Computer upgrading - help needed

[porsche997]

Hi,

Basically what i wanted to know whether it is worth upgrading my current pc.

Here are the current specs:

Amd Sempron 3000 +, 1.61ghz
512mb DDR2 Ram
80Gb Sata
Nvidia 6100 Onboard Graphics
PCI-E Graphics Slot

i was wondering whether if i bought 2gb ram and an Nvidia 9500gt 1gb card would there be any point to it because of my processor and if i did what sort of detail level would i be able to play games like Call of Duty 4 at.

Thanks

 

[o1die]

Check your board specs under "cpu support" at the manufacturer's website. Newegg should have some open box am2 cpus available about 10 pm central time tonight. They go for about $30-40 oem. You might even be able to use your old heatsink if you don't overclock.

 

[jmcbride1983]

I would recomment to upgrade the processor to at least a 2.4GHz or so to play COD4.

 

[porsche997]

im not too sure what i can do about the processor as the socket is 754 which im sure is discontinued, do any of you recommend overclocking it to about 1.8-2.0 ghz?

 

[jay2tall]

You might get a new CPU on ebay or something... 2GB of ram is cheap and would be a good upgrade. How much do you have to spend on a graphics card? I'd opt for a 4670 at the very least for COD4.

I am assuming you have limited funds to upgrade... could you give us a budget?

 

[jmcbride1983]

No I ran COD4 on an ATI Radion X550 that I paid $10 for on eBay. I played at 1024x768 with medium settings at 30-50fps. I did overclock it to 500core/200mem though and with stock fan. awesome card for so cheap and outdated. Now my 7900GS KO runs it at 60-90fps with stock fan and no overclocking.2.0GHz should be fine on that processor. Just watch the temp. Everest has a tool that can test your processor at 100% throttle and you can watch the temp. Max temp on that processor is 90c and I have seen some reviews where they have overclocked to 2.4GHz with a stock fan and not exceeding 48c. But still, keep an eye on the temp during a full load test for at least 10 mins.

 

[porsche997]

The budget for my graphics card is about 50 pounds jay2tall and i found a nvidia 9500gt 1gb like i said earlier for 45, also i found out by using CPU-Z that my cpu socket is am2 rather than 754 which i thought it was, this opens more options for a new cpu, jmc ill have a go at the everest processor test and how much ram does your comp have? i have one more question, does the cpu limit the amount of certain games i can play?

 

[djcoolmasterx]

This

 

[jmcbride1983]

Here is what I was running when I had the X550 installed: ABIT IP35-E Mobo, Core 2 Duo E6570 @ 2.66GHz, 2x1GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 (PC2-6400), ATI Radeon x550 (overclocked w/ ATItool to 500core/200mem), WD Caviar 250GB 7200RPM HDD, Codegen 350W 12A (1 Rail) PS and I was getting 30-50fps. As far as the limit with the CPU, yes to an extent. With a dual core you can run almost any game. I can even run Crysis with this e6750 (never OC'd). It just depends on your GPU and what game exactly.

 

[porsche997]

ah ok thanks for the info, i needed it as im new to speccing up computers etc, i think im probably going to pick an AMD Athlon 64 xp dual core then get a 9500gt plus 2gb ram, by the way seeing as i have a ddr2 pc2 4300 512mb ram currently in my comp will i have to get a 2gb 4300 or can it be any mhz ddr2 ram?

 

[jmcbride1983]

Only what your board's specs can handle. Check the manufacturer's website for how fast and how much ram can go in each slot.

 

[djcoolmasterx]

The 9500GT is crap, get the 4650....

 

[jmcbride1983]

or if $$$ is an isssue get the 8800GT 512MB

 

[djcoolmasterx]

The budget for my graphics card is about 50 pounds

or if $$$ is an isssue get the 8800GT 512MB

Out of budget. The 4650 clearly wins at the £50 price point as seen in the benchmark I posted.

The 1GB vram on the 9500GT makes no difference over the 512mb 9500GT as it simply isnt fast enough to use it, infact it probably struggles to use the full ram on the 512mb model.

 

[porsche997]

So DJcooler you recommend i get this?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-46501