Trying to make my 3 year old build last longer,

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japjeev

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Aug 19, 2010
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I built this PC back in 2010 and I think its time to make it last about 2-3 more years and than I will upgrade. Here are the specs

AMD Athlon II 640 @ 3.0 Ghz.(Quad Core) (Stock Cooler)
6 GB DDR3 @ 1333
500GB WD Blue HDD
AMD 4870 1GB DDR5
This is my motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131406

So I would like to know what components should I buy to have it a bit faster.

Should I install a 32 GB SSD Vs 64 GB? (Does my motherboard even support it? it has no 6GB Sata support)

Also I will be overclocking all the componenets such as RAM, CPU, GPU.

I just want to use the PC for casual gaming, Mixing Music, and programming.

What can I do to get the most out of this PC?
I don't want to spend more than $70 on this machine.
 
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Deus Gladiorum
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lilpopjim

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Er if i was you casual gammer not minding about graphics and the lot i'll probably get a small SSD as a boot drive. You don't need a 6GB sata interface for an SSD. You just wont get the full force effect of the ssd. Random reads will be much faster though like launching Google chrome and other small programs etc. Get an SSD! Or upgrade your gpu to something a little faster. On eBay in the UK you can get a GTX 470 for about 70 second hand. Guessing it'll be the same for you ish!
 
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lilpopjim

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Well i don't know about bottlenecks. I know my Core 2 quad 2.9 was a bottleneck for my 460. but it was a faulty chip which BSOD every so often and running RAM in single channel. (other slots burnt up xD

Do a little research on your cpu and see how powerful it is? See what you can go up too.

And going onto Asus's website it only says Sata 3gb/s which is sata 2 if i remember.
 
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Deus Gladiorum

Deus Gladiorum

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$70 is a bit limited. None of your parts can be effectively upgraded for that price, with the exception of RAM but 6 GB overclocked to at least 1600 MHz with hopefully a CAS latency of 9 is already sufficient.

I suppose your one option might be a small SSD for your OS, anti-virus and some applications. Go for a 64 GB. SSDs apparently slow down when they get close to being full, for different reason than HDDs. A 32 GB SSD will pack things in way too close, and I think the general rule of thumb is that the most of the time the larger SSDs are faster. Even if you don't have a 6 Gbps SATA, no hard drive even comes close to reaching 3 Gbps in the first place. You'll still notice the difference with an SSD connected to a 3 Gbps SATA cable.

Aside from that upgrade, your best bet for keeping your computer fast is general system maintenance. I'm sure you know all these already but just in case try some of these:

- CCleaner (around once a week at least)
- No anti-virus (if you're comfortable with that)
- Malwarebytes Free (around once a week at least)
- Ensure your HDD isn't nearing full
- Defrag your HDD (around once a month)
- Backup your data onto disks and/or flash drives
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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A 32gb ssd is just too small. Even a 64gb ssd is marginal. Many things want to go on the "C" drive.
A SSD gets slower and loses endurance as it approaches full.

That said, a SSD is one of the most satisfying performance upgrades you can buy today. It makes everything you do feel much quicker. Do not worry about 3/6gb sata, the value of a ssd is in random access. Even in sequential, it will be 2x faster than any hard drive
See if you can't scrape together enough for a 120gb ssd.
New, a 120gb ssd will be about $100.
As a casual gamer, your rig is fine.
 
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