Hey guys, need some upgrading help...

doe

Solid State Member
Messages
7
Ok, I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card mainly, and maybe some other things also. The only thing i use this computer for is gaming. I honestly have no clue what kind of graphics card i want. I have no real price limit but i would like to keep it reasonable. I play (want to play): Planetside, Battlefield Series, WoW, SupCom, and FEAR.

Heres my system specs as of now (copy+pasted from Sys. Properties)
AMD Sempron(tm) Processor
3000+
1.81 GHz, 2.00 GB of RAM
Physical Address Extension

Right now I have the VisionTek Radeon X1300, But im looking for something with just a little more power.
http://www.techspot.com/review/15-visiontek-radeon-x1300-pci/

Now Ive been reading online about some of the higher-end graphics cards, and in some of the reviews, they say that you need a good power supply to keep this thing running. I'm not sure what kind of power supply i have, (or if its adequate to run a high end card) so i will post pictures of the inside of my computer.
powersupplyqk7.jpg


Another complaint I've read about is space. Apparently these cards can get pretty big and some cases are just too small for them. Here is a pic of my case so you can get an idea of how much space I have available:
enoughspacege8.jpg


Other than graphics card, I thought a new motherboard would be a good idea. The one I have now (K8 Triton Series) takes Regular DDR memory, which according to the computer guy is slower and more expensive than DDR2 (apparently DDR2 had a huge price drop) As you could see from the pictures, it only has two ram slots. This only allows for a total of 2gs of ram. In the future i was planning on getting 4gs of ram. From what Ive heard a motherboard that supports Dual Core Processors would be my best bet.
Any help on this subject would be great help.

Well thanks for reading all that and hopefully helping me out. In the future I hope to learn more and help out some other people also.
 
hi mate,

first of all a new motherboard would probably be a good idea but then it would be kind of pointless gettin a DDR2 board with 2GB or even 4 GB with that AMD processor.

with your specs i would reccomend something like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127284

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150185

but for some serious gaming your gonna need a new motherboad new RAM and a new processor :( sorry

but for now if u dnt wonna upgrade id get the 7600 no point in the 8600 i dnt think you would be able to use it all
 
ssc456 is right no way would any 8 series card run on your computer with its full potential. a 7600 would be the max i would go with that pc. just overhaul the whole thing expect for drives and the case.
 
alright so if i got a new motherboard, which one would be the one to buy? and after that, what would be the best processor? and would my power supply be good enough to run with all these upgrades?
sorry for all the newb questions...and thanks again for all the help
 
Get an 8600GTS. It will max out all those games and more. You definitely don't need SLI either. Upgrade your CPU to at least probably an Athlon X2 4200+ or like a Core 2 Duo E6300. Note that with newer motherboards, you'll need new DDR2 RAM, and your current RAM won't be compatible.

So basically, you'd probably be best off building a whole new PC for the amount of parts you would have to upgrade. If you wanted to upgrade, you would need a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, power supply, and video card. Add another $100 in miscellaneous parts and you've got a whole new PC. This is assuming you want to run those games at max settings.

What is your budget, and we can recommend you parts?


EDIT: That motherboard and CPU would be pretty good for a relatively budget system.
 
alright, now that i know i need to upgrade all this, im going to have to stick with the graphics card i have for a while. my budget is around 500$ maybe a little more. and please suggest some parts, it makes it soo much easier. thanks alot guys, yall are a big help.
 
Umm...Here's my advice. From what it sounds like, you want a new higher-en graphics card, but with that you'll need a new PSU. You also want a new mobo, in which case you'll need new RAM. If you're going that far, why not just do a new build?

My advice on parts:
GPU - 8800GTS or GTX (depending on money). You could also do the 8600GTS. I don't know much about radeon but they released their HD 2900. You could look into those.

mobo- Like Thelis said, the P5Ns are good ASUS motherboards. Or the Gigabyte DS3s are really good too. Do you want SLI or not? (SLi - 2 video cards)

RAM - Depending on if you want to OC or not (it sounds like you probably won't), PC2-5300 should be fine. OCZ, Corsair and Crucial are good brands.

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo. Depends on budget which one to get. Look into maybe a 6400, 6420, or 6600. Right now Intel Core 2 Duos are the processors to have.

PSU - It looks like yours is a 350W with a combined 12.5amps on the 12V rails. You'll need something much better. Good brands are Antec, Silverstone, PC Power and Cooling, OCZ. Get something with at least 500W...bare minimum. Once you have your parts picked out we could help you with a specific PSU, but one thing to think about is NEVER EVER EVER buy a cheap PSU, unless you know what you're doing. PSUs get overlooked, people buy $40 PSUs, then wonder why their rig won't work.

Other advice: read as much as you can on these forums and other forums. Read other people's post with new builds, find out what stuff does and how it works. The more you read, the better decisions you can make for yourself.
 
Well, as freestyler said you need new DDR2 RAM, so I would go with this:
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145015
CPU:
Core 2 Duo E6400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115004
MOBO:
Gigabyte MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128017
PSU
OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI ATX12V 600W Power Supply 100 - 240 V CB/CE/CSA/UL/FCC - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817341001

Total: 476, you need to add shipping. That is under your budget but not the best system out there. The mobo needs to be better.
 
Back
Top Bottom