Upgrade help

[joshua2k]

I am looking to upgrade my pc to play Game like l4d and CoD at medium settings.

Heres my current pc http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=ET1161-05
I was thinking of upgrading the video card, Psu, and cpu, but i don't know anything so i am looking for help. any advice would be appreciated try keeping the upgrade parts price around 100-200$ because i live in hawaii and shipping will add up to a lot.

 

[jack_attack]

Well, you're at a disadvantage. Your system uses AM2, not AM2+ or AM3, so you're pretty limited in CPU choice. There is an Athlon 64x2 Brisbane@ 2.7ghz, or the Athlon 64x2 Windsor. I'm not certain which board is in that machine, so I can't even tell you for sure it will support those. The problem there is it's AM2. Anything you do to it will be futile, because it will be outdated yesterday. It's like putting new tires on an 84 escort.

 

[joshua2k]

well i don't really want to play any high end games thats why i got a console. I only want to play wow and maybe Left 4 dead since i cant get that on ps3. also wow uses a lot of cpu like 50% i want to upgrade it so it at least goes down to 20-30% cpu use

 

[pepperman]

jack_attack is right regarding the cpu, it's not your limiting factor anyway, though.
If you upgrade the graphics card to something around an HD 4650/70 you will notice a big increase in performance over your current integrated solution, and your cpu usage will go down since the cpu won't have to act as a GPU either.
We'll need to know the specs on your psu to make sure your computer can handle it, unless you want to upgrade it anyway, in which case I would recommend something like an Antec Earthwatts .

 

[joshua2k]

Thanks that was very helpful
but anyway yeah i can upgrade the psu to about 600watt then buy a radeon 4670. but i don't know if the parts i buy are compatible with my pc such as size and the connectors or whatever like 6 pin and so on.

 

[pepperman]

Any standard ATX psu should be compatible with your machine in terms of space (its not a slim pc, so you don't have to worry too much about space) and cables. You won't need a 600 Watt psu to run a 4670, and likely you'll never come close to actually needing that much power. That being said, the 430 W Earthwatts I posted earlier will have more than enough power for your pc plus the gfx card.

 

[joshua2k]

k thanks you have been a big help but i was wondering if i get the 600 watt will there be less chance of it over heating? rather then getting the the 450watt because when i game i game for hours... around 5-10 hours a day.

 

[jack_attack]

I should have read the post better, sorry. Pepperman is right. If you're looking to WoW and L4D, that 4670 would do it just fine, with lowish power consumption. You should be fine with a 430, I don't think you'll be hitting even 300 with that setup.

 

[pepperman]

Getting a 600 would just require more money; the 430 is designed to run continuously at up to 430 Watts. Gaming for long stretches won't strain it, especially since you won't be taxing it too much anyway.