Will This Even Help? (Upgrade Question)

jcb33 · 13 Apr 2011 at 12:32

Hey all,

Been considering on and off upgrading for many years, my PC is now five and showing its age, however I am not in the situation where I can buy a new PC with i5 and all the bells sadly so I am thinking about a cheap upgrade!

My current spec:

Socket 939 AMD X2 4800+
2GB PC3200 OCZ RAM
ATI Radeon 1900XTX 512MB

I am thinking of investing in a cheap extra 2GB of RAM and an ATI HD4850 graphics card. But my question is will I notice much improvement with the other limitations of my system to make it worthwhile?

I would like to be able to run Starcraft II, Shogun Total War 2 and upcoming The Witcher 2 and The Old Republic MMO, without having everything set to Min!

Thanks,
Jcb33.

andy_mk3 · 13 Apr 2011 at 13:15

I wouldn't worry about the ram unless you find you're needing it.

The graphics upgrade will certainly make a difference though

wentalong · 13 Apr 2011 at 13:22

hehee i got a 4400+ at 2.3 stock, its the only thing slowwing my pc down but it still maxes most games out perfectly fine,,

but a gpu upgrade is defo needed

sypher365 · 13 Apr 2011 at 13:23

andy_mk3 said:
I wouldn't worry about the ram unless you find you're needing it.

The graphics upgrade will certainly make a difference though

+1 as for graphics I would take a look at the Sapphire 5830 or 5850 because the prices they are right now it's a good bang for buck.

pv123 · 13 Apr 2011 at 13:40

sypher365 said:
+1 as for graphics I would take a look at the Sapphire 5830 or 5850 because the prices they are right now it's a good bang for buck.

+2 for 5850, they are good cards.

Monster ninja · 13 Apr 2011 at 14:11

+3 for 5850 great cards i have one

jcb33 · 13 Apr 2011 at 14:43

sypher365 said:
+1 as for graphics I would take a look at the Sapphire 5830 or 5850 because the prices they are right now it's a good bang for buck.

I would quite like the extra RAM just to make me willing to install Windows 7, I got it when it launched but have had it sat on the shelf gathering dust due to its memory requirements and XP running much better hehe.

My main uses for the PC are 3D Rendering (Which is way to slow), browsing the net and a bit of gaming, L4D, BC2 etc though due to framerate issues with games ever since L4D2 I have been sticking to the XBOX for the most part.

Is it worth paying the extra £70 or so for the 5850 over the 4850? As these can be picked up for about £30 second hand now.

Also will I need to alter my PSU? Or will I get connectors with the graphics card? I have an Enermax 480W PSU I think.

Jcb33.

sypher365 · 13 Apr 2011 at 14:51

Extra memory will help with rendering but make sure you install 64bit version of win7 but with the age of the overall machine not sure how much more of a benifit you will see?

As for the gpu couldn't find 4850 on the anandtech benchmarks so ran it against a 4870 (results) which I presume is a little quicker than the 4850 anyways + you will get Dx11 support for the 5+ series cards.

You could always get the 5830 and if you upgrade your board later get a 2nd for xfire nice review of the scaling here

Plus you can take your gpu's to a new build at a later date if you go that route.

R088ieS86 · 13 Apr 2011 at 14:54

I'd keep saving!
All the games you've listed are going to hog your CPU a lot!
Graphics upgrade will help but it will be crippled by your CPU!
You wouldn't see much gain going from 4 to 6GB of RAM in all honesty.

Geez I'm a kill joy. Soz!

sypher365 · 13 Apr 2011 at 14:56

jcb33 said:
Also will I need to alter my PSU? Or will I get connectors with the graphics card? I have an Enermax 480W PSU I think.

Jcb33.

If your PSU doesnt have the 6pin power cable you should get molex to 6 pin cable in the box (not ideal but it will work) as well. As for 450W PSU should be ok to run one card no doubt someone with more psu knowledge can chime in

.

jcb33 · 13 Apr 2011 at 17:17

Ok guys, it looks like a new GFX Card would be helpful but overall my PC needs a new CPU, which also means new RAM and new MOBO, I guess it will no doubt be worth it, I will be able to play games well, and rendering will be much faster. Am I right here, or can I make do with my current set up?

If I do upgrade I am still on a tight budget, starting today I am aiming to put £100 away each month into an upgrade fund to make this possible, so sadly it will be a while before I can upgrade, but what’s a few more months after 5 years of saying no?

I still want to keep this cheap so reusing my Case, DVD drives and if possible 480w Enermax PSU, will it be worth keeping my HDD's or a bit risky? I am also quite happy to go second hand, and to OC although I have not done so since my Socket A system years ago

So taking all this into account if I were to upgrade what would be a good, but still quite budget spec to enable me to do what I want? I would love to go Intel and know nothing about current gen AMD CPU's but am quite happy to take peoples advice.

Thanks for all the help guys!
Jcb33.