88]

Thanks for the reply.

I have just noticed this on the website for my mobo: "- Supports DDRII 667/533 non-ECC, un-buffered memory".

I'm guessing this means the DDR2-800 RAM won't work? Or will it just run at 667? I ask because I'm sure in the future I'll be changing my mobo to hopefully accomodate faster ram clocks.

Cheers

Dan

EDIT: Woops, posted after seeing your Edits... Sorry to seem like a dummy, but do you know how I can find out without purchasing the ram first?