Upgrade my computer to gaming rig

SweetCaliber

Hey all,

I have a pretty decent HP Pavillion tower. I have upgraded some parts of it myself.

My goal is to be able to play games such as GTA IV, Max Payne, Black Ops etc.. on it.

I have listed below the components, I have no set budget, just trying to get decent parts for the cheapest possible.

Processor:
>> Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, 2400

RAM:
>> 4GB

System Type:
>> 32 Bit

Operating System:
>> Windows 7 Professional

HDD Space:
>> 500GB

Graphics Card:
>> ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series

CPU Speed:
>> 2.4 GHz

I'm not sure if I'm missing much or not but if I am let me know what I'm missing and I'll find out for you!

Thanks again.

SweetCaliber

Anyone?

Tij da feen

The weakest part there by far is your Graphics card. I'm guessing that the power supply included doesn't have a lot of room for upgrades so you might need a new one. What resolution do you play at?

Gbear

It's a HP machine so you'll be limited with your upgradability - as you would be with any PC manufacturer.

Their business model wouldn't be very good if someone bought 1 PC every 5-10 years and just upgraded with third party components as they went along.

Some parts slot easily into any PC - Graphics cards, RAM and HDDs. But you're limited to what you can do with the on board power supply, motherboard and case. For most users this isn't an issue.

It's really budget dependent but I'd say if you're willing to spend around 400-600 quid you could use the RAM, HDD and the peripherals and just make a whole new PC.
You could get a decent CPU, graphics card, case and power supply for 450 quid and that would certainly play everything you want, albeit not on full settings.

SweetCaliber

Tij da feen wrote: »

The weakest part there by far is your Graphics card. I'm guessing that the power supply included doesn't have a lot of room for upgrades so you might need a new one. What resolution do you play at?

1680 x 1050

Monotype

You'd probably want to upgrade it in another generation, to be honest. Unfortunately the CPU can't be overclocked as it's a HP and the prices of upgrades aren't really worth it here.

Luckily games don't rely on the CPU as heavily as the graphics card which is your best bet for upgrading. I wouldn't really go above a 7850, which is <€200. It should run all the games very well, especially at that resolution.

Only problem then is the PSU. Open it up and take a look. The case of your PC, I mean - not the PSU itself!!! Write down the details that you see in the table on the side - i.e., the number of amps on the 12V rails.

I'm talking about something that looks like this:


Also get the model number. You'll probably have to switch it as you'll be likely to run into problems with insufficient connectors. Do a couple of searches around the net with the model of your PC to check to see if anyone has upgraded the PSU in it. Sometimes HP don't use standard sizes. If they do here, you should be fine for upgrading it. You could get a reasonable PSU for around €60.

RAM is fine. Hard drive is probably okay. There's faster now, but for games graphics is your top priority.

SweetCaliber

Monotype wrote: »

You'd probably want to upgrade it in another generation, to be honest. Unfortunately the CPU can't be overclocked as it's a HP and the prices of upgrades aren't really worth it here.

Luckily games don't rely on the CPU as heavily as the graphics card which is your best bet for upgrading. I wouldn't really go above a 7850, which is <€200. It should run all the games very well, especially at that resolution.

Only problem then is the PSU. Open it up and take a look. The case of your PC, I mean - not the PSU itself!!! Write down the details that you see in the table on the side - i.e., the number of amps on the 12V rails.

I'm talking about something that looks like this:


Also get the model number. You'll probably have to switch it as you'll be likely to run into problems with insufficient connectors. Do a couple of searches around the net with the model of your PC to check to see if anyone has upgraded the PSU in it. Sometimes HP don't use standard sizes. If they do here, you should be fine for upgrading it. You could get a reasonable PSU for around €60.

RAM is fine. Hard drive is probably okay. There's faster now, but for games graphics is your top priority.