Looking to upgrade~

[Zeithri]

If I have posted it in the wrong section, I apologize and trust that it'll be moved to the correct place.

I am looking to upgrade my PC somewhat.
My desire is for it to go faster and being able to handle games (not necessarily the newest of the newest), but more importantly, I wish it to be able to record games like Oblivion using Fraps without it lagging itself to death. For that, I wonder if that speed comes from the ram or from the motherboard most?

I am not very knowledged about computers, I used to be better but I wasn't never really that interested.
Either way, here are my speccs (those I know of);

* AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+ 2.80 GHz
* 4 GB Ram ( 4x 1 Ram sticks )
* GeForce 5600 GT
* Vista 64 Home

I've been thinking if it'd be possible to switch the Ram sticks into 2 GB / 4x Sticks or maybe 2x 4 GB sticks, but could my computer handle that, would they fit? I know my graphics card is outdated but it's hanging on, though what would be a viable upgrade? My only true fear is if I have to replace the processor / motherboard (aren't they the same?) if I want to record while playing or such stuff.

Thanks on before hand for your responses.

 

[Capitan Harlock]

well, first thing for me is to throw away shitvista xd,second 4 gb of ram is good today ,if you wanna improve performance oc the processor is a good way but you need a cpu cooler ,cpu and motherboard are 2 different thing,the common thing is the socket ,if you post a budget we figure out something

 

[UbErN00b]

If that's an AGP board you don't have much choice, the HD 3850/HD 4670 were the fastest AGP cards and are expensive for what they are and hard to find now. That's a very old DDR1 setup you have there, gonna be hard pressed to squeeze much more performance out of it, you would be better building an Athlon x 2 rig with 4GB ddr3 and grabbing a hd 5750 (or upwards budget permitting)

 

[cheesy999]

well, first thing for me is to throw away shitvista xd,second 4 gb of ram is good today ,if you wanna improve performance oc the processor is a good way but you need a cpu cooler ,cpu and motherboard are 2 different thing,the common thing is the socket ,if you post a budget we figure out something

Throwing away vista isn't going to affect the speed his games play, or his ability to record them

The 5600GT is the part that is slowing down his gaming performance by a lot to the point at which most other upgrades would be insignificant in comparison

 

[Jstn7477]

If that's an AGP board you don't have much choice, the HD 3850/HD 4670 were the fastest AGP cards and are expensive for what they are and hard to find now. That's a very old DDR1 setup you have there, gonna be hard pressed to squeeze much more performance out of it, you would be better building an Athlon x 2 rig with 4GB ddr3 and grabbing a hd 5750 (or upwards budget permitting)

It is actually a Socket AM2/DDR2/PCIe machine (fastest Athlon X2 939 was a 4600+) and what I infer is a 6600 GT due to there not being a such thing as a 5600 GT.

I would just save up and upgrade the entire machine as it is quite old and you don't know if it will suddenly die on you soon after you upgrade it. Almost everything these days that is fairly inexpensive will easily surpass your current machine by quite a bit. Have a budget for parts or a new machine?

 

[UbErN00b]

It is actually a Socket AM2/DDR2/PCIe machine (fastest Athlon X2 939 was a 4600 ) and what I infer is a 6600 GT due to there not being a such thing as a 5600 GT.

My bad, the 5600+ was an AM2 socket, well spotted, though been a long time since I had an old x2 Athlon setup Though wasn't a 4800+ with 1mb cache released for 939?

Regardless a cheap AM3 Athlon x2 and anything from HD 5000/GTX 200 series upwards will be a massive upgrade and could be had for less than $200 shopping around.

Other than that your only real option is a new GPU as I doubt you will find anything better than the 5600+ you have for less than $100 plus change.

 

[[Ion]]

I'd suggest a new video card, but we'd have to know your price range to suggest an exact one. If you get one now, it'll significantly speed up games, and you can migrate it over to a new build if you end up replacing the motherboard/CPU/RAM

 

[Zeithri]

I guess I'll have to google to reschool my brain to learn all the terms and what I need.
And stop calling me 'he / him'.

My budget is 0.
I can barely survive on a month to month basis thanks to living in an overpriced apartment and no hope of finding any job. At most, my budget would had gone on paying something small on a month per month basis which was why I was hoping for only having to upgrade RAM rather than the whole computer. But alas.

I bought and built this computer with the help of a friend around 2007-2008 I believe.
It all went for 12 995 SEK ( 1, 978 USD ).

I guess it's had it's run so I'll have no choice but to switch it out then.
At least I know, thanks.

 

[Jetster]

Well Welcome to TPU.
Really the best change to make is the Graphics card. The Gforce 5600 GT came before some major improvements in gaming cards. You should be able to get a Gforce 6600GT for very little (ive sold them for $20) and it is way better. Then overclock that CPU and that's about as much power as you will get out of that PC. Just make sure its the right slot. They made two at that time AGP and PCI-e

Good luck

 

[Zeithri]

I could try and look for it. When I bought this card, it was already "slightly old but functional" according to my friend. I don't understand much about overclocking and always avoided it since I prefer to have my computers whole and I've heard of friends whom overclocked theirs apart, but I'll read up about it.

Thanks.

