Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Solved

Upgrading an older PC, ANY ideas welcome!!

Last response: in Systems
Share

Hey forum

Just wanting to help my sister upgrade her old PC.

Basically we'd like to be able to play D3, LoL etc with each other

Like I say literally any ideas are welcome!..


we have:

Mobo: Gigabyte EP45-UD3L

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz E8400

GPU: 9800GT 512MB (I'd like to upgrade the GPU but I'm not sure which..)

RAM: 2 x 2GB 800MHz (I think this Mobo can handle faster MHz RAM if it makes a difference)

OS: Windows XP Home


I know it's all fairly ancient components but I'm sure there's some fun left in the old beast with a few (hopefully cheap upgrades :D  ))

More about : upgrading older ideas

Register or log in to remove

casper1973 said:
Do you have a budget we can work with? It's hard to choose parts with no price limit.

Also, what power supply does it have? Don't want to throw in a big graphics card and pop it ;) 

Well, we know it can run a 9800 GT, so up to at least a HD 7850 should be alright. Not sure a 7850 is even necessary for games like that, a 7770 could be sufficient.
Related ressources
Ask the community

Best solution

Here's my recommendation, cost is $149


8GB (2 x 4GB) 1066Mhz ------- ($39) http://bit.ly/UvKZq2
Your motherboard's memory standard is DDR2 1366(O.C)/1066

EVGA GTX 650 1GB ----- ($110) http://bit.ly/UvLHni
Passmark Score: 1817
GTX 650's new gen tecnology won't draw too much energy so maybe your PSU is good



other passmark scores and prices:

GeForce 9800 GT -- 715
Radeon HD 7750 1,585 ($95) http://bit.ly/UvQllb
Nvidia GTX 650 -- 1,817 ($110) http://bit.ly/UvLHni
Radeon HD 7770 2,161 ($120) http://bit.ly/UvOuNe

Even though the 7770 perfoms better for the price;
I don't know about this generation's power consumption compared to the GTX 600's
And I like Nvidia better specially when is made by EVGA ;) 

Good luck! :hello: 

Passmark is unreliable. Since the PSU can run a 9800 GT it would obviously be able to run a 7770 too, since it draws less power. The 7770 does draw more power than the GTX 650, but it's about equally efficient with that power - giving more performance. It's a better deal.

Although you don't list a budget, I would go the video card route and get a 7770. The rest of the system is usable though. You may want to consider overclocking that cpu to at least 3.5GHZ and throw on a Coolermaster 212 EVO heatsink. That will give a cheap boost to performance.

casper1973 said:
Do you have a budget we can work with? It's hard to choose parts with no price limit.

Also, what power supply does it have? Don't want to throw in a big graphics card and pop it ;) 


Sorry mate it's 550W PSU, should have mentioned this!

100 to 200 bucks, anything less would be a bonus

Glad to see you got the answer you were looking for :) 

However as your selected answer suggested purchasing 8GB of RAM I think it's best I re-iterate the memory limits of XP that were brought up in discussion earlier.

<< XP can only handle 4GB of memory >>
Anything more will be ignored and may as well not be there. Don't waste money on RAM that your system cant handle!
Register or log in to remove
Ask the community
Read discussions in other Systems categories
!