cash strapped

pooky1 · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:11

my situation basically is i have very little funds but i want to improve my computer performance.

my current pc isn't the best but i was wondering if a processor upgrade would really do anything significant.

i have the GA-m61pme mobo
Ati hd 4850
4gb of ddr2 ram 800m
and amd athlon x2 2.9ghz 245

would the amd athlon x4 3 ghz really do much?
thanks

95thrifles · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:12

What do you use your PC for?

pooky1 · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:15

well im looking for slightly beter performance on crysis but i generally play call of duty and want to be able to play the new one smoothly

RJC · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:20

What budget do you have in mind, you could sell your parts which are not needed.

pooky1 · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:23

Well yes i mean if i replace my parts i will sell my current ones. I will only have around £100.
thanks in advance

MeatLoaf · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:23

Well assuming you havent already then overclocking you cpu would be first on the list.

A new GFX card would be a good boost depending on budget but a GTX460 768Mb would be good

pooky1 · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:27

MeatLoaf said:
Well assuming you havent already then overclocking you cpu would be first on the list.

A new GFX card would be a good boost depending on budget but a GTX460 768Mb would be good

unfortunately my mobo is a bag of crap for that and i cant find anything that will let me overclock any real significant amount on it

Yulaw · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:28

With a budget like that its worth going second hard, time to look on the bay.

pooky1 · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:35

bringing that up does anyone know of anyway that i can overclock properly on a GA-m61pme

Yulaw · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:36

Look in the overclocking section, theres a few guides there.

pooky1 · 4 Nov 2010 at 17:51

so the moral of this story is build a new pc gradually ?

jaybee · 4 Nov 2010 at 18:01

If you want to improve gaming performance it's almost always going to benefit the most from a graphics card upgrade, even if your CPU bottlenecks it a bit. If you want to overclock the CPU and can't hence need a new mobo, you have a choice...can you be boethered to get a new mobo with the same components just to overclock your CPU? If yes then get a cheap mobo with good OCing facilities. If not, then I would just grab a newer GFX card.

pooky1 · 4 Nov 2010 at 18:01

ok thanks jaybee

darkwildchild79 · 4 Nov 2010 at 18:03

dont worry we all have to go thought that or just change your board and cpu and move up slowly

Cookeh · 4 Nov 2010 at 22:56

Yeah, I'd be looking towards a new mobo that will let you overclock (I'd look at ASUS 785G chipset) and then flogging the HD4850 and using the proceeds from that and the remainder of the £100 to buy a GTX460.

Can't see COD:7 using more than 2 cores, COD:6 is perfectly playable on just the one

pooky1 · 5 Nov 2010 at 19:26

Right i think i will be spending slightly more
would going for the asus 760g mobo
gtx460 gpu
and also ill get some ocz 4g ram 1333 mhz
thanks

Cookeh · 5 Nov 2010 at 19:46

Personally, Id go with Corsair over OCZ.
OCZ have had some dodgy reviews recently, and Corsair is well renowned, are generally brill overclockers, and lifetime warranty is nice

pooky1 · 5 Nov 2010 at 19:54

my psu is only 400w will it need upgrading?

Grimley · 5 Nov 2010 at 20:13

It depends on what make PSU it is. If it's a cheap no-name brand then I'd replace it with this. (got one on order so I can't comment on what its like yet)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-033-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

pooky1 · 5 Nov 2010 at 20:32

I know that its a corsair..