Upgrade help, plenty of details

Daguythere

Hey dudes,

I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card on my desktop for playing games such as minecraft and the likes. My desktop has always done me well in the past but shes starting to show her age a bit.

So lets get to the details. Its a Advent QC6003 bough in 09.
I've added 8gbs of ram and an extra HDD for my media stuffs.
The full details (from speccy) are as follows:

• Operating System

MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

• CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
Yorkfield 45nm Technology

• RAM

8.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 333MHz (5-5-5-15)

• Motherboard

Intel Corporation DG45ID (LGA775)

• Graphics

Generic Non-PnP Monitor (1024x768@60Hz)
Intel(R) G45/G43 Express Chipset

• Hard Drives 625GB Western Digital WDC WD6400AAKS-00A7B0 ATA Device (SATA)

733GB SAMSUNG SAMSUNG HD753LJ ATA Device (SATA)


What i really want to know is what graphics card update would suit best?
I know i'll prob need a new PSU, to be honest i dont even know what PSU is installed, but would i be better off getting a new processor too?

I've a budget of about €150 for a psu and graphics card but if i can get away with out the PSU I will.

Any insights??

Cheers dudes!

Tea_Bag

you say minecraft and the likes, but what else specifically besides minecraft?

your rig is still fine by today's standards. if its just minecraft at that resolution then a cheap HD6450 would do fine.

we really for need to know your PSU though. take off the side panel and get a few photos of the stickers on the PSU and we can work back from there. if your PSU is OK then the budget will squeeze a 6850 which will last a long time by your needs.

a fresh install of windows could help alot too.

kfish2oo2

Minecraft specifically uses only the CPU, because its based on Java. A GPU upgrade won't really improve Minecraft performance, so this upgrade would be moreso for other games.

Chances are your PSU is powerful enough to support a newer card, so Tea_Bags suggestion is bang on the money. If you can scrape a bit more together, a 6870 would be worth your while

Daguythere

To be more specific, when on ,minecraft my settings have to be on the lowest.
And at that the fan is about medium speed-ish.

I might head back to WoW too if i get really bored.

I'll take some pictures later on tonight of the insides and the psu so ye can get a better idea of what i'm working with.

kfish2oo2

Again: Minecraft is CPU specific. That means that almost everything in Minecraft is rendered through the computers processor and not its graphics card. Upgrading your graphics card will not improve performance in Minecraft.

Having said that, your CPU is pretty powerful and should be getting pretty good performance on Minecraft, so chances are there's an issue with your settings. I suggest posting in the official Minecraft forums and asking for help there.

Daguythere

left ye hanging for a bit my bad.

When I went to check the details of the comps insides. i also decided to clean out the dust a bit. then after i dug deeper i noticed the heatsink and fan were both covered in the biggest pile of dust you could imagine.
I dont ever recall cleaning it right down to the core but i'm glad i did, there hasnt been a peep outta it since and its running tons quicker.

some times all **** needs is a solid cleaning