Revamping my old rig

[maraca2020]

I have an HP Pavilion a1540n, 2.5 years old.

It's a really bad computer, so I was thinking of giving it a revamp.

It currently has a amd athlon x2 64 2.2 GHz, an 300 watt psu, an asus nodusm mobo, and a 6100 graphics card.

So, I was thinking of adding a 4870, and a AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz

but that's just because of my crappy mobo. Should I just do that, or should I rip out the mobo also, and put in an entire different thing. My total budget for anything is $600, and I'd like to do it right, so any help would be appreciated. Also, my final goal is to play gta IV. Thanks

 

[Mondoman]

Best is to get a proper new MB/CPU/RAM, but you'll have to buy a new copy of Windows for that, too. You'll definitely need a more powerful and better quality PS whatever you do, so plan on spending $75 or so on that. The specifics of your MB will determine how modern a CPU it will handle, and how fast a graphics card. The graphics card is by far the most important factor in determining game performance.

 

[theblade]

For GTA IV you should seriously consider a quad core processor.

 

[jitpublisher]

What socket is it? You will need a new PSU.
Tough to start upgrading prebuilds, you are pretty limited on what you can do with them, both hardware and OS wise. (because of licensing problems you run into if you change the motherboard, and the very limited BIOS features and support)
For what you are going to spend, and the performance bump you are looking for, it would likely be far better to spend a little more and start fresh from the board up.

 

[Helloworld_98]

At 2.5 years old it's probably am2

So look at spending $300 on a new MB, CPU, PSU and RAM

 

[terr281]

For a Compaq or HP computer, you can always look at the HP website for the details. For an HP Pavilion a1540n:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00679533&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3184140

Then, once you get the MB name, use a Google search to find:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00714578&dlc=en&lc=en&cc=us

Note, however, that the websites do not /always/ Sync, as my old P4 Prescott system if done this way has a slight discrepancy. Hope the info helps.

Can't help with details of upgrading an AMD though... I'm an Intel person.

 

[maraca2020]

thanks guys. I'm thinking of ditching the whole thing for an intel i7 mobo combo + a 4870x2. Sound good? also, the clock speed seems really low on the i7 920. Does that matter? thanks

 

[Roffey123]

The idea that "GHz is God" was dispelled years ago. Faster speeds help but frankly the i7 920 (at the moment) is the 3rd best consumer CPU at the moment, you've four cores doing 2 threads each. Clock speed shouldn't matter. However, I think it would be a better buy if you went for a Phenom II or a Core 2 Quad system. Yes, i7 is a better CPU, but the new mobo, RAM and CPU will set you back a fair bit, whereas PII and C2Q are a lot cheaper. I say that because really the i7 doesn't loan itself to games, more to multi-threaded apps, where it really kicks arse, so unless you do rendering or something that takes a lot of multi-threading its a bit of an expensive option if you're going to game; that is of course my old opinion, so don't feel bound by what I say.

At any rate, I'd suggest a Q9550, 8GB of DDR2 (800MHz as a minimum, should give you plenty of room to OC if you wish), an X38/48 mobo (I prefer Asus myself, but read reviews to make an informed choice, Gigabyte is also a good make) along with that 4870x2. And of course make sure you get yourself a 600W PSU at least if you're sure on that 4870x2.

Hope this helps.

 

[Roffey123]

Actually, scratch that, just looked at the prices. Go with the i7 920 and get a better PSU.

 

[maraca2020]

thanks. What mobo would you recomend for the i7? Will that and a 4870x2 work well together? thanks again.

 

[MykC]

It would seem an entire system upgrade is what is store. I would suggest...
AMD Phenom 720BE - $150
Asus 790GX - $140
4GB DDR2 800 - $60
Sapphire 4870 - $175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810
PC Power and Cooling 500W - $75

$600, plus tax, shipping.

Depending if you factored shipping and tax into your budget your over. I'd recommed getting a good after market CPU cooler which will cost $40-60. Even if your not into overclocking or never done it before, it hasn't been easier than with BE CPU.

Depending on what resolutions your want to run GTA4 at, a 4850 might do the job.

 

[maraca2020]

thanks also what is the i5 and what are its implications?

 

[Roffey123]

The i5 will be the so called "little brother" of i7. It'll still need a new motherboard and as far as I know, you'll still need DDR3 to run it. Personally though, I'm not that exicited over it.

I'd go with the suggestion that MykC came up with, the 720 is an excellent budget processor.

Here's a review of it: http://techreport.com/articles.x/16382/1

Just a point of note, and to make clear, the 720 is an AM3 processor, so you can either plump for an AM2+ or AM3 board depending on what you want.