Ill be upgrading my PC soon.

[kostas84]

And i am looking for the best options for their prices.

My birthday is coming soon and my parents will be willing to spend their money for me that day, and my PC is getting weaker.

Since i have a 32-bit pc i can only hold 3 GB of ram, but that isnt a problem, or is it?


I live in Europe, Greece.

So i want peoples opinions on what are the best upgrades for my computer.

My current PC is:

2.8GHz E7400 Intel Core Duo
9600 Nvidia GT graphics card.

Can you help me pick?

[Nota']

How much might they be spending?
Whats your motherboard?

[kostas84]

I dont know, my mother usually spends 100 euro on my birthday, but im still not sure, my father... no idea since i never asked any money from him, only objects.

My motherboard? No idea, i bought it a long time ago, how can i check what i have?

[kostas84]

Nobody knows any good upgrades?


If you want my motherboard tell me how do i check and ill tell you.

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Short of a system upgrade you'd probably gain the most benefit by upgrading your graphics card. I don't know where to buy in Europe so I'll have to leave that up to someone else, if you do upgrade your GPU you'd likely need a better power supply as well. If your budget is only 100 euro's I'm not sure you could really get a very good GPU once you buy the PSU for it.

[kostas84]

Short of a system upgrade you'd probably gain the most benefit by upgrading your graphics card. I don't know where to buy in Europe so I'll have to leave that up to someone else, if you do upgrade your GPU you'd likely need a better power supply as well. If your budget is only 100 euro's I'm not sure you could really get a very good GPU once you buy the PSU for it.

Thats no problem for me, i can just tell my father to send money for it, which i would do anyway.

The problem is which graphics card.

[mrcrusty]

I would suggest saving up until you can buy a new proper system.

However, I've got a couple of suggestions depending on how much money you get from your pops.

This. HD 5770 graphics card.

And this. XFX Core Edition 550w power supply.

It's not a Greek store, but it's in Euros and I don't know any Greek stores, so it's close enough.

[kostas84]

What do you mean new proper system?

[Bolkonsky]

Well, at the moment, your hardware is a couple of generations old. Investing anymore money into now wouldn't be the best idea, because in a couple of years, it will be completely outdated. It wouldn't be a very wise investment. Your best bet is to live with what you have, and save up for a newer system.

If you do want to get new parts, I'd recommend an nVidia GTS 450. It's a cheap card, and will make the biggest improvement for your system, without spending a lot of money.

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Well, at the moment, your hardware is a couple of generations old. Investing anymore money into now wouldn't be the best idea, because in a couple of years, it will be completely outdated. It wouldn't be a very wise investment. Your best bet is to live with what you have, and save up for a newer system.

This is the truth OP

[kostas84]

I cant afford to lose all the stuff installed on my computer though, will take aaaages to find and re-download them again, trust me, especially all the Visual Novels/Sengoku Rance and the English Translations.

Or i wont lose it?

[Lord of Lost Socks]

I cant afford to lose all the stuff installed on my computer though, will take aaaages to find and re-download them again, trust me, especially all the Visual Novels/Sengoku Rance and the English Translations.

Or i wont lose it?

External 1TB hard drive. That should cover everything that's on your computer.

[kostas84]

External 1TB hard drive. That should cover everything that's on your computer.

I do not have an infinite amount of money.

[Top-Tier-Tech]

If you buy a new hard drive for the new computer you can transfer your files from your old one to the new one.

[kostas84]

So, what ur asking me is to basically get a new OS with 64 bit and... what?

Sorry i am not very techy.

[kostas84]

Do i need to buy a whole new PC tower?

[Freddie]

Do i need to buy a whole new PC tower?

Not really, yes your CPU is old now but that doesn't mean its no good you could try overclocking it for an extra free boost of performance or look at replaing it with a Intel Q6600/Q6700 and overclocking that. If you can't overclock I would bother getting the Q6600 as the default clock speed is quite low.

The best thing you could do is get a new video card like the radeon HD5770, I think the TDP of the 5770 is simaler to your 9600 so you may not have (an educated guess double check before hand) to replace your PSU.

[mrcrusty]

Not really, yes your CPU is old now but that doesn't mean its no good you could try overclocking it for an extra free boost of performance or look at replaing it with a Intel Q6600/Q6700 and overclocking that. If you can't overclock I would bother getting the Q6600 as the default clock speed is quite low.

The best thing you could do is get a new video card like the radeon HD5770, I think the TDP of the 5770 is simaler to your 9600 so you may not have (an educated guess double check before hand) to replace your PSU.

Depending on the motherboard, he may need a different one too. It's likely that the OP is using an OEM built computer and Dells or HPs aren't known for providing good overclocking motherboards. So, motherboard, CPU, GPU?

A new PC is still the best option.

Barring a full upgrade, I've already given my suggestions though. A Radeon HD 5770 graphics card and an XFX Core Edition 550w power supply.

[kostas84]

Ok, heres what a PC guy told me, he has a store so he knows.

He told me that Ati Radeon cards are good for performance, but have lots of internal problems with their drivers and other stuff, so he doesnt recommend them, he also told me that they dont last long (i am not sure what this means).

He also told me that my PC has Sata 2 and DDR2 and that games will run with that stuff so i shouldnt care about it.

He told me that the Nvidia 450 GTS is a very good card and isnt expensive.

[mrcrusty]

It's a stereotype, not fact. He completely made up the part about not lasting longer. That makes zero sense.

For example, Jaketh often complains about AMD/ATI because his HD 5870 had plenty of issues. It didn't overclock, it caused crashes and BSODs, it had power problems or whatever. Then I bought it off him and I overclocked it within 5 minutes after installing the drivers and ran it overclocked without a single issue.

Moral of the story is both AMD and Nvidia cards have issues, some have issues where other people don't but it isn't a reason to skip an entire brand over.



A normal HD 5770 is ~14% better than a normal GTS 450.

But sometimes the GTS 450 costs more because it's outside the US.

Get the HD 5770. And the XFX Core Edition 550w power supply, don't get a different power supply.