Upgrade Advice

armafan

armafan

armafan

Associate
Joined
16 Feb 2009
Posts
24
Hello all,

The list below is the PC in question, that I would really need your help on.

I'm looking to squeeze whatever I can out of that configuration. Whether it be buying a better CPU (to fit), and ideally an upgrade of graphics card also.

At the moment, the budget is rather tight (supporting ill my parents). Basically, just trying to spend minimum amount of £££ to carry me on until I get more for a proper build.

The PC is mainly for gaming, but as great as it served me so far over the years. It be being dated with current generation games, starts to show it's age.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @2.80Ghz (OC to 3.4Ghz *thanks to forum members help here, years ago)
Motherboard: ASUS P5QL-E
RAM: Corsair XMS2 4GB 6400C5
Graphics card: ATI Radeon 4850 512MB
Power Supply Unit: Coolermaster RS 600 600W
Monitor: LG 22EA53 @ 1920X1080 Native Resolution
HDD: 2 HDDs non-SSDs.

Everyone has informed me to buy an i5 system, but that would mean getting at least new CPU, Mobo, and RAM. Which costs more than to perhaps getting a quad core cpu? with a graphics card to piggy back my poor @rse into later build.

Any help would be awesomely appreciated, no really!
I've searched and searched and my old brain started to see things like a matrix screen. No sense at all.

Thanks

p.s. games I primarily play are ARMA3, Insurgency, DayZ.
 
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You could get a Q9550 and stick that in it but they are still going for £50+ on ebay. That motherboard being the base model may limit the overclock too. Even overclocked it can't get anywhere near a modern cpu. I would say that any money spent on a system that old is just throwing money down the drain. Sorry if it sounds brutal but that's how I see it. It's time to bite the bullet and do a major upgrade.
 
@pastymuncher
Thanks for the reply. Even buying that processor would give me that extra juice needed. Specially that the chip is a quad core vs my dual core.

"Can you get better performance from an i5-3570k? Sure, but you basically need to upgrade your motherboard and RAM.
I would say if you get the Q9550 for about 1/3 the cost of upgrading your PC around the Core i5 CPU, then I would say it is worth it"

Going off that statement, I reckon it will be worth it.

Looking at the OCUK products, minimum I need to spend is £300+ w/out shipping.
Time to save...

By the way, what is the max OC one can get out of that chip?
 
you would be surprised how much faster your pc would be if you bought an SSD. shop around for a 120gb they can be picked up for £35 sometimes inc delivery, install your OS only on it. and maybe just arma3.. that and the quad core would make it quite nippy in windows and boot time.
 
Hi @Kurgen,

Yeah, I've been meaning to get one for years and never actually committed myself to one.
I know that using an SSD increases frame rates in ARMA.
Question is which SSD am I limited to? or is that not an issue with speed?
I know my motherboard is very old, so the transfer speed(?) may be untapped if I get a current SSD range?
 
I had 4.13Ghz out of my old Q9550 but it was on a much better motherboard (P5Q Pro Turbo) than yours. Yours being a base model I don't know if it has the options or capabilities of running a 450+ mhz fsb. Your board also has no vrm cooling at all so they are going to cause you problems if they are not cooled somehow. I still don't think it's worth spending money on as you are still going to have problems, if not so much with the cpu then the gpu is going to hold you back.

As for a SSD, even on Sata 2 which is what you have, it's going to be a hell of a lot quicker than a hdd.
 
OP, my advice to you would be to hold out until you have at least £400 to spend. £300 of which should go on a CPU/motherboard/ram bundle and £100 on a second hand graphics card (you should be able to get a used 7950 for that). In the meantime, if money is tight, you can try and get free shipping from OcUK by increasing your post count on these forums to 100+ ;) I commend you for looking after your parents.
 
@theMilitant
I had no idea that post counts would grant free shipping from OcUK. 92 more posts to go...
If it weren't for my parents, I would not be alive and living in hell. j.k.
Family first, friends, country, and the glorious pint! :)

I'll probably save up and wait it out for a deal. In the mean time, I guess I'll look around for a decent SSD. At least I can use that for future upgraded components whilst enjoying the speed of SSD.

Thank you all for your guidance and I'll browse the forums to return the favour.
 
I have a very similar system right now (Core 2 Duo that's overclocked to within an inch of its life) that I'm about to upgrade. I have a 1GB 7850 that you can have for cheap but I'm not sure such a transaction is 'allowed' as we both have nowhere near 1000 posts.
 
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