Problem with prebuilt Ibuypower computer.

I got a computer last June from Ibuypower. Here are the specs of it:

GTS 250 1gb
4gb DDR2 RAM
Gigabyte GA-MA785G Motherboard
AMD Athlon II X4 630 Processor
700w Power supply
Hitachi 320 GB hard drive (Model is HDS721032CLA362)

Ive been having problems with it from the first day i got it. First, games were crashing and freezing constantly, so I sent it back and they fixed that problem. But then I noticed that my games were running very sluggish, but thought maybe it was just how my computer was suppose to run. But after a few months decided it wasnt normal and sent it back again 2 more times after that to have it fixed, but it never was. They would swap out the graphics card for another and tell me it was running fine. Since then i have noticed that most of my games stutter a lot when i play them, along with the bad frame rates. I recently got an ATI 5850 to replace the GTS 250, but have only seen an average of 5 fps more in my games, and they still continue to stutter to the point where i refuse to play them anymore. There are even more problems in other games that i play but these are the ones that i find in most of my games. Any ideas on what the hell can be causing this damn nightmare????

P.S. I refuse to send the computer back to Ibuypower for further fixing because it takes them over a month to finally get it back to me and they always tell me its working fine.

Need more info.

What game do you play the most that is giving you trouble?

What are the all the video settings set to for this game?

What kind of performance are you expecting.

From such a rig i would expect to run games at medium @ 1440x900.

If you are expecting that rig to get you playable framerates @ 1680 or 1920 w/ high settings, then you need to lower your expectations (and i won't go into how bad a mistake it was for u to go with ibuypower - although if its still under warranty or eligible for the return, i'd do it if i were you).

Now you said you bought a 5850 and expected an increase - well the bottom line is you've got a somewhat enthusiast gfx card being held back by a budget processor.

I sympathize with ya dude, i made a similar mistake - sent the whole fking thing back and built a better rig myself @ same cost.

That is a dead giveaway right there that your processor is holding you back - persistent choppiness regardless of how low the settings are/ what games you play.

Even if you spend like $100 on a phenom 2/ mobo combo, you will see a vast improvement.

Thanks guys, i guess thats my next buy then. Any suggestions on a good amd processor for $200 or less that will get the job done?

I get about 28 degrees Idle and 50 under load with a stock cooler. Im not the best overclocker ever but when i tried to overclock this one I had a hard time, because it cant be overclocked that much and when i did it just caused my computer to be unstable.

Alright ill try that out. But also, are there any chances of totally screwing up your cpu from overclocking, even when strictly following a guide? Thats been one of the few things that has held me back from overclocking in the past.

A modest overclock for that CPU would be around 3.2-3.4 and yeah a new (but cheap) aftermarket cooler and thermal grease is the viable, temporary, cheap performance boost option until you wiggle your way into a more comfy proc (btw nice overclock W/ the new cooler would be around 3.6)