What would be the best way to upgrade my computer?

Question

My PC is kind of out of date. I bought it nearly 2 years ago. It's not a brand, it's custom made and bought from a market. I'ts especially designed for gaming more than anything else. It has been a wonderful computer. It's got AMD Athlon 64 processor 2800+ 1.81 GHz, 512mb RAM, 115 GB memory and Geforce graphics card (Direct X 9.0c). I need to know what needs changing and where i can get it upgraded (In the UK). My computer is getting slower and has some trouble playing some of the latest games like CivCity Rome e.t.c. I want the best performance out of it. Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

check this site out it will scan your pc and tell you what you need

http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.asp

Answer 2

First a memory upgrade would be simple, you should be able to do this yourself with little difficulty, go to http://www.crucial.com/uk you can also get upraded graphcs cards from there too, use he system scan to se what you can get.

Next hardest would be upgrading the graphics card, again the crucial scan will let you know what yu would need.

It may also be possible to upgrade the processor, this would involve finding out what the motherboard is capable of accepting, If you want something better than it can handle you would have to upgrade the motherboard which would also result in probably neding new memory for it and a new graphics card.

If you are finding the PC slower than wen you first got it it may be worth cleaning out any software you don't need and ensuring nothing uneccessary is loading when you boot the PC

Answer 3

Your processor should be fine for a bit longer. I'd get more ram (atleast another 512 MB) and your graphics card is likely out dated. I'm not sure what kind of mother board you're running, but check and see if it has a pci-express slot. If it does go down to a store and buy a PCI-Express graphics card, nVidia (geforce) makes some awesome cards! If not I would get a new motherboard, get a new processor with it, and just switch things over. Otherwise if you don't use that much space on your hard drive it should be fine.

Answer 4

Option 1. Buy all new custom model and sell your excelent computer to a regular person (because your computer still excelent (more RAM would be perfect))

Or without expend too much money, you can try :
Just put more RAM up to 1 or 2Gb
your GEForce is which type?
Recently VideoCards have better HW response. Search for it within internet and check if your motherboard is compatible with next Videocard version that you will buy.

Check out your winchester too. 7.200 RPM is better than 5.400.
.. but if you have both types, put them in separated IDEs it should run better.

At the end, if you still believe it i necessary to upgrade your computer, consider relation between motherboard and processor. Pehaps your motherboard can use better processor and you need upgrade only one thing;


WARNING: Always use a benchmark tools to get your computer performance and check it performances within internet.
Talk also with someone who really knows your computer. I've worte just a simple suggestion, but there are infinite possibilities without check out your hardware.

Answer 5

Not an easy one to answer. Without knowing how much you know about computers and what upgrading you can do yourself, the best solution is to take to local computer shop and ask what they advise. I fear that due to the recent changes to CPU's and taking into account your computer is 2 years old, it may be as cheap to bite the bullit and purchase a new machine. By the time you purchase M/board, CPU, Hard Drive, Memory chips, Video Card and probably new case and power supply, it would be best to buy new, with tried and proven matching components and get a warranty

Answer 6

That's not bad specs and it should play those games no problem , it sounds like you just need to declutter your computer by restoring it.
I do this every six months and you would be amazed the difference it makes.
You should have a restore disc with your computer and instructions on how to use it but be sure to save all pictures, music, passwords etc as it puts your computer back to factory settings.
I would try this before spending money on what is a pretty good system, you' ve got nothing to lose .

Answer 7

One easy step is to remove programs you don't need or use any more. Then run something like Ad-Aware SE Personal (free) to knock out malware, then run Ccleaner (free again) to tidy up. Follow up by carrying out a disk cleanup & Defrag (in programs, accessories,system tools).

Finally, take your machine online to www.crucial.com for a free rundown of your particular setup & suggestions about RAM. Another 512mb of RAM will probably make an appreciