Upgrading my current PC

Double C

Hi lads, looking for a bit of help in upgrading my pc. I bought my one about 4 years ago but I'm looking for something that will support new games (Crysis, COD etc).

Heres the specs

2TB Samsung HD204UI R54/32M
AMD Athlon 64x2 600 3.0GHz
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB
Corsair CM2X1024 DDR2 4GB
AXP 630W Power Supply
MSI N1996 K9AGM3 Motherboard
Gigabite Triton 180 Case
Acer 22" LCD Monitor
Windows 7

Im interested in getting a SSD drive for the OS and possibly upgrading the CPU to an i5. I was thinking of the i5, the SSD, a new motherbaord, case and RAM if necessary? Any help as always greatly appreciated.

Double C

Can anyone offer some help here please?

Serephucus

Well, what's your budget, and screen resolution?

Double C

My budget would be in around 400 quid. I think Im ok with the monitor and GFX I have, I just bought that graphics card earlier this year. My main concerns are compatibility, Ive no idea if the components I have would be compatible with the new stuff I want to get. Would I need a new case, motherboard, PSU, RAM etc to support the i5 processor?

KamSaw

You'll need a new mobo for the i5 so you might aswell upgrade the ram aswell since you have ddr2. PSU should be grand if it's been working so far. Also what's your opinion on the 5770 I was thinking on getting one?

Jonny7

i5 2500k - 175 euros
motherboard - 90 euros
ram - 35 euros (8 gigs)
= 300 euros

+ 100 euros for SSD (crucial m4 64gb)

400 should do it. (but you are still limited to 5770 graphics)



Or you could drop the SSD and go with

i5 2400 - 150 euros (almost same speed in games as non-overclocked i5 2500k)
motherboard - 60 euros
ram - 35

graphics - ATI 6870 (midrange) - 150ish euros

decisions decisions

Double C

thanks for the replies. Tbh im pretty happy with the 5770, it does the job for what i need it for, ie hd films and games. I wouldnt be a high end gamer, just want the games to run smoothly, dont need them to be at the highest resolution possible or anything like that. Would the 5770 support BF3 though, or the next COD? Also, would my case be ok for the new mobo and processor or would i need some fancy cooling system? I havent really researched this too much clearly!

Jonny7

Well your motherboard supports up to a phenom 2 x4 940 processor

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/K9AGM3-FD.html#/?div=CPUSupport

Not a bad little chip, would be a good upgrade on your current processor and prob cost about 70 euros on ebay. Just slot it in and go literally.

How does the PC handle at the mo, whats the main slowness?

Double C

The PC now if fine apart from programs like photoshop that take longer than I'd like, hence why I want the SSD! Black Ops for example runs but lags quite badly, making it pretty much unplayable. If the case and the PSU I have are compatible with the i5 I might just take your advice and get the i5, the new mobo and RAM and the SSD. If I end up needing a new graphics card down the line Ill get one but Ill cross that bridge when I get there.

Is the mobo ok, as in compatible with what I have, or more than what I'd need?
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=43134&agid=1601

Double C

Was looking in another thread and took this from it

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €184.21
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX €133.61
8GB-Kit GEIL Value PC3-10667 DDR3-1333 CL9 €38.53
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €89.45

Would there be any compatibility issues here with my case, GPU, PSU etc?

Edit: Just spotted these, whats the difference between these and the ones above?
Intel Core i5-2400 Box, LGA1155 €159.34
ASRock H61M-VS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX €47.93

Jonny7

Double C wrote: »

Was looking in another thread and took this from it

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €184.21
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX €133.61
8GB-Kit GEIL Value PC3-10667 DDR3-1333 CL9 €38.53
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €89.45

Would there be any compatibility issues here with my case, GPU, PSU etc?

Edit: Just spotted these, whats the difference between these and the ones above?
Intel Core i5-2400 Box, LGA1155 €159.34
ASRock H61M-VS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX €47.93

Should be fine with the case and PSU - take it slow, use youtube to see how to install, etc.

Here's the two chips compared, very little between them, we all just prefer the 2500k because its very overclockable
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/363?vs=288

I am not up to date on motherboards at all, hopefully another poster can fill you in on the features and give you an idea of the best budget board esp. with SSD. 130 euros is a little high though and there is cheaper ram.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1155

Double C

So think I'm gonna go ahead and order the following

Intel Core i5-2400 Box, LGA1155 €162,39
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX €49,97
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9 €34,11
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €88,69

Just want to confirm that all this is ok with my existing case and PSU to be 100% sure before I go and order!

Double C

Sorry for digging up this but Ive been having trouble with this setup recently. More specifically with the USB ports on the mother board. Everything works fine for about an hour but then I get that noise like I'm plugging and and unplugging a device, it just keeps on happening every few seconds. The items I have plugged in, eg the mouse, keyboard, iPod cable go faulty and just stop working. Would anyone have any idea whats up, and any solutions to this problem?