Upgrading an older PC, ANY ideas welcome!!

[jonnymo]

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 ))

 

[EzioAs]

You could upgrade the video card. Maybe to an AMD Radeon HD7770 or the HD7750

 

[casper1973]

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

 

[Sakkura]

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.

 

[korandot]

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!

 

[Sakkura]

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.

 

[maestro0428]

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.

 

[groundrat]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/194956-30-usable-memory-home

Guys, XP memory limits?

He desperately needs to upgrade his OS.

 

[korandot]

Guys, XP memory limits?

He desperately needs to upgrade his OS.

yup. win7 64bit would be best i think.

 

[Sakkura]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/194956-30-usable-memory-home

Guys, XP memory limits?

He desperately needs to upgrade his OS.

Not really that desperately. But it would help.

 

[jonnymo]

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

 

[jonnymo]

wow thanks for all the feedback guys, super helpful!

 

[jonnymo]

Best answer selected by jonnymo.

 

[casper1973]

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!