Upgrading Computer, Where to start:

[AlexFaith]

Hello,
I recently have dug my old computer out from the dead realising that the power i needed for my gaming will no longer be enough with my current Laptop.

First thing i went out and did was buy a new graphics card, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 650.

But, this still leaves alot of issues with the rest of the system,

To start, this computer is still running Windows Vista, will upgrade to 7 or 8 when i get the oppurtunity but that isn't the problem for the moment.

The next problem is that this system is currently only running 32 bit, so the ideal solution is to get the computer to a place where it can comfortably run on 64 bit to the maximum potential.

What things will i be looking at upgrading in order to do this?

The motherboard?
The Processor?
Power Supply?
A seperate SSD to run games from?
Maybe a new cooler?

As i know anyone that's willing to help will obviously need the makes and models of the current computer so here they are:

Processor : AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ 3.12GHz.

Memory : 2 GB ( Can only upgrade to 8+ once i upgrade to 64 bit due to the limited memory potential of 3.33 of 32 bit systems )

Motherboard : "ASUSTeK Computer INC. M2N-SLI.
Chipset - Nvidia nForce4
Southbridge - Nvidia nForce4 MCP

BIOS: Pheonix Technologies LTD, Version; ASUS M2N SLI ACPI.

If there are any questions you'd like to ask then please feel free to ask:

To finalise this question my budeget for each part will be somewhere between 60 and £100.

I realise aswell that when i upgrade to a 64 bit system i will need more RAM but i already have 8 gb's of RAM lying around if the new motherboard is the same DDR type, if not, i will purchase a different set.

Thanks

 

[scorpinock2]

I would get a new motherboard, new memory, and a new processor. It would be a Micro ATX AM3+ board (less than 100) 8 Gigs of DDR 3 RAM (either 1333Mhz or 1600Mhz) as that's only around 40 to 50 bucks, and I would get one of the variants of AMD's Phenom II x4 Black Edition Quad cores, or a 6 core (less than 100 for the quad cores). This will give you better performance, and future upgradability and compatibility. As for the 32 and 64 bit thing, that is all in the OS you just need to buy a 64 Bit copy of windows. Consequently you may need to do a fresh install to go to 64 Bit but I am not sure. If you want to keep some of the parts you have, I would just get a new processor (your motherboard is an AM2 Plus, meaning you can get SOME Am3 Phenom II processors, the quad cores only and only certain ones, and the models are on the AMD website for the motherboard under supported CPU's). That way you would just need a CPU and OS upgrade. I would strongly suggest the upgrade I mentioned before as DDR2 Ram uses more power, is slower, and less of it can be used.