Investments on PC

[Fabio]

Hi guys,

I was planning on investing some money in some upgrades for my PC that would allow me to play most modern games such as GTA IV, CoD, F1 2010, running games such as San Andreas in high settings with mods such as ENB Series, at decent FPS as well as improving performance on my PC in a general area, but I'm not sure which area of my PC I should invest in.

These are my current specs:
3GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 3450 512MB/Memory Clock: 400Mhz/Core: 100Mhz
Intel Pentium D 3Ghz Dual Core Processor
250GB HDD
Windows Vista Home Premium

I've had my PC for 3 years now, the only things I've upgraded is the RAM from 1GB to 3GB, and the graphics from a intergrated GPU to the ATI card I currently have.

I'm also wondering if performance would increase if I was to:
- Replace my processor.
- Replace the heatsink.
- New power supply.
- New motherboard.
- Upgrade to Win7.

Thanks...

[Petar]

Why is this in Games Discussions ? Shouldn't this be in ... hardware support or smt ?

[Caltson]

Why is this in Games Discussions ? Shouldn't this be in ... hardware support or smt ?

Absolutely right mate, let's move this!  :razz:

[Fabio]

Why is this in Games Discussions ? Shouldn't this be in ... hardware support or smt ?

Well actually if you actually read the post properly, you would of noticed:

Hi guys,

I was planning on investing some money in some upgrades for my PC that would allow me to play most modern games such as GTA IV, CoD, F1 2010, running games such as San Andreas in high settings with mods such as ENB Series, at decent FPS as well as improving performance on my PC in a general area, but I'm not sure which area of my PC I should invest in.

I've been in this business a long time, don't you expect I would know where to place topics?

This section is hardware and software support, not PC gaming component recommendations, however that falls into the category of games discussion.

[mrking]

I'm also wondering if performance would increase if I was to:
- Replace my processor.
- Replace the heatsink.
- New power supply.
- New motherboard.
- Upgrade to Win7.

Thanks...

Yes, upgrading these things would help improve your computer's performance.

What motherboard do you have?

[JayL]

I'm not an expert in PC upgrading, but get highest available capacity hardware (within what you can afford of course) so it lasts as long as possible, specially the power supply.

[Alarba]

Budget?

[Todor]

X58, 930, GTX460 SLI.

[Sisko]

Windows Vista Home Premium

You really don't want that, and why are there so many people going for ATI?

Kind Regards
Sisko White

[RailWayGuy]

and why are there so many people going for ATI?

because they like those fancy gaming screenshots on it

[Todor]

because they like those fancy gaming screenshots on it

You really don't want that, and why are there so many people going for ATI?

Kind Regards
Sisko White

Because for everything above 160 quid ATI > Nvidia. Only decent Nvidia card out right now which somebody should actually buy is the 460.

[HEJSURT]

Okay, right.. Those things that u suggested sounds good. Other things you could try is clean your computer from dust, make a destructive erase on your harddrive (erasing all thats on your HDD) and installing W7. Or you could just clean the computer from various sh*t that you dont use such as programs, documents etc, and maybe try to upgrade your GPU to 1GB, or change to a better card.

Other than that, I think that you've got a decent computer

[Leon_Mokomaki]

Upgrading your power supply doesnt give you any performance increase. Replacing your heat sink wouldnt give you any real fps increase unless your CPU is overheating. But of course if you want to overclock your CPU you need an aftermarket Heatsink fan.
Your CPU and GPU are bad. But the GPU is like VERY bad
If you want a good gaming computer for the cheapest possible your probably looking at a Phenom II processor, 4gb RAM ( while 2gb would do), And a good GPU.
Something like the Radeon HD 4850 would do but it lacks directx 11 IF you want the cheapest GPU that has DX 11 then get a HD 5670. The 5450 is very bad and not for gaming. from nvidia consider the GTS 250 (DX10) or GTS 450 (DX11)

If you want a very good gaming pc then get something like this:
CPU: Intel I5 750/760
RAM: 4gb DDR3 1333mhz RAM (1600mhz if you plan on overclocking your CPU)
GPU: GTX 460 1gig or AMD 6870
PSU: 500 Watt+ (Get a 80+ certified one!!)
And of course a compatible Intel 1156 socket motherboard. (I5 uses that socket)

If you want to go abit cheaper which is still a very good gaming pc then replace the CPU with an AMD Phenom II x4 955 or 965 and a compatible AM3 socket motherboard.

If you want to UPGRADE your current computer then theres nothing else worth upgrading than the GPU. Since the motherboard socket currently using the Pentium D is so old that you cant really put a better processor on that board. Therefore you need a new motherboard. Either AM3 or Intel 1156. Most of those use DDR3 RAM. And im assuming your current ram is DDR2, which cant be placed in a DDR3 motherboard. Thats why you would probably be better off by buying/building a whole new computer. But just upgrading your GPU from the......3450 to 4xxx series (4670,4850, or even 5670) should give you a big performance increase.

I also noticed that you have 3GB of RAM. if your current motherboard uses dual channel memory interface (which is probably does) Then 2GB would be faster than 3GB assuming the 2GB are in two 1GB sticks, being dual channel. adding another 1gb stick breaks that, making your RAM operate slower.