 

[Horrux]

You can get yourself a cheap AM2+, quad core CPU that will significantly boost your performance.

Anything from a Phenom II 955 to a 980 will do you very well.

 

[Zeithri]

You can get yourself a cheap AM2+, quad core CPU that will significantly boost your performance.

Anything from a Phenom II 955 to a 980 will do you very well.

Is there anything else I should know about it?
Like what kind of ram it can and can't use and if it'll throw a complete hissy fit and not work with the overallness of the stuff I have? What price range do they tend to go around? Would it be viable to get it off ebay?

Ps. Love your avatar ^_^

 

[m&m's]

Could you tell your Motherboard’s Manufacturer and Model?

Run CPU-Z and click on tab Mainboard http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.61-64bits-en.zip

You don't need to install the program. Just run it.

 

[Zeithri]

MSI and MS-7260.

Amazing program. Thanks!

 

[[Ion]]

MSI and MS-7260.

Amazing program. Thanks!

According to the MSI website, you unfortunately can't get a considerably faster CPU. A video card would be the best upgrade you can get without having to rebuilt basically the entire computer

 

[m&m's]

The fastest CPU you can get on this motherboard is a AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+, there is no point to change a 5600+ to a 6000+.

You can't get 8GB like you wanted since you're already at the maximum supported witch is 4GB.

The best thing to do is to overclock the CPU and change the GPU. (You're lucky your motherboard support PCI-E card).

 

[Zeithri]

So I guess it's better to just get a completely new one when I have a stabile income then.
Thanks for your answers!

 

[Frick]

So I guess it's better to just get a completely new one when I have a stabile income then.
Thanks for your answers!

Or as others have said, a GPU. Keep an eye at Tradera as you sometimes can find good deals there. 8600GT's are usually dirt cheap and would be a giant upgrade.

What's your powersupply? Make/model?

 

[Horrux]

The fastest CPU you can get on this motherboard is a AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+, there is no point to change a 5600+ to a 6000+.

You can't get 8GB like you wanted since you're already at the maximum supported witch is 4GB.

The best thing to do is to overclock the CPU and change the GPU. (You're lucky your motherboard support PCI-E card).

That's the fastest AM2 CPU, but AM2+ cpus are compatible with the AM2 socket. A Phenom II X4 980 has a very decent amount of computing power, however, it will be difficult to find and expensive on ebay. However, an X4 955 or so would fit perfectly and work great.

 

[Widjaja]

After my experience with comparing an HD4850 on XP vs Windows 7 with the same games, I would suggest getting a more capable GPU and downgrading to XP if on a tight budget.

Windows 7 is supposed to be on par with XP for games or even better but this is not the case if the rest of your system can't not cope with windows 7 overhead.
My system in it's current state still can not run games on Windows 7 to a satisfactory level due to just the graphics card.

This would be the same situation for Vista.

You never know there maybe someone around here who is willing to just give away an XP product key if you start a thread in WTB but add for free at the end

 

[Zeithri]

Or as others have said, a GPU. Keep an eye at Tradera as you sometimes can find good deals there. 8600GT's are usually dirt cheap and would be a giant upgrade.

What's your powersupply? Make/model?

Tried looking on tradera but I couldn't find anything.
Can 8600 GT even fit in my computer?

I think it is MPT-460XP
460W Max

After my experience with comparing an HD4850 on XP vs Windows 7 with the same games, I would suggest getting a more capable GPU and downgrading to XP if on a tight budget.

Windows 7 is supposed to be on par with XP for games or even better but this is not the case if the rest of your system can't not cope with windows 7 overhead.
My system in it's current state still can not run games on Windows 7 to a satisfactory level due to just the graphics card.

This would be the same situation for Vista.

You never know there maybe someone around here who is willing to just give away an XP product key if you start a thread in WTB but add for free at the end

I am sincerely not interested in downgrading to XP. Vista isn't as bad as it used to be (now that it actually works) so if anything, I'd go for Win7 as I have on my laptop. Problem is that 64x Win 7 is a memory hog that'd eat everything my computer can put out so to say.

Anything close to doing that would be to get my hands on Virtual PC and install Win 98SE just to be able to play Warhammer 40, 000 Chaos Gate again and another games But never down to XP as my main OS again.

 

[m&m's]

That's the fastest AM2 CPU, but AM2+ cpus are compatible with the AM2 socket. A Phenom II X4 980 has a very decent amount of computing power, however, it will be difficult to find and expensive on ebay. However, an X4 955 or so would fit perfectly and work great.

The motherboard looks limited to 90W TDP. On the CPU support list, all the AM2 CPUs that are 125W are not listed. Only the AM2 CPUs with 89W or lower are listed. Only 3 Phenom II X4 are under 90W, Phenom II X4 900e, Phenom II X4 905e and Phenom II X4 910e. Their price is way to high for the value.

 

[m&m's]

I think it is MPT-460XP

This power supply is from Advance... If I remember correctly this brand is very BAD.

 

[Widjaja]

Fair enough not wanting to downgrade after being on a later OS.

What size is your case?
The 8600GT I used is a small card by todays standards which means not even the full length of the motherboard and does not require external power source so your current PSU should cope.

 

[Zeithri]

My case? Like the box it's all in?