I want to be able to keep up with newer games, do I need new parts, or a new PC? (HP Pavilion Media Center TV m8125x PC)

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hisrealface

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Mar 15, 2014
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My computer (HP Pavilion Media Center TV m8125x PC) handled Tomb Raider pretty well last year, but I'm wondering what hardware upgrades (graphics card, memory) I'll need to make to keep up with the gaming releases for at least the next couple of years.

Any parts suggestions? Or should I just get a new PC altogether? I'm a relatively casual PC gamer (CombatArms every week, a few major releases every year), but I download tens of gigabytes at a time every week and am always multitasking, if that helps with suggestions.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Specs:
Processor
Intel ® Viiv™ Processor Technology with an Intel ® Core™2 Quad Processor Q6600
• 2.4 GHz, 8MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz Front Side Bus

Standard memory
2048MB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory(2x1024MB) (expandable to 8GB)

Memory type
DDR2-SDRAM

Memory slots
4 DIMM (240-pin, DDR2) (2 available)

Hard disk
Serial ATA (7200 rpm)

Video adapter
NVIDIA GeForce 7350 LE graphics card with TurboCache, 128MB dedicated graphics memory, TV-out, and DVI capabilities. Up to 623MB Total Available Graphics Memory as allocated by Windows Vista®

Video RAM
128MB
 
Solution
D
Well right now your processor is a major bottleneck, and to change that out you'll need a new motherboard so basically a whole new machine. You really should move into the newest generation of intel i5's or if you do a lot of multi-threading applications like video editing or pictures an i7 would be a better choice. An i5 4670k would probably do pretty well and give you the option of doing some light overclocking later if you wanted. Your graphics card is also pretty old.

I would advise you to avoid buying a system from a company like Dell, HP, eMachines, etc... They make computers for mostly business use, they don't have the room for upgrades or aftermarket parts that something custom built does.

A decent little gaming system can be...
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smorizio

smorizio

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Jan 22, 2010
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it be better for you to buy or build a newer pc. the newer cpu and ram are faster then the older pc. also newer parts (ram and cpu combos are cheaper.). if that pc still working fine and you have the restore disk for it . talk to your tax guy or see if mom or dad can get a tax deduction for donating it to local library or senior center. it still has lots of life as a web machine or word processor. A newer pc would last you a few years before you have to replace it again. the issue right now with pc hardware is both intel and nvidia and amd are dropping new cpu and gpu about every 12 months. intel saby and ib cpu were 1155 pin cpu there replacments went to 1150 pins the next line of cpu could have 1148 to force people to buy new mb and cpu at the same time. amd right now killed off there older cpu slot and is now switching to fm2 and other slots.
so buying parts now and hoping to replace them for faster ones in a few years dont happen like in the older days.
 
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Davil

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Feb 2, 2012
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Well right now your processor is a major bottleneck, and to change that out you'll need a new motherboard so basically a whole new machine. You really should move into the newest generation of intel i5's or if you do a lot of multi-threading applications like video editing or pictures an i7 would be a better choice. An i5 4670k would probably do pretty well and give you the option of doing some light overclocking later if you wanted. Your graphics card is also pretty old.

I would advise you to avoid buying a system from a company like Dell, HP, eMachines, etc... They make computers for mostly business use, they don't have the room for upgrades or aftermarket parts that something custom built does.

A decent little gaming system can be pretty cheap if you don't go crazy with it. Here's a link to a decent little gaming PC for about $800 which you could go higher or lower on depending on what you get. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3aAaC

Something like that should be pretty good for at least 3 or 4 years though. Not going to be setting any records but definitely able to play any of the newest stuff on at least medium quality.
 
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