best upgrade

drich290195 · 17 Jun 2011 at 18:30

right not wnting to do a full system upgrade can only really afford about 70 quid at mo my pc is sig what performnce gain would be greaater.
I have a core2duo conroe e6420 at 2.13ghz i have the option of swapping this for a core2duo e6700 at 2.66ghz
I have max ram on the board or swaap the graphics currently have a ati radeon x1950 what is the best to change for a quick performaance boost plaay the od game nothing major

hybrid572 · 17 Jun 2011 at 18:45

£70 should be able to get you a Q6600, or a good graphics card like the GTX275. Either would be a massive performance upgrade for you. Where are you noticing slowdowns? Are you struggling to run some games, or are you just lagging behind on detail settings?

pastymuncher · 17 Jun 2011 at 18:52

The board uses the ancient 945 chipset and won't take a quad according to the cpu support list.

hybrid572 · 17 Jun 2011 at 18:53

Oh lord. How much would the E6700 swap cost you, drich?

Moothead2 · 17 Jun 2011 at 19:01

Is there anyway you can increase your budget by ~100? I know this is more than double your budget but you can sell your Motherboard, CPU and Ram second hand for a few quid (I'll take a guess at around ~50 quid) and get;

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 555 3.20GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail -

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

= ~£175. You could then unlock the cores and get yourself a quad core.

I'd say either do something like this or wait until you have enough $$$ to do a full build, buying a new processor for that board would be pretty pointless in the semi-long term.

olivier renault · 17 Jun 2011 at 19:14

graphics card seriously lacking. I'd look at that before processor. A 5770 is over x2 speed. Dunno about compatibility. Also depends on PSU. Is this a AGP or PCI-E card?

Pohly · 17 Jun 2011 at 19:59

overclock they are good chips i used to have a e6400 and got it to 2.8ghz on stock cooler and vcore no probs you can buy a cooler and push it to 3.4

and then if you can strech £10 more you can get

an xfx 5830 for £79.99

or you can get a b grade 5770 for 64.99 (b grade means the box may be cressed or its missing somthing ie molex to power cable)

drich290195 · 17 Jun 2011 at 20:22

Hi as stated the quad would not work and the only clock I can get my 6420 up too is 2.4ghz , bad board for over clocking. The e6700 is looking to set me back £40 and I reckon I can get that to 3ghz on my board would this be agood investment. Mainly lagging on multiple tasking opening ITunes etc

Pohly · 17 Jun 2011 at 21:05

drich290195 said:
Hi as stated the quad would not work and the only clock I can get my 6420 up too is 2.4ghz , bad board for over clocking. The e6700 is looking to set me back £40 and I reckon I can get that to 3ghz on my board would this be agood investment. Mainly lagging on multiple tasking opening ITunes etc

tbh you wont see much of a boost i would suggest this

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - OEM £50.36
(£41.97) £50.36
(£41.97)
**B Grade** Asus M4N68T-M LE NForce 630a (Socket AM2+/AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £26.36
(£21.97) £26.36
(£21.97)
Sub Total : £63.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £14.44
Total : £86.63

its slightly over budget but will be a big improvement!! and the board uses ddr2 ram so just pop all your satas and ram etc in and your good to go you can sell you old stuff on the bay (cant say what you will get against terms and condition but just have a look)