[Data]

Here you are Freddy, I’ve made this video to hurry you up, you know you want to play this game 

[Freddy]

Wow !   

Amazing graphics... time to make a move me thinks 

I liked the Police car going into the river and that explosion at the end in particular lol.

Well, I think I will order the CPU and memory tonight - I actually have an extra £100 to play with because I was in credit with the Water board lol, so I've got some more spending power - will see how it plays on the 3850 and take it from there.

Cheers 

[Data]

It’s such a large area and still the graphics are amazing like you say. Good game, good game 

I like the bit where the car gets stuck upside-down and the passenger has a go at me ... lol

That Quad core and RAM will give a huge improvement to GTA4 Freddy, I think you are wise not getting the new graphics card yet, they will be cheaper or better in the long run.

[Freddy]

Well I ordered the RAM and CPU last night, so fingers crossed 

[Data]

Really, you did it? 

Well done, did you go for the Q9400 and the OCZ RAM?

[Freddy]

Yep 

[Data]

Congratulations, good choice 

Are you sticking with your PSU for a while? If so what wattage is it?

Now is your chance to up-grade the bios, I  know it can be a pain doing but I strongly recommend it for both CPU recognition and RAM timings compatibility.

[Freddy]

Yes I may as well keep this PSU for now because it will do the job.  I think it is 550W, made by Colors IT.

I have never upgraded BIOS before, I think I have a tool to do that.  Will take a look.

If I drop the new CPU in Windows 7 will still work won't it ?

[Freddy]

OK BIOS all updated, it was simple with the tool they provided.

[Data]

I agree a 550 watt PSU will be fine for now, I just wouldn’t try clocking anything yet.

Windows will be ok with the new CPU and RAM too.

Wow you did the bios quick, check with CPUz that the bios version is the correct and new number.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

You will find the bios number in the Mainboard tab, and then keep CPUz on your PC it will come in very handy later if you start clocking.

I’m probably going to post CPUz in the software part as it is a very handy tool for tweaking and checking everything is as it should be.

[Freddy]

Version number for BIOS says 1104, which is the newest one I could see at Asus. 

Nice little utility I agree.

[Freddy]

I looked at the memory tab and was surprised to see the memory frequency is 333Mhz.  Is that right ?

[Data]

If you have 800MHz RAM then no it is not correct, I have seen it many times, the Mobo reads the Ram wrong, in the bios you can manually set it to 400Mhz. As long as the RAM is 800MHz, if you go to the SPD tab in CPUz it will tell you the rated speeds of the RAM, you should have a 400Mhz timing table there if it is 800DDR2 RAM.

[Freddy]

Here's the SPD tab.  Say 333... Not really too fussed as in a few days it will be out of there...

[Data]

In that case it is correct, the RAM is PC2-5300 or 333MHz.

Yes the new RAM is on its way