Possible Upgrades For Gaming

[dillnut]

I just want to know if my computer is good for gaming. I play RuneScape and currently get about 20 FPS during most gameplay. Please post supportive or suggestive comments only. Thank you!

P.S. - i am also willing to upgrade any parts of the computer if that is at all possible. I'm not very tech savvy so i'm sure as to what my limits are.. appreciate it!

Win XP

Intel® Pentium® D CPU 3.40GHz
3.42 GHz, 2.00 GB of RAM

Graphics Card is - NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT/GTO

 

[Dougie1234]

I would upgrade maybe to AMD. Now Intel may be better than AMD. AMD is cheaper and the FX 9590 is a good cpu

 

[Obnoxious]

Please may I ask, what motherboard do you have? One way you can find out is by downloading CPU-Z, and selecting the "Mainboard" tab. Feel free to post a screen shot of CPU-Z's mainboard tab instead of typing it out.

From there on I will suggest possible upgrades; do you have a budget in mind by any chance? How much are you willing to spend?

All the best.

 

[dillnut]

Please may I ask, what motherboard do you have? One way you can find out is by downloading CPU-Z, and selecting the "Mainboard" tab. Feel free to post a screen shot of CPU-Z's mainboard tab instead of typing it out.

From there on I will suggest possible upgrades; do you have a budget in mind by any chance? How much are you willing to spend?

All the best.

Motherboard
CPU
Graphics

Is that all you need? Thanks for your help in advance

 

[logainofhades]

You are ready for a new system, to be honest.

 

[dillnut]

logain, are you saying it's not worth upgrading? or that there isn't any upgrades for it?

 

[logainofhades]

Not worth upgrading.

 

[dillnut]

but what are my possible upgrades? i wont be able to fully replace the computer for about a year and i would like to get a better gaming experience until then. is overclocking an option?

 

[logainofhades]

Not knowing your motherboard model, it is hard to tell. If all you are playing is runescape, and your board is compatible, a Core 2 E8400 off of ebay for $25, and a better graphics card would help. I would try to go with a GTX 750ti, and reuse it in your new system. With that card, you wouldn't have to worry about your power supply. If that is too much, just get the best you can afford.

Is your hard drive and optical drive at least sata? There are possible solutions to reuse some of what you have for a rebuild.

 

[LucoTF]

Not knowing your motherboard model, it is hard to tell. If all you are playing is runescape, and your board is compatible, a Core 2 E8400 off of ebay for $25, and a better graphics card would help. I would try to go with a GTX 750ti, and reuse it in your new system. With that card, you wouldn't have to worry about your power supply.

Is your hard drive and optical drive at least sata? There are possible solutions to reuse some of what you have for a rebuild.

His mobo is GA-8I945P-G, his pentium D 3.4 is literally the best it will take

 

[logainofhades]

Yea, dead end for sure there, then. The links didn't work for me here at work.

 

[JOOK-D]

AMD is cheaper

and the FX 9590 is a good cpu

See a problem here? :lol:

 

[logainofhades]

AMD is cheaper

and the FX 9590 is a good cpu

See a problem here? :lol:

The fact I could buy a 1230v3 and ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0 for the price of that CPU? :lol:

 

[logainofhades]

OP, what is your budget, and are your Hard drive and DVD drive both SATA?

 

[dillnut]

haven't really thought of a budget.. all i want is smoother gameplay. aint trying to livestream or go full 1080p HD on ya. just trying to get some better gaming experiences. as for the Hard drive and DVD drive where do i find the whether they are SATA or not

 

[logainofhades]

Open up and look at the connections on them. Is the connecting cable to the motherboard, from the drives, a small one or a wide one? Sata cables are normally a narrow and flat cable. IDE tends to be a wide ribbon like cable.

 

[Obnoxious]

You will go far with a new complete system upgrade, however you can upgrade your current machine for cheaper than a new build. I disagree with most comments made since my last post, as they are incorrect. It is indeed worthwhile to upgrade your current machine.

First and foremost, thank you for your response and for supplying screen shots of CPU-Z. Please may I ask how much RAM do you have at the moment? Your motherboard only supports DDR2, and you can install 1GB RAM per slot which totals to 4GB system memory. I would recommend you have at least 2GB RAM or above.

Second your motherboard is the Gigabyte GA-8I945P-G, which not only supports Pentium D processors, it also supports Pentium Dual-Core, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme CPUs. I am absolutely devastated that other members did not pick this up, you only have to look at the CPU support list for your model.

You don't need to update your BIOS either to support the Core 2 processors, as you're already on version F8. However regardless I would advise you do, only if you're comfortable with doing so. The latest BIOS version for your motherboard is F11, and it can be downloaded from Gigabyte here.

At the moment you have somewhat of a weak processor. I would upgrade to the Core 2 Quad Q8300, which is still a solid CPU and costs similar to the weaker Q6600. It's not the best Intel CPU, but for your motherboard it's good enough. You don't want the best CPU for your motherboard either, as they cost more and you'd be better off with a new build if you were to spend that much only on a CPU. The Core 2 Quad Q8300 is a whole lot better than your current CPU, Pentium D's are outdated, to be honest so is the whole Core 2 platform, regardless the performance provided from Core 2 is still great.

Look on eBay for the Q8300, if you're in the United States you can pick one up for around $50. eBay is the best place to look, as the Core 2 processors are no longer sold by retailers; they're that old.

If all your playing is RuneScape however, you don't need the utmost high-end computer. Your current GPU should be sufficient, however it is also obsolete. You could purchase the GTX 750 Ti as suggested by logainofhades, and when you do eventually build a new computer, you could use the GTX 750 Ti in your new build. A GTX 750 Ti will set you back a $150 however. If you want a cheap GPU upgrade, you could look at the AMD R7 250 which costs $75; it's not the best GPU but it's cheap a lot better than your current card.

Please let me know if you do have a budget on how much you want to spend, or ideally how much you were/are planning to spend; perhaps you could do better off with a new computer. Again if you don't already, I would recommend you have at least 2GB RAM or more.

All the best.

 

[dillnut]

thank you very much for the information and the links!

 

[logainofhades]

You will go far with a new complete system upgrade, however you can upgrade your current machine for cheaper than a new build. I disagree with most comments made since my last post, as they are incorrect. It is indeed worthwhile to upgrade your current machine.

First and foremost, thank you for your response and for supplying screen shots of CPU-Z. Please may I ask how much RAM do you have at the moment? Your motherboard only supports DDR2, and you can install 1GB RAM per slot which totals to 4GB system memory. I would recommend you have at least 2GB RAM or above.

Second your motherboard is the Gigabyte GA-8I945P-G, which not only supports Pentium D processors, it also supports Pentium Dual-Core, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme CPUs. I am absolutely devastated that other members did not pick this up, you only have to look at the CPU support list for your model.

You don't need to update your BIOS either to support the Core 2 processors, as you're already on version F8. However regardless I would advise you do, only if you're comfortable with doing so. The latest BIOS version for your motherboard is F11, and it can be downloaded from Gigabyte here.

At the moment you have somewhat of a weak processor. I would upgrade to the Core 2 Quad Q8300, which is still a solid CPU and costs similar to the weaker Q6600. It's not the best Intel CPU, but for your motherboard it's good enough. You don't want the best CPU for your motherboard either, as they cost more and you'd be better off with a new build if you were to spend that much only on a CPU. The Core 2 Quad Q8300 is a whole lot better than your current CPU, Pentium D's are outdated, to be honest so is the whole Core 2 platform, regardless the performance provided from Core 2 is still great.

Look on eBay for the Q8300, if you're in the United States you can pick one up for around $50. eBay is the best place to look, as the Core 2 processors are no longer sold by retailers; they're that old.

If all your playing is RuneScape however, you don't need the utmost high-end computer. Your current GPU should be sufficient, however it is also obsolete. You could purchase the GTX 750 Ti as suggested by logainofhades, and when you do eventually build a new computer, you could use the GTX 750 Ti in your new build. A GTX 750 Ti will set you back a $150 however. If you want a cheap GPU upgrade, you could look at the AMD R7 250 which costs $75; it's not the best GPU but it's cheap a lot better than your current card.

Please let me know if you do have a budget on how much you want to spend, or ideally how much you were/are planning to spend; perhaps you could do better off with a new computer. Again if you don't already, I would recommend you have at least 2GB RAM or more.

All the best.

That board does not support core 2. Look at the far right column of the CPU support list. All core2 family chips are marked as a N/A. N/A = Not support. http://uk.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=1906

 

[Obnoxious]

That board does not support core 2. Look at the far right column of the CPU support list. All core2 family chips are marked as a N/A. N/A = Not support. http://uk.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=1906

My apologies to everyone, I stand corrected.

Thank you logainofhades for clearing it up, and I apologise again. My last post regarding upgrading the CPU is incorrect, your motherboard only supports a Pentium D at most and is not compatible with the Core 2 processors. Apologies.

I suppose the best option for the OP would be to upgrade the motherboard, CPU, RAM and GPU. You may be better off with a new build, again depending on your budget.

All the best.