Upgrading old PC

**Hrothgar Óhreinsaður** · September 09, 2012, 11:03 PM

My friend has a Sony VAIO VGC-RB43, and he wants to upgrade it enough to play older games. The specifications may be found here.

He's going to max the RAM and get a better PSU. We're also looking for a GPU for this system. What are some good cards for this old timer?

**Crazyeyesreaper** · September 09, 2012, 11:33 PM

okay so 2GB of ram is the maximum any more than that wont work with that board.

Pentium 4 is ancient fine for games pre 2005 but other than that its just to old to be useful.

The only Pentium 4 will bottleneck just about every gpu on the market today, but grabbing something like a second hand is an option as even todays weakest GPUs still ask for a 400w PSU most of the time. the weakest of which recommends a 350w usually.

but considering how badly the Pentium 4 will bottleneck a decent GPU i can't really recommend anything the HD 7750 is entry level with very low power consumption, aka under 50w but stil recommends a 400w that said it is nothing special by todays standards but may work with his current PSU depending on its specs on the 12v rail. just in all honesty dumping money in that rig really just isnt worth it.

I say this because if your friend is near recycling center of some kind its possible he could find an entire rig thats better than what he has their for free. Here in the states ive found a few that way.

**Hrothgar Óhreinsaður** · September 17, 2012, 04:26 PM

Swen says, "Thank you from the Blitzkrieg. Happy eyes to the skies."

In other words, we're not looking for a better machine. We just want to upgrade the graphics.

What's available on Newegg is nVidia: GeForce 8400GS, GeForce 210, and GeForce 610, and AMD: HD 4350, HD 5450. So what do you think would be the best bet out of those?

**irishron** · September 17, 2012, 04:35 PM

8400GS would be my choice. 210 and 610 won't play much more than Windows solitaire.

**Bolkonsky** · September 17, 2012, 06:03 PM

I'd go with the 5450:

**Hrothgar Óhreinsaður** · September 17, 2012, 07:46 PM

The Radeon HD 5450 certainly looks better than its competitors, but how does it match up to a GeForce 210?

**irishron** · September 17, 2012, 08:01 PM

I'll let you answer your own question. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...50,2549-8.html

**Hrothgar Óhreinsaður** · September 17, 2012, 09:41 PM

What about the GeForce 610 in comparison to the last two?

**irishron** · September 17, 2012, 10:00 PM

610 is just a dx11 version of the 210. Figures would be interchangeable.

**Bolkonsky** · September 17, 2012, 10:53 PM

Your best bet for the budget you have is this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-pla-_-NA-_-NA

That will run Battlefield 3 on lowest settings. However, before buying any card, make sure you have a PCI-E 2.0 slot and a PSU capable of handling the new card.