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Upgrading

Jamie1994

Jamie1994

Jamie1994

Associate
Joined
17 Nov 2008
Posts
101
Hey been using a 8500GT 512mb pci-e for a while (yes its a terrible card)

It was doing fine for a while when i was playing games like HL2, but the other day I tried TR: Underworld and CoD:WaW and couldn't get more than 40FPS with everything at minimum and at 800x600, so yeah need to upgrade.

I have a very old computer what I've gotta make do so

Pentium D @ 2.8
1GB ram 400mhz
250GB 7200rpm
19" TFT (1440x900)
and a old PSU that I cant even find a sticker on too tell me the wattage but I assume its no more than 400w.

I have a £200 budget, i know it's tight but again i gotta make do

So i was thinking either a 4870 or a 9800GTX+ or a 4850

But after reading and looking at benchmarks and reviews, I still cant decide so i thought i'd ask the experts :)

Thanks
 
Hi there.

The problem you have is that the graphics card you have matches quite well with the rest of your system, so you will need to upgrade the other parts as well. You really need another 1GB memory, quicker CPU (or at least overclock the current one), new PSU and graphics.

What motherboard do you have by the way?

I'm just going to have a look to see what I can find on OcUK for that budget.
 
Thanks for the quick reply

about my motherboard here what CPU-Z says
scaled.php

got the RAM speed wrong
scaled.php


I did try finding the Specs for that mobo on google but I couldnt find it anywhere maybe I just wasnt looking hard enough.

Problem with OC'ing the CPU is the motherboard doesn't have OC features in the BIOS.
 
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I don't think putting a 4850 or faster graphics card into that system is the best way to spend your money Jamie since the rest of your components will struggle to keep up.

Do you know the actual NEC model name of your system? I see it's a Gigabyte motherboard but a non-retail version which they seem to pass on to other companies, so it's a bit hard trying to pin down what it's capable of in terms of memory and cpu support.
 
Personally I would get rid of the 2x512MB and plonk in 2x1GB sticks:

Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC5300 - bargain at only £20


Can you find out what PSU is in there? I have a feeling (from looking on the web) it may only be 250w (FSP 250w).

ATI 4830 512MB @ £100 or ATI 4670 512MB @ £65 are worth looking at.



You board doesn't support the Core 2 Duo chips, so it might be worth changing the board and chip at a later date (which will help as well). If you change that at the same time, you may as well get a new case etc and just start from scratch and use your old HD, Monitor, Mouse/KB, etc.
 
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Yeah, it is 250w. So you'll need to change that really, although you will need to check what will fit into your NEC case.

Personally, if you really want to upgrade, apart from just doing the memory I would look to change the box and start fresh.
 
Have you got a tape measure you could use to grab the dimensions of the power supply?

EDIT - No worries. This is from a post google threw up:

FSP FSP250-60HEN 250W 20/24-Pin ATX

20/24-Pin ATX 4-Pin 12V Plug

3 x molex IDE, 1 x flpy, 1 x SATA

size 150mm x 140mm x 85mm
 
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Zildjian said:
Yes, but I'd get a decent branded PSU like the Corsair VX 450W which is around the same price.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...4&name=Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU (CMPSU-450VXUK)
Click to expand...

Seconded. It's only 1mm larger than the FSP unit in height so it should fit nicely and it's much better than the Antec Basic.

Have a look through this 4830 review: http://techreport.com/articles.x/15752

1280x1024 is actually marginally bigger than 1440x900 and as you can see it stomps through that resolution quite happily.
 
4670, RAM and PSU I think it is then :)

Thanks a lot for your help guys

if i hadn't asked for help here I'd probably have ended up trying to use a HD4870 on a 250W PSU :P
 
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