Hi there, looking for some advice. I'm looking to upgrade the graphics card and PSU on a computer for my friend. The system in question is one of those pcworld jobs from 2 years back; the only noticably sub-par things on it are the graphics card, which is an 8400 GS, and the crappy 300w PSU. The CPU is a dual core E6550 and the mobo is an IPBIL-LA: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c01077641&dlc=en
The purpose of this upgrade is simply to run current games at reasonable visual quality. I decided that a Radeon 4850 would a good bet: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=gx-135-xf&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat= as it falls within my friend's gfx card budget (£70) and gives good performance.
the psu is a crappy bulk-bought 300w bestec with 19a on the +12v rail: http://www.pcpartscollection.com/atx30012z.html - I decided that the most sensible option would be to replace it with a Corsair CX 400WATX: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-017-CS
I checked the gfx card's dimensions and it should fit inside the case and so should the new PSU. My main concern is that regarding doing the actual upgrade itself; I am aware that pc world comps have their BIOS locked to prevent overclocking etc. Would they have any sort of preventative measures for me swapping the PSU and gfx card? (Apologies if this sounds a bit stupid, I'm paranoid about getting this right.)
Any advice and any insight into something I may have missed would be greatly appreciated.
The purpose of this upgrade is simply to run current games at reasonable visual quality. I decided that a Radeon 4850 would a good bet: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=gx-135-xf&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat= as it falls within my friend's gfx card budget (£70) and gives good performance.
the psu is a crappy bulk-bought 300w bestec with 19a on the +12v rail: http://www.pcpartscollection.com/atx30012z.html - I decided that the most sensible option would be to replace it with a Corsair CX 400WATX: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-017-CS
I checked the gfx card's dimensions and it should fit inside the case and so should the new PSU. My main concern is that regarding doing the actual upgrade itself; I am aware that pc world comps have their BIOS locked to prevent overclocking etc. Would they have any sort of preventative measures for me swapping the PSU and gfx card? (Apologies if this sounds a bit stupid, I'm paranoid about getting this right.)
Any advice and any insight into something I may have missed would be greatly appreciated.
