Need Help Upgrading

bagleyboy · 18 Oct 2009 at 23:38

First of all, my current rig:

AMD X2 4600+ Running at 2.4Ghz
2GB DDR2 667Mhz
420 Watt Power Supply (May be 450, not sure)
Geforce 7600GT
320GB WD HD

Looking to upgrade this rig slightly, no major changes, no change to processor or motherboard for example, but I want to get it's performance up slightly.

I'm just wondering, what would be the most cost effective upgrade on a budget of about £100.

Thanks in advance
BB

darkcooleo · 18 Oct 2009 at 23:43

What are you after getting out of the upgrade? What os are you using ? I got a few ideas but just need some more background info

bagleyboy · 18 Oct 2009 at 23:46

I'm after something that'll let me game that slightly bit better, and upgrade general performance. I'm currently using Windows XP on it, but may be upgrading to Windows 7 soon.

95thrifles · 18 Oct 2009 at 23:53

for gaming, buy a 4850 (psu should be upto it)
for all round upgrade to 4 gig of ram
edit: thats assuming mobo uses oci-e gfx not agp? what is mobo?

bagleyboy · 18 Oct 2009 at 23:55

Will my power supply support a 4850 though?

95thrifles · 18 Oct 2009 at 23:56

what is it? make/model

darkcooleo · 18 Oct 2009 at 23:57

Ok, for gaming that's fine. GPu would see a marked improvement in the gaming area, whereas memory would see a more general improvement in the whole system performance area. if you have a free mem slot i'd suggest another 2GB of ram. Then the rest on a new graphics card, budget allowing you should look @ ATI 4850 or for a little more 4870, a lot of card for your money.

BIGBC · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:00

What is your motherboard ?
The power supply should cope, depends on the manufacturer and how old. It could well not be supplying the full 420 anymore.

darkcooleo · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:04

***Update*** Need to check PSU, doubt it would cope with a 4870, some of the XFX cards have high power demands and need 2 x PCI-E connectors (as do many other graphics cards)

bagleyboy · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:12

It's a cheap old one from **** ¬_¬ About 2 years.
This one I believe - http://www.****.co.uk/Products/Comp...to+499w/450W+ATX+Power+Supply?productId=24484
Without opening it up, I can't tell though, and my mate's using it atm lol

That's what you get for buying a pre-made computer from **** though, should had built it myself instead of being lazy.

Oh, and my motherboard only has 2 memory slots with 1GB of ram in each, so i'd have to replace one of those.

darkcooleo · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:21

Hmm, seems like your PSU and Mobo are not 2 great to be honest. You would have to but a 2 x 2GB kit to see any marked improvement, rendering your current RAM useless. A new GPU would be nice but anything good needs lots of power. You thought about saving or adding more $$$$ to the budget?

bagleyboy · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:24

Well, to be honest, i'm a student, so my money isn't gonna change really lol.

Just found out, it's def a 420W power supply, not great, but at least I know for sure now. How much would a better power supply cost anyways?

Found out what Motherboard i'm using, it's a ECS AMD690GM-M2.

darkcooleo · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:28

Fair doos, me 2. I'm at Keele in 2nd year studing I.T.M.B whare are you at ?

I'd maybe either save for a while, try and buy some stuff 2nd hand or spent £60 on card and £40 on ram. There would not be any "wow" factor or great improvement though.

bagleyboy · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:32

I'm at Uni of Wolvohampton studing HND Computing.
Well, updated my last post on what I could find out. Is there anything better than a Geforce 7600GT, or have i got the best card atm?

BIGBC · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:35

Save up and do a complete system rehaul. Upgradeing manufacturer systems never really gets you anywhere.

bagleyboy said:
I'm at Uni of Wolvohampton studing HND Computing.
Well, updated my last post on what I could find out. Is there anything better than a Geforce 7600GT, or have i got the best card atm?

7600GT is pretty old school.
£40 cards are performing better atm.

bagleyboy · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:41

It's not a Manufacturer system, it's a Pre-Built custom system. And I know my 7600GT is old school, and it's something I would like to upgrade.

95thrifles · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:48

If you can stretch to 150 you can get new mobo, cpu and ram, the mobo has onboard gfx which is prob a bit better than 7600, you can then add a dedicated card later when you have more money
Asus M4A785D-M Pro AMD 785G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £57.99 (£50.43)
Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-8500C5C) £49.99 (£43.47)
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £45.99 (£39.99)
Total : £153.97

BIGBC · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:50

bagleyboy said:
It's not a Manufacturer system, it's a Pre-Built custom system. And I know my 7600GT is old school, and it's something I would like to upgrade.

It was a tad hard to tell as your post had been censored.

If you knew about your GPU then why did you ask -

bagleyboy said:
Is there anything better than a Geforce 7600GT, or have i got the best card atm?

Best idea now is to give us a budget and we'll tell you the best options.

bagleyboy · 19 Oct 2009 at 00:54

Old school can sometimes be good

My budget is still £100

darkcooleo · 19 Oct 2009 at 01:28

95thrifles said:
If you can stretch to 150 you can get new mobo, cpu and ram, the mobo has onboard gfx which is prob a bit better than 7600, you can then add a dedicated card later when you have more money
Asus M4A785D-M Pro AMD 785G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £57.99 (£50.43)
Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-8500C5C) £49.99 (£43.47)
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £45.99 (£39.99)
Total : £153.97

Cannot see any gains there, especially with CPU. On board graphics may be higher spec but mostly not supported for games.