To upgrade or not

[woweee]

I recently decided to mess around with my dell inspiron 531 hardware...

Here are my specs:
cpu- AMD Athlon x 2 dual core 4400+ / cpu socket- AM2 here is the new one I think I want-phenom x4
graphics- integrated GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
memory controller- MCP 61
ssd-Samsung 830 128gb (119gb)
ram- 4 1gb sticks of 667MHz DDR2 DIMM
BIOS- 1.0.3
psu-300W here is the new one I think I want-Thermaltake TR-500 TR2 ATX Power Supply - 500W, 120mm Fan, Active PFC
mobo- RY206

Since i'm running Ubuntu version 12.04 64-bit on my computer and it's FAST! I believe it's thanks to the SSD. Note, I'm currently still running 2gb of ram, the other two sticks will be here shortly...
Anyways, I'm wondering what's the next best thing I can upgrade. But more importantly, do I need the upgrade. I'm just a basic user. One thing I am concerned of is, I want to get nba league pass again this year, and want it to stream smoothly on my computer. I believe my cpu usage shot up to like 100% and curious what will make it run without buffering every few seconds...

NOTE: I'm wired to basic home CLEAR with up to 1.5 mb/s. If I simply upgraded my internet connection, would this potentially be the fix. NOTE: I'd rather buy a hardware fix, instead of paying more every month.

As far as upgrading...I want a quad core processor. Question: Is Adobe Flash multi-threaded software? (I watch nba league pass using adobe)

My daily routine consists of opening 6 tabs, playing music via banshee media player, watching movies, and watching video online. I would probably game, but don't want to bother using the "wine" emulator to play Microsoft games.

 

[noreaster]

I believe all Phenom x4 processors were AM2+ sockets, you just need to make sure your motherboard is AM2+ compatible. Also, is there a reason you want to upgrade your PSU, there is no real need to unless you get the Phenom x4 and it draws 125W or more. A way to avoid using "Wine" would be to make a dual-boot with Windows, so when you want to game just boot into windows and there is no compatibility problems, or you can make a VirtualMachine with Windows and do it that way.
Hope that helps.

 

[woweee]

i hate dual booting. to many problems. i suppose if anything i'll use wine, but don't have time for games right now. It took me 4 hrs to install the psu and msi radeon 6450. one reason was i knocked off my heatsink and the fans were going crazy fast, i was like "damn 500watts is more...but wtf?"

People say my computer cannot and will not take a quad processor. i don't know how to get to the bottom of this. im gonna message dell support...

 

[TheBigTroll]

the 6450 is pretty weak...

id suggest a psu like the xfx 550w for 49.99 instead at us.ncix.com. much higher quality unit.

your system can take 500w but there is no point of upgrading to a phenom x4 given its not that much of a improvement and that they are really hard to find now

 

[woweee]

not much of an improvement? why? doesn't the other two cores give extra "oomf" to the first two when not needed? already got the psu and graphics. like dude said, no improvement. i need to find a way to get that dvi so i can have better resolution...

 

[TheBigTroll]

the 6450 is like intel hd300 graphics (which sucks)

 

[woweee]

I was talking about the processor! I've figured out the graphics card is pretty bad. I won't know if it's any good until i start watching nba league pass, even then i probably would have been better off just paying 15 more a month for the better internet package. the graphics card is loud as hell too.

 

[TheBigTroll]

? the 6450 can be run passively

 

[woweee]

interesting. i don't know much about cards. and i threw out my cd. perhaps i can go to the website. but as a linux user, i don't like updating software individually, (i have my OS do that for me)

I Could download the driver with updates after the release. BUT drivers are a problem area with linux, so idk..I'll figure it out...