Upgrading Old PC

[Zz z0mBi3 zZ]

Hey,
I am currently trying to upgrade a older computer without having to just build a whole brand new one. My PC is a few years old and I just need it to be able to play The Sims 4 (smoothly) for my girlfriend, until i can get enough money to build a computer that I can actually play real games (no offense to any Sims Fans out there!) on without having to sacrifice performance.

Some of the parts in my PC:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+
3 GB of RAM
Radeon X1300 / X1550 Series
I also have 2 hard drives in there but I don't know the names of them.

Please anything to help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[LaytonJnr]

Hello,

Many years before I became a member of the TPU community, I used to help out with technical support (and particularly GPU support) in the EA Sims 3 forums, so this is right up my street. What would your budget be? What resolution would you like to play Sims 4 at?

Layton

 

[Zz z0mBi3 zZ]

Thanks for your reply.
My budget is around $300. I'm just trying to get it so that it can play the Sims 4 without it being laggy on normal settings. I don't really need a full gaming powerhouse, just something that can make it run smoothly on basic settings and not on the lower settings, but if its possible to make it run on higher settings without going over $300 then that would be even better!

 

[LaytonJnr]

Thanks for your reply.
My budget is around $300. I'm just trying to get it so that it can play the Sims 4 without it being laggy on normal settings. I don't really need a full gaming powerhouse, just something that can make it run smoothly on basic settings and not on the lower settings, but if its possible to make it run on higher settings without going over $300 then that would be even better!

Would you be able to tell me the case and power supply that you have? I will see what I can come up with

EDIT: Assuming your case and PSU are compatible, here is what I have come up with:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vRNddC

My suggestion is look around the Buy/Sell/Trade/Giveaway forum to see whether you can find any cheaper prices of the parts I suggested (or better)

Layton

 

[Zz z0mBi3 zZ]

Hmmmm well my power supply is 250w says model is DPS-250AB-22 E.
The case is a standard acer aspire case...

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Would you be able to tell me the case and power supply that you have? I will see what I can come up with

EDIT: Assuming your case and PSU are compatible, here is what I have come up with:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vRNddC

My suggestion is look around the Buy/Sell/Trade/Giveaway forum to see whether you can find any cheaper prices of the parts I suggested (or better)

Layton

I'd probably recommend an AMD APU based system instead. But that's just me.

This is what I would get:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128659
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113360
Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455

 

[Frick]

I'd probably recommend an AMD APU based system instead. But that's just me.

This is what I would get:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128659
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113360
Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455

Aye, but if the money is really tight 4GB RAM is enough.

This is the PSU specs BTW:

Stay at stock speeds and it might be fine, but a new PSU would be prefered.

If you go with 4GB RAM instead of 8 you can get something like this. Worth it imo.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371045

Or something similar. I have no idea if my go to cheap PSU (FSP 400-60APN) exists in the US.

 

[TRWOV]

No AM1?

AM1 board $35
Athlon 5350 $65
8GB DDR3-1600 CL9 stick $85

You can shave $50 from the total is you go with the 5150 and get 4GB instead of 8GB.

keep PSU, case, HDDs. The system would consume about 60w tops so your 250w PSU is plenty but you'd be trading up upgrade-ability (the 5150 is the second fastest AM1 CPU).

I don't know if you have an OS (you can't use the key of the Aspire system) but if you don't an OEM version costs $100.

 

[Zz z0mBi3 zZ]

Oh I just cracked it open and I have pci express ht2000 motherboard.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Oh I just cracked it open and I have pci express ht2000 motherboard.

You are going to want to upgrade the CPU, motherboard, memory.

 

[Zz z0mBi3 zZ]

Can't I just boot straight from the HD? I already have to manually choose it every time I shut down or reboot. I have to go to the boot menu, choose the main HD, and then wait for it to boot up.

 

[TRWOV]

Can't I just boot straight from the HD? I already have to manually choose it every time I shut down or reboot. I have to go to the boot menu, choose the main HD, and then wait for it to boot up.

You must go into the bios and change the boot order. Usually the setting is under the Boot section; older bioses had a separate setting for hard drive priority, make sure that your main drive is the first one.


Also, I checked The Sims 4 system requirements and you might get by getting a used HD6570, HD7730 or their nVidia equivalents. Maybe add another GB of RAM for good measure.

 

[Zz z0mBi3 zZ]

I used to have it dual-booted with Linux and I never changed the settings that's why I have to do it every time.