Upgrading custom PC

Pompous

Hi.

I have a very low budget and I want to upgrade my dinosaur of a PC. I want to upgrade either the graphics card or the motherboard first, but I do not know which.

Could someone in the know please take a look at this dxdiag and tell which upgrade would be best in order to increase my gaming capability?

Remember I can only upgrade one part at a time. Thanks for looking.

yawhat!

You really need a new build, can't really be updated as all old sockets. Whats your budget?

Processor is really bad.

Pompous

yawhat! wrote: »

You really need a new build, can't really be updated as all old sockets. Whats your budget?

Processor is really bad.

Damn, that bad huh? My budget is almost non-existent, hence the crappy build and slow upgrade process.

Can I not even upgrade the motherboard to have a better processor no?

yawhat!

What power supply do you have? You will need new Ram as well.

yawhat!

Actually this wouldn't be a bad little upgrade

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Intel-Core-2-Quad-Q8200-2-33-GHz-Quad-Core-CPU-SLB5M-Processor-Socket-LGA755-/370988412619?pt=CPUs&hash=item5660a1eecb

Any idea what motherboard you have. You can overclock that if your motherboard supports it. Not the worst CPU for the price.

And this graphics card to give it another lease of life!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Graphics-Express-4600MHz-Eyefinity-Technology/dp/B007R1SQ1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390062366&sr=8-1&keywords=7750

For a 100 quid it wouldn't be the worst setup. What motherboard do you have?

MyPeopleNeedMe

What is the problem exactly? If the computer started running slowly overall, and you've run it without formatting and reinstalling OS all this time maybe it's time to do this. Core 2 Duo and 4gbs RAM is plenty for casual use. If you want to play modern games you'd be better off buying a new PC though.

TerrorFirmer

As someone else stated, if you get a 2nd hand Core 2 Quad, Q6600, Q8300, as examples, for around 50 euro, and then buy a preowned card on adverts - plenty of quality cards like 6870's, GTX560ti's, etc going for around the sub-80 mark, or this new - €130 would go a long way and stave off upgrading for quite a while, and would get through all modern games relatively OK.

Pompous

I'm 90% sure I have a P5LP-LE (Leonite) motherboard.

Pompous

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

As someone else stated, if you get a 2nd hand Core 2 Quad, Q6600, Q8300, as examples, for around 50 euro, and then buy a preowned card on adverts - plenty of quality cards like 6870's, GTX560ti's, etc going for around the sub-80 mark, or this new - €130 would go a long way and stave off upgrading for quite a while, and would get through all modern games relatively OK.

I got the Q6700 but now I need a motherboard with a LGA 775 cpu slot. Any suggestions?

yawhat!

Doesn't your current motherboard have a 775 socket?

A 7750 graphics would be grand at the resolution your playing at.

I'm not sure if a 7770 would fit if anyone else has any suggestions

Moon54

That Q6700 has the same 775 socket as your Core 2 Duo;
http://ark.intel.com/products/30790/intel-core2-quad-processor-q6700-8m-cache-2_66-ghz-1066-mhz-fsb
That's a pretty good upgrade straight away.
Remember to apply thermal paste to the CPU when fitting the cooler!

Graphics card-wise, there are a lot of options, there are plenty of good second-hand ones for sale on Adverts.ie.
What make and wattage PSU have you got?
That might help narrow down your options.

Pompous

You're right, it has the same socket. I didn't realise it at first. For some reason the Q6700 still does not work with my setup. I think it has something to do with the processor being too advanced for my old motherboard to handle Really unfortunate.

When I swap out the cpu for the Q6700 and power up, nothing happens. The fans come on but the screen stays blank. Since I've already spent €60 on the cpu I might as well try to find a new motherboard, in the hope that I can use the new processor.

There are lots of nice cards for sale on adverts. I found the perfect one at a cheap price and was going to buy it today but there's no point if I'm stuck with an E4500 cpu now. I'm pretty sure the cpu is the bottleneck in my current setup so I need to get that sorted first.

If I can't find a motherboard that will run a Q6700 I'll have to just give up.


Edit: I think this confirms the fact that even though I have 775 socket the Q6700 is not supported http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00864946&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=3356971#N121

Sparks43

Had a quick look on fleabay and found this that might interest you


http://www.ebay.ie/sch/Motherboards-/1244/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=core2quad

Some compatible boards for the core2quad

Pompous

Sweet thanks man! You make it look so easy

Sparks43

Pompous wrote: »

Sweet thanks man! You make it look so easy

Not a bother m8
60 quid was a decent price for that processor so well worth sticking with it But if all goes wrong you can easily shift it on for what you paid for it.

Pompous

Are all these motherboards good for a mid range gaming rig? Or is there something I should be looking out for that might sting me after I have bought one? Apart from socket type what spec should I be interested in?