Better Graphics Needed - Should I Upgrade or Buy New PC?

Stu4808

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Jan 25, 2014
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Looking for some advice - I've inherited an old PC and want to upgrade some bits and pieces, I just want to check whether I'm going down the right road, or if I should be looking at packing it all in and getting a new PC entirely:

Current specs:
CPU: Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q6600
Motherboard: Packard Bell MCP73VT-PM
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 7050 256MB (Intergrated)
RAM: 4GB DDR2

I am looking to upgrade GPU to:
XFX AMD Radeon 2gb HD 7850
(http://www.dabs.com/products/xfx-amd-radeon-7850-2gb-pci-express-3-0-hdmi-double-dissipation-core-edition-96D4.html?src=3)

Along with upgrading power supply to cope - Silverstone 500w PSU (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-silverstone-strider-essential-80-eff-80-plus-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx-v23-psu?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=COSEif-UkLwCFUsOwwod-3kAuA)

Is there anything else that I should be looking at, or will this even work with such an old motherboard? I don't want to plough £150 into an ineffective upgrade. Any help/comments would be appreciated.
 

StarBG

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Oct 10, 2013
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The GPU wont work on its full potential in this setup, maybe if you overclock your CPU to 3GHz but you will lose a bit performance because of pcie version 1 (old mainboard). A new pc would be better depending on what you want to do.
 

Stu4808

Honorable
Jan 25, 2014
2
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10,510


Thanks for the quick responses, the overall aim is to be able to play games that the current system just doesn't cope with (the likes of planetside 2 etc.)

So would you recommend buying a stock pc and upgrading where needed or building from scratch?
 

StarBG

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Oct 10, 2013
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Planetside 2 mulityplayer is very CPU intensive and you would need at least to overclock your CPU quite a bit and to get a new cooler for that and also to run the GPU better. A new system would be better for such games and newer ones but you have to select parts because it is cheaper and more effective than stock systems. It also depends how much money you could invest in a new system.
At what resolution and details you would want to play?