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| Thread ID: 126889 | 2012-09-23 18:44:00 | Considering Upgrades to PC | Luppi (12974) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1302907 | 2012-09-23 18:44:00 | Hello, I have a quick request for you guys to give me one or two alternatives for upgrading my PC. I have a Pentium Dual-Core E6500 @2.9 GHz, 4 GB RAM DDR3, Gygabyte G31M-ES2L Motherboard, 500 GB HDD, and running Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64 with latest 2012 updates, including Framework .4. My current video card is a HIS Radeon HD5570 1 GB no-fan card. I am considering adding another 4 GB of DDR 3 and buying a 2GB , stonger video card that could support the newer games being launched this fall and next year like Hitman Absolution and GTA V. Can anyone recommend some (not necessarily) budget video cards that do the trick? The only affordable recommendation i have so far is the Radeon 6670 - 2 GB from MSI which is priced at about 110 USD on my local online store, so ideally i wouldn't want to spend more than that, but any other suggestions are greatly appreciated. Also, if i buy a new 4GB memory, can i safely pop it in near the existing one in the slot and Windows just picks it up automatically? And finally, if i get both the 4GB memory and a new video card, do i have to upgrade my power source as well? What would you recommend towards that. Thank you. |
Luppi (12974) | ||
| 1302908 | 2012-09-23 19:45:00 | Take a look at this article www.tomshardware.com or if you don't want to read it skip to the table on page 7 and use it as a guide to help you pick a new card. Toms recommends upgrading 3 tiers or more on the table to get a significant upgrade, which would mean a 7750 or better. I'd suggest considering a 7770 or 550 Ti. Don't get too caught up on the amount of Video RAM as it's not a measure of performance and you only really need more than 1GB at higher resolutions with a lot of AA etc turned on which realistically these cheaper cards can't handle anyway. You don't mention what your current power supply is, but it's likely it won't need an upgrade if you stick to the cards suggested. For safety post the wattage and model number so we know what you have. Yes you should be able to just add more RAM, but if it's not the same speed and brand it may cause problems especially if the system attempts to use it in dual channel mode with an existing RAM chip. It might be safer to buy an 8GB dual channel kit and replace the existing RAM, note your motherboard uses DDR2 not DDR3 according to www.gigabyte.com 4GB is enough most of the time, I'd try just the graphics card first and see how the PC feels. Another Idea would be to keep an eye out for a cheap core 2 Quad CPU with a similar clock speed 2nd hand. It's not worth spending too much on but if you can find a good deal it could give your system a nice boost and help it last a few more years. Most games still only use 2 cores but quad is becoming standard and more and more software is taking advantage of it. Bear in mind the prices of motherboard/CPU/RAM combos in your area when considering any CPU upgrades though, sometimes it's more cost effective to go new than upgrade old. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1302909 | 2012-09-23 23:42:00 | Regarding the memory, you'll usually make you're life easier if you purchase the exact same memory, from the manufacturer. In theory, any correctly spec'd memory would do. However as Albert Einstein said "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." Of course, memory is so cheap, you may want to save yourself some aggreviation, and simply buy bigger DDR2 PC2-5300, CL=5, Unbuffered, NON-ECC, DDR2-667 |
kingdragonfly (309) | ||
| 1302910 | 2012-09-24 05:50:00 | From memory the e6500 is a 775 socket and some 775 socket motherboards were restricted to <8gb ram. Would be worth checking to see how much more ram your system can take. | icow (15313) | ||
| 1302911 | 2012-09-24 10:17:00 | And i guess the answer to that is 0. It says on the gigabyte website it can go up to 4 and no more. This kind of sucks, and i'm guessing a motherboard upgrade is futile and i'd rather buy a new system, right? | Luppi (12974) | ||
| 1302912 | 2012-09-24 10:48:00 | Well chances are your ram, psu, case, hdd etc are still good. Just upgrade the parts you need to. | icow (15313) | ||
| 1302913 | 2012-09-24 10:50:00 | Okay, so any decent recommendations for a motherboard? | Luppi (12974) | ||
| 1302914 | 2012-09-24 10:59:00 | If you upgrade your motherboard you're going to have to get a new CPU unless you can find a second hand 775 board. | icow (15313) | ||
| 1302915 | 2012-09-24 19:51:00 | Maybe just upgrade the graphics for now, if later the system needs upgrading you can keep the graphics card. 4GB is actually enough for most things and your processor is still ok also. If you start looking at replacing the motherboard it's really time to consider a whole MB/CPU/RAM upgrade as it's just not cost effective to spend that much on older hardware. Then you might have to add a new copy of windows to the upgrade unless you have a retail version of windows as the OEM version is not legally transferrable. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
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