Help with a budget upgrade please.

Master Skooter

Master Skooter

Master Skooter

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Joined
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Looking to upgrade my aging PC and wondered what the best (and cheapest) half-decent upgrade would be?

I don't really use it enough to warrant spending hundreds of pounds on something fantastic, as I only really use my PC for playing WoW or browsing the Internet. But my current rig will only run WoW at medium settings since the last patch which spoils the game for me.

Don't really keep 'in the know', so not sure what my options are. Was hoping somebody wouldn't mind offering a few suggestions.

Current specs:

ASRock CoreDual-VSTA (probably my most limiting factor as it doesn't have a 'true' PCI-E slot but was a great stop-gap board)
Tagan TG480 PSU
C2D 6600 with stock cooler
2Gig (2x1) PC5300 Crucial Ballistix
Radeon x1950 XT 256MB PCI-E

Doesn't have to be brand new if there is perhaps components that could be sourced off of MM. Could I get away with a board/video card upgrade alone?

Cheers in advance.
 
New motherboard is obvious.
PSU is how old? Possibly could survive.
6600 is a good chip, I would keep it to save money.
Ram is ok.
Graphics Card needs an upgrade.

How much you got to spend? Need a figure as then I can work to it, and try and lower the price from there.
 
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couple of options really

1) new mobo to run the card at x16 speed
2) new gfx card, looking at the vga list for the mobo i'd look for a 2nd hand 3870.

depending on ure budget maybe go for both.

could always get a cooler for the e6600 and see if you can clock it a bit.

if you had an agp gfx card before you're current pci-e one did you uninstall the agp drivers ?
 
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CPU cooler, motherboard and graphics card.

You should be able to clock that Ballistix RAM to 400MHz+ without too much problem. Just don't increase the voltage too much. I had my PC5300 Ballistix at 450MHz for over a year and Crucial will replace it if you break it anyway :p
 
Thanks for the replies.

Want to spend as little as possible really, probably around £100 ish.

Would this board with a 3870 off of the MMs be a worthy upgrade?

Or could a decent board alone show some improvement with my current x1950 XT?

Which would be a good after market cooler for the 6600?

Thank you :)
 
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yup that mobo and 3870 will do the job.

cooler wise something like the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 on the budget you have.


if the mobo and gfx card are within you're budget fine.

if not i'd maybe consider mobo first, as its b grade might be a while before another decent one comes up at a decent price.

then cooler/overclock the e6600

then have a look for the 3870.
 
I've ordered that board which should be here tomorrow :D

I'll see how things are with that, then look into a better cooler & graphics card. Doesn't seem to be any 3870's on the MM atm.

I was going to order the cooler with the board but it was £20.

Guess I sound really tight as most people on here spend hundreds of pounds no problem lol

Thanks again for the help matey :)
 
not at all, better to upgrade bits at a time, then you have a better idea of how well its affected the performance :D
 
Couple more Qs if I may...

How much do 3870's go for 2nd hand?

I've seen one (Sapphire with DDR4) for £60 delivered, but there's been loads of 4850's on MM for around the £80 mark. Would it be worth paying the extra or would it be wasted on my system?

Cheers.
 
Found a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 on the MMs for £13.

Just need to find a card at the right price now then all sorted for another year or two :)

I'm giving my ASRock and X1950XT to my son, just bought him a E4300 to get him on C2D :D

[EDIT: 4850 found :D
 
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