What would you recommend...

mrbios · 12 Sep 2008 at 18:10

Right currently my mums pc is:

P4D (skt 775)
micro ATX foxconn board (unsure of exact model, will have to check)
2gb DDR2
nvidia 6600 (PCI-E)
an old 80gb failing hdd

She plays the sims 2 and will eventually be playing spore and sims 3..

I want to upgrade her PC to be able to run both spore and sims 3 at maximum settings at 1280x1024, im unsure of the requirements of sims 3 though

What would you suggest for a maximum of £100 and also a maximum of £200

Would prefer not to be overclocking it! PSU luckily wont be an issue

EDIT: just noticed theres a 256mb version of the 8800GT, seeing as 1280x1024 is the maximum res of her monitor do you think that would do for GPU?

Tetras · 12 Sep 2008 at 18:21

The 6600 vanilla is the weak link there so yeah, a graphics upgrade would be sensible.

As for the requirements of Spore and Sims 3, I can't help you.

mrbios · 12 Sep 2008 at 18:24

Having searched through im thinking the 8800GT 256mb version, a Samsung F1 250gb drive (nice and cheap but decent performance), I cant decide what processor i would put in there though

I have an E2180 i could put in there but I wouldn't mind making it a little more future proof with something with a bit more welly behind it, it'll only be running XP so i think ill leave the ram at 2gb (its half decent Geil stuff so it should do)

need some ideas on CPU though!

Tetras · 12 Sep 2008 at 18:26

The P4D it has now would probably be ok (assuming it is clocked reasonably high).

If you plan on dropping an E2180 into it then watch out, as the board might not support Core 2 era CPUs!

mysticsniper · 12 Sep 2008 at 18:28

Looks like you might need a new Hard Drive as well

mrbios · 12 Sep 2008 at 20:02

Tetras said:
The P4D it has now would probably be ok (assuming it is clocked reasonably high).

If you plan on dropping an E2180 into it then watch out, as the board might not support Core 2 era CPUs!

It definately supports the core2 series, its the same board we use for a lot of machines at work which have E2180s in them

just cant remember the exact model (might have a hunt through the foxconn site)

Definately no overclocking will be involved in this, would prefer to leave it at stock for my parents uses

mysticsniper said:
Looks like you might need a new Hard Drive as well

see my last post

Namistai · 12 Sep 2008 at 21:02

Go for the 320gb drive if you can - more dense platters so faster performance

Also, assuming the mobo is ok to see it then the e5200 has to be the chip to get now for an extra £9.