Hi there, I'm very new to this and have very limited tech knowledge so please explain things simply!
I live in the UK & purchased a budget gaming PC from Novatech about 2 years ago. (and have had various problems in the past including faulty RAM, but everything has worked fine for months now) I would link the model I bought, but it's no longer on the website.
Here are my specs (attempting to go by the template here):
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
Motherboard: FOXCONN A88GMX (SOCKET AM3)
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5770
Monitor Resolution: (1366x768@60Hz)
Hard Drive: 1TB
RAM: 4.00 GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 652MHz (I have 2x4GB installed, the computer seems to recognise this but is only using 4GB, I still haven't figured that out... if anyone has any ideas that'd be awesome haha)
If you need to know power supply or brand of the RAM, let me know and I'll open up the tower and take a look!
I'd potentially like to upgrade my graphics card and get a new monitor with a higher resolution (anything bigger really, I'm not picky) in order to play games on a higher quality. However I have no idea if I would need to upgrade anything else (like my motherboard) in order to achieve this - I also don't know how to be sure that a graphics card will be compatible with a particular monitor resolution. And if I do need to upgrade my motherboard, would I need to buy a new OS? It'd be nice if I could upgrade the GPU without having to buy a new motherboard and OS! I also don't know if fitting new upgrades in the current case is ever an issue?
Oh, and my current monitor is connected via VGA not HDMI, should I be looking for a monitor/GPU combination that uses HDMI instead?
I'm fairly satisfied with my CPU, but I'd like to know if it's considered to be outdated right now.
I primarily use my PC for Gaming, watching movies/youtube videos, general net surfing.
As I'm in the UK, I'd prefer to buy parts from a UK based site - or any site that doesn't have ridiculous shipping charges to post things here.
I won't be overclocking or anything like that because I don't understand it.
I haven't set a strict budget as this is all a bit hypothetical right now, but obviously I'd like to get good value for money. I doubt I could justify spending £400 on a new graphics card alone.
And finally, I'd like to upgrade because I'd like to run some newer games on high quality such as Bioshock Infinite, which is currently recommended to be run on medium quality (steam recommends AMD Radeon HD 6950 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560). I had no problem running Skyrim last year on high quality, although after browsing some forums it seems as though the FPS might have been poor whilst doing so - but I never noticed, maybe I'm used to it!
So, is it worth upgrading a few things myself? Should I stick to what I have and accept that I can't run everything on high quality? Or is my system completely lacking meaning I should just buy a new tower altogether?
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Edit: I'd probably be willing to spend around £400 overall (including GPU, monitor, etc.)
I live in the UK & purchased a budget gaming PC from Novatech about 2 years ago. (and have had various problems in the past including faulty RAM, but everything has worked fine for months now) I would link the model I bought, but it's no longer on the website.
Here are my specs (attempting to go by the template here):
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
Motherboard: FOXCONN A88GMX (SOCKET AM3)
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5770
Monitor Resolution: (1366x768@60Hz)
Hard Drive: 1TB
RAM: 4.00 GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 652MHz (I have 2x4GB installed, the computer seems to recognise this but is only using 4GB, I still haven't figured that out... if anyone has any ideas that'd be awesome haha)
If you need to know power supply or brand of the RAM, let me know and I'll open up the tower and take a look!
I'd potentially like to upgrade my graphics card and get a new monitor with a higher resolution (anything bigger really, I'm not picky) in order to play games on a higher quality. However I have no idea if I would need to upgrade anything else (like my motherboard) in order to achieve this - I also don't know how to be sure that a graphics card will be compatible with a particular monitor resolution. And if I do need to upgrade my motherboard, would I need to buy a new OS? It'd be nice if I could upgrade the GPU without having to buy a new motherboard and OS! I also don't know if fitting new upgrades in the current case is ever an issue?
Oh, and my current monitor is connected via VGA not HDMI, should I be looking for a monitor/GPU combination that uses HDMI instead?
I'm fairly satisfied with my CPU, but I'd like to know if it's considered to be outdated right now.
I primarily use my PC for Gaming, watching movies/youtube videos, general net surfing.
As I'm in the UK, I'd prefer to buy parts from a UK based site - or any site that doesn't have ridiculous shipping charges to post things here.
I won't be overclocking or anything like that because I don't understand it.
I haven't set a strict budget as this is all a bit hypothetical right now, but obviously I'd like to get good value for money. I doubt I could justify spending £400 on a new graphics card alone.
And finally, I'd like to upgrade because I'd like to run some newer games on high quality such as Bioshock Infinite, which is currently recommended to be run on medium quality (steam recommends AMD Radeon HD 6950 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560). I had no problem running Skyrim last year on high quality, although after browsing some forums it seems as though the FPS might have been poor whilst doing so - but I never noticed, maybe I'm used to it!
So, is it worth upgrading a few things myself? Should I stick to what I have and accept that I can't run everything on high quality? Or is my system completely lacking meaning I should just buy a new tower altogether?
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Edit: I'd probably be willing to spend around £400 overall (including GPU, monitor, etc.)