Best way to upgrade this ageing gaming PC?

Temrael

Temrael

Temrael

Associate
Joined
22 May 2007
Posts
20
Hi all,

My son's PC is getting a bit long in the tooth and he's finding it struggles with frame-rate issue in GuildWars 2 and other games so we're looking at upgrades. He also wants to get it ready for Dragon Age Inquisition (albeit not max settings!). ;)

The current spec is...

Gigabyte 965P-DS3 (Rev 3.3) Motherboard (click for specs)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU @ 2.40Ghz
4gb RAM (I'm not sure of type but according to the motherboard specs it will be DDR2 800 at best)
AMD HD 5700 Graphics Card (1gb RAM)

What would be the best, most cost effective way of significantly improving performance and achieving a few more years of reasonable gaming on it? On a budget of say £400 - £500?

I'm guessing the CPU is holding performance back the most? And that to upgrade that means upgrading the motherboard, CPU and RAM all at the same time (due to what the motherboard will support)?

Is the graphics card passable for now do you think?

Thanks in advance for any pointers! :)

Tem
 
I havnt speced any hard drives as he may be able to reuses them if there sata.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel Core i5 DIY Micro ATX Motherboard, CPU & RAM Bundle £221.98
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280 TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x NZXT Hale Power 90+ 550W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £43.99
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24F1ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £11.99
Total : £474.88 (includes shipping : £22.45).

 
Cheers for that guys, I guess it makes sense to bite the bullet and upgrade more now. Just plumping for a CPU upgrade would be throwing good money after bad and I'd probably soon regret it.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel Core i5 DIY Micro ATX Motherboard, CPU & RAM Bundle £221.98
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280 TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £46.99
1 x Antec One Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24F1ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £11.99
Total : £482.35 (includes shipping : £17.85).



Its the same as a few posts up, but for some reason the superflower PSU reduces shipping charges despite costing more and the Antec case is a touch better than the Zalman I feel. All for £8 more.
 
Thanks again guys. Ok I think we're pretty much ready to push the button on...

Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black
Asus H81M-K Intel Core i5 DIY Micro ATX Motherboard, CPU & RAM Bundle
Powercolor Radeon R9 280 TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1)
SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black

...sorry can't see the clever way you guys share the basket. ;)

It comes out at £502 + delivery though, which feels ok.

I've ditched the DVD drive as I think the current one is fine, but added an SSD to further boost boot times etc. Is the one I've added ok? It seems good value at the moment.

Any final thoughts? i.e. Any new bargains I should be considering (it's been a couple of weeks and some of the prices have dropped a little).

Thanks a lot,

Tem
 
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