My current system includes an ATI Radeon HD 4670 (512 MB) and an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 (2.5GHz). I'm thinking about upgrading these to an ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1GB) and an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 (2.66GHz). If I were to upgrade to these, how much better would my system be (percentage-wise if possible)? Also, I realize it is important to have a reliable PSU. If the PSU was bad, it could fry out my whole system permanently. Out of curiosity, how reliable are Rosewell PSUs? I know one way is by reading the reviews, but thats not really good enough for me; I want to know the Afterdawn communities' opinions on it. Specifically this one linked below: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182199
Most people think it works this way. The E5200 is stock at 2.50 times by two (dual core)= 5GHz The Q8400 is stock at 2.66 times by four (quad core)= 10.64GHz so there for its 50% better.. But its not.. Realistically you probably wont notice much of a difference in speed unless you are running video editing programs or you overclock the Q8400. However IMO everything will start to be optimised for quad cores so I would get the Q8400 even if its just for future proofing. The 5770 will s**t on the 4670. This is a nice upgrade you wont be disappointed. The only thing is to make sure the PSU has a 75W 6-pin PCI Express connector for the 5770 (which the Rosewill does) and modular would be better (which the Rosewill does not) but its not a major issue. I don't know much about Rosewill brand so I wont comment on their performance etc but it seems to be a pretty solid power supply. Having said that if it was me I would go with a 600 watt PSU or there abouts, incase you want to overlock/crossfire someday or for any other unseen power consumption issues, but thats just me. Ideally you could run a 5770 on a GOOD 300 watt PSU, or just to be on the safe side, anything above 400watts with at least 25amps should be fine. But the people that tell you that normally always have a PSU of 600 watts or more. Perhaps look at the more popular... Antec TruePower New TP-650 650W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021 or a CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005 They are litle more expensive but food for thought.