System Upgrade Help

[Guest]

Heres the deal i have a Best Buy store bought HP computer. Specs are below. I want to upgrade it. I play games on it thats it. And my wife uses it for internet and pics.

Amd 64x2 4800 brisband
ati 3870 512mb
vista
320 gb HD
power up 550w PSU
ram samsung (came with computer) 2x1gb ddr2 4200
corsair xms2 2x512mb ddr2 4300

For some reason the ram is runnning at ddr2 3200

1st question. Is the ram really my bottleneck on this system. And will i notice a significant increase in FPS by upgrading to ddr2 4200

I plan on overclocking this upgrade as HP locks me out.

First thing i need to get a good case i know that and some cooling

2nd question. I might go intel if its worth it if so i want to either get a good mobo and am looking at the e7200 for a cpu.
Or just save money and get a am2/am2+ board and try to overclock the 4800+ that i have now. Also does the chipset matter on how good the board can overclock?
Im on a pretty tight budget and this would be my first true build for gaming a little overclocking (nothing crazy)
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[huron]

I'm not sure you can do a whole lot of upgrading on those PCs. I think you might be better off just starting from scratch. You can put together a pretty nice system for not all that much. Give us a budget and I'm sure we can help.

 

[Guest]

I just trying to build off what I got to work with. Right now im just trying to get more frames out of my games i am playing, GRID, Assassins Creed, in GRID i am only getting about 22-25 average with dips in the teens at some spots which isnt too bad but i think i should be getting a least over 30 with my specs. Thats why i think my ram is severely slowing me down. The ram is going to be the first thing i am going to get. After that i was planning on getting a new case new motherboard and maybe a new processor. I would like to stay under $250 for the case mobo and processor. Depends though if i stick with current CPU i got for now and just overclock it, it should be good for a little bit. I have read that most people get up to 3.0ghz with little or no voltage increase.

If i go intel i realize i might spend a little more cause i have to buy a new CPU and i really like the e7200 and have seen so much stuff about how they overclock very well.

 

[huron]

Ok - I know you can get the E7200 for $100 - that's a pretty sweet deal. You ought to be able to find a P35/P45 motherboard or even a micro ATX board (since you have a pre-built PC) for $100 or less. You can get 2x2GB DDR2 800 memory for $50. That's a pretty sweet setup so far, and only a little more for a case and GPU.

It's up to you. Let us know if you want us to help you pick out some components.

 

[caamsa]

I would say leave your current HP system intact and build a new system.

I assume you were going to take parts out of the HP like the processor and hard drive etc.


Just my two cents.

I would not get a low end Intell CPU unless you are familiar with overclocking. If you are not comfortable overclocking a good Intell CPU is the E8400. 3Ghz seems to be the sweet spot in regards to gaming etc.

Then pick up a 4850 video card and a decent mb, ram and power supply, case, dvd/cd, case etc. and you should be all set.

 

[Guest]

I don thave money for a new system thats the thing. We just bought this computer last May and i just wanna upgrade bits and pieces to give it a little extra kick if you know what i mean. I have a ATI 3870 which will do just fine for the time being and bought it when it came out so i dont wanna blow more money on a new video card.

As far as the mobo would go. Does the chipset matter for overclocking? Amd 780? intel p35 p45?

 

[caamsa]

The cheapest thing to do would be to just replace the mother board. But would it fit in the HP case.........? Also replace the memory. Get SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

I would do a little more research into that before pulling apart a good computer you just bought.

Here is a article on OC the 4800+ Brisbane.

http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3782&Itemid=40


It is an old article but you could see what hardware they used and what settings they set in the bios to get the OC they got.

 

[Jakeh1322]

The motherboard is a mATX crappy ECS so another mATX would fit but i wanna get a better case with better cooling if i am going to overclock. And probably a case that fits both mATX and ATX motherboards if i ever wanna go sli or just a better atx motherboard.
I was looking at these 2 cases.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147102
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147075

Both the same Rosewill brand. Dont know about them but they look decent, decent reviews, and cheap.

 

[caamsa]

The motherboard is a mATX crappy ECS so another mATX would fit but i wanna get a better case with better cooling if i am going to overclock. And probably a case that fits both mATX and ATX motherboards if i ever wanna go sli or just a better atx motherboard.
I was looking at these 2 cases.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147102
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147075

Both the same Rosewill brand. Dont know about them but they look decent, decent reviews, and cheap.

Here is a decent case with a decent ps. Those cases are the generic brand. I know money is an issue but you get what you pay for.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156098


Here are some mATX boards. You would have to check what the dimensions are so they will fit.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&N=2010200022&PropertyCodeValue=709%3A30149%2C709%3A21489%2C757%3A7619&bop=And&Order=PRICE