Parents Got me a PC want to put a video card in there

[Lasagnaboy]

My Parents got me a new PC and I want ot be able to play some games so I am wondering about videocards. This PC is good and all but its video card and CPU and PSU aren't very good I mean the PSU is for the new video card buut the CPU and GPU are what I want to upgrade. This was for christmas but I want a bit more power to play Skyrim. I have tested out specs my Mobo supports Nvidia and AMD 2-way SLI 4 ram slots Intel supported yep. K what do you guys recommend for Skyrim.

 

[ebola28]

what PSU are you using?

 

[Lasagnaboy]

I am using a 650w PSU. P.S. This PC was bought from a friend of my Parents. Yes I am grateful and not spoiled.

 

[thesnappyfingers]

You want to upgrade the cpu and gpu? is it intel or amd? what are your current specs?

 

[undercovernerd6]

need more specs the PSU is great I'm using a 600w for a great rig included below need to know your full specs and we will def come up with something enjoy

 

[ebola28]

what monitor resolution are you playing at? and what is your budget? and current specs?

 

[Lasagnaboy]

what monitor resolution are you playing at? and what is your budget? and current specs?

My Specs are 650w PSU, AMD x1900GT (Or something like that) Intel Core 2 dou E8600 at 2.4 GHz. y Budget is 500$ for all the new components.

 

[ebola28]

What mobo? and are you looking for just a GPU upgrade?

 

[Lasagnaboy]

What mobo? and are you looking for just a GPU upgrade?

I don't know the Mobo but i know it supports I7s I5s, stuff like that sorry. Oh yeah and I play at 1440x900

 

[Lasagnaboy]

need more specs the PSU is great I'm using a 600w for a great rig included below need to know your full specs and we will def come up with something enjoy

My Specs are 650w PSU, AMD x1900GT (Or something like that) Intel Core 2 dou E8600 at 2.4 GHz. y Budget is 500$ for all the new components.

 

[thesnappyfingers]

your on 775 platform your limited to old tech in terms of CPU pending what your mobo you could upgrade to a quad core. isnt the 8600 3.3ghz?

However, they are not cheap as they are increasingly becoming difficult to find.

edit. if the e8600 is 3.3 ghz, my advice would be to upgrade your gpu to a gtx 560 or a hd 6870 these go for roughly 170-200.00 pending your model and where you buy them from.

you could go for a gtx 560 ti but you cpu may bottleneck that card on certain games.

as typing this we still need more info:

What is your monitor resolution?
what games do you want to play and at what resolution?

 

[ebola28]

the core 2 duo E8600 is a LGA 775 chipset, so it will not support core i7's or anything like that. those are a different chipset, LGA 1156/1155.

are you just looking for a new graphics card? and how much ram do you have? at that resolution, you won't need to come close to your budget

 

[Lasagnaboy]

the core 2 duo E8600 is a LGA 775 chipset, so it will not support core i7's or anything like that. those are a different chipset, LGA 1156/1155.

are you just looking for a new graphics card? and how much ram do you have? at that resolution, you won't need to come close to your budget

Oh. My dad said it was. Whoops Sorry. It has 16GBs of ram DDR3. I want to upgade the CPU and maybe PSU but definitely graphics card.

 

[Lasagnaboy]

your on 775 platform your limited to old tech in terms of CPU pending what your mobo you could upgrade to a quad core. isnt the 8600 3.3ghz?

However, they are not cheap as they are increasingly becoming difficult to find.

edit. if the e8600 is 3.3 ghz, my advice would be to upgrade your gpu to a gtx 560 or a hd 6870 these go for roughly 170-200.00 pending your model and where you buy them from.

you could go for a gtx 560 ti but you cpu may bottleneck that card on certain games.

as typing this we still need more info:

What is your monitor resolution?
what games do you want to play and at what resolution?

My dad said it was 2.9 but I am not quite sure. I play at 1440x900. I want to upgrade my cpu due to its dieying. Gpu isn't good enough for the games I want to play.

 

[ebola28]

i would say get a good CPU cooler and a nice GPU. not worth upgrading processor until you upgrade mobo.

PSU is fine, so is CPU at this point.

overclock your cpu and get a nice gpu. save some of the money and keep saving for the next upgrade, which will be 1920x1080 monitor. but for now, just GPU and a good cooler

 

[thesnappyfingers]

get a hd 6870 for that resolution gtx 560 if you prefer nvidia.

 

[thesnappyfingers]

why do you think your cpu is dying?

 

[Lasagnaboy]

i would say get a good CPU cooler and a nice GPU. not worth upgrading processor until you upgrade mobo.

PSU is fine, so is CPU at this point.

overclock your cpu and get a nice gpu. save some of the money and keep saving for the next upgrade, which will be 1920x1080 monitor. but for now, just GPU and a good cooler

K thanks. Yeah I will get a better looking and bigger monitor as I am 6foot 6.

 

[thesnappyfingers]

e8600 is 3.3ghz and is a very high tiered old duo core cpu. You will not be able to upgrade to a better dual core cpu on the 775 platform. the e8600 go for 200.00 plus new. I can't recommend spending that much on old tech.

another option would be to buy a q9400 which is a lower clocked quad core these go for 170.00 plus. Still it is old tech.

Sorry to say but you may have been better off simply buying all new components and building your own.

May I ask how much you have spent on this rig thus far?

 

[Lasagnaboy]

why do you think your cpu is dying?

Well maybe its not dieying just crashes a lot. Not very Stable.

 

[Lasagnaboy]

e8600 is 3.3ghz and is a very high tiered old duo core cpu. You will not be able to upgrade to a better dual core cpu on the 775 platform. the e8600 go for 200.00 plus new. I can't recommend spending that much on old tech.

another option would be to buy a q9400 which is a lower clocked quad core these go for 170.00 plus. Still it is old tech.

Sorry to say but you may have been better off simply buying all new components and building your own.

May I ask how much you have spent on this rig thus far?

Well I got it for christmas and it was unexpected so I have only paid for a few games and the monitor.

 

[Lasagnaboy]

e8600 is 3.3ghz and is a very high tiered old duo core cpu. You will not be able to upgrade to a better dual core cpu on the 775 platform. the e8600 go for 200.00 plus new. I can't recommend spending that much on old tech.

another option would be to buy a q9400 which is a lower clocked quad core these go for 170.00 plus. Still it is old tech.

Sorry to say but you may have been better off simply buying all new components and building your own.

May I ask how much you have spent on this rig thus far?

Ok what parts are good for me being able to max out very game 1440x900 at 30+ FPS no budget?

 

[thesnappyfingers]

Ok what parts are good for me being able to max out very game 1440x900 at 30+ FPS no budget?

well if you have stability issues I would recommend you first try to determine what is causing those issue. My guess would be faulty ram but could be a myriad of things. Download and run memtest to see if it is your ram.

at that resolution a hd 6870 or a gtx 560 should max every game out those cards are both under 200.00.

 

[Lasagnaboy]

Ok what parts are good for me being able to max out very game 1440x900 at 30+ FPS no budget?

well if you have stability issues I would recommend you first try to determine what is causing those issue. My guess would be faulty ram but could be a myriad of things. Download and run memtest to see if it is your ram.

at that resolution a hd 6870 or a gtx 560 should max every game out those cards are both under 200.00.

It looks as if it could be my ram as it turns out its DDR2 ram so I will upgrade that and its a few years old.

 

[ebola28]

get a hd 6870 for that resolution gtx 560 if you prefer nvidia.

+1 for your current setup.

if plan on upgrading monitor soon, 6950 or 560ti 448 or normal 560ti