Hi folks, I was wondering if you'd like to help me spend my money?!
I currently have a rig with an Intel Core2Duo E6xxx (I forget which) CPU, 2GB of RAM (DDR/DDR2 - no idea), an old 256MB X1900XT graphics card... etc etc. As you can tell, it's been so long since I bothered to look at the tech side of things that I've forgotten what the specs of my own PC are, let alone managing to keep up to date with current developments in hardware.
Anyway, it's Xmas time, and I've got a spot playing in a pit orchestra for a pantomime coming up, so I have some money to upgrade. The main purpose of the upgrade is to enable me to play some newer games (like Rise of Flight, for instance) that my current rig hasn't a hope of running.
Budget is somewhere in the £400 region.
Current thoughts are a bottom of the i5 range 2300 CPU for £150, a general motherboard with appropriate socket for somewhere around the £80-100 mark, some RAM (hopefully 8GB) for some more money, and an nvidia GTX550 graphics card.
I'm assuming my PSU which has run my current rig should be vaguely capable of running things? Do I need to worry about SATA DVD drives - my current one is an IDE drive. My current HDD is a SATA drive however, so should be ok.
Any and all help gratefully appreciated!
I currently have a rig with an Intel Core2Duo E6xxx (I forget which) CPU, 2GB of RAM (DDR/DDR2 - no idea), an old 256MB X1900XT graphics card... etc etc. As you can tell, it's been so long since I bothered to look at the tech side of things that I've forgotten what the specs of my own PC are, let alone managing to keep up to date with current developments in hardware.
Anyway, it's Xmas time, and I've got a spot playing in a pit orchestra for a pantomime coming up, so I have some money to upgrade. The main purpose of the upgrade is to enable me to play some newer games (like Rise of Flight, for instance) that my current rig hasn't a hope of running.
Budget is somewhere in the £400 region.
Current thoughts are a bottom of the i5 range 2300 CPU for £150, a general motherboard with appropriate socket for somewhere around the £80-100 mark, some RAM (hopefully 8GB) for some more money, and an nvidia GTX550 graphics card.
I'm assuming my PSU which has run my current rig should be vaguely capable of running things? Do I need to worry about SATA DVD drives - my current one is an IDE drive. My current HDD is a SATA drive however, so should be ok.
Any and all help gratefully appreciated!
