Hardware upgrade advice

[Gorf12]

I'm considering an upgrade to my son's PC for Christmas as I can't afford a gaming rig. I've got a budget of £200 and my current plan is to get a new multi-core CPU (his current one is just a one-core hyperthreaded 3.2 GHz Intel).

I suspect I'll also need to fund a motherboard out of that budget - I can't seem to find any socket 478 multi-core CPUs. but I want to keep the old stuff, case, GPU, memory, HDD etc. What sort of kit can I get for that budget?

 

[manofchalk]

Socket 478 is a long dead platform that was around before dual cores started to enter the market, you wont find any dual or quad cores on that platform.

To be honest, you wouldn't be able to upgrade the rig in any significant way without requiring a whole new build. A new CPU will require a new mobo, which will require DDR3 RAM, SATA HDD and optical and a new OS. If gaming is what your after you will need a decent GPU. Chances are you would have to get a new PSU to support this new hardware.

You might just have to settle with a console.

 

[Gorf12]

I have a SATA SSD sitting here, doing nothing. The current PC already has a decent GPU.

I made a mistake with the socket number - it's a 775, but that doesn't change things much I think. It has DDR2 memory in it already, but it can only hold 2gigs, so even if I could recycle the current memory into the new mobo, I'd want to double that at some point.

 

[mohit9206]

socket 775 is long dead as well.
better off get a new cpu, new mobo, new ram .
lga 1155 is a good platform.
intel core i3 3220 is about £90
a cheap H61 or H67 mobo about £40
8 gb ddr3 1600 kit about £30

 

[Gorf12]

Many thanks for the replies. He'll need to stay under 4GB on the memory front unless we also upgrade his 32bit XP I'll look into the components you suggest and report back.

 

[milkshakez7z]

What is the GPU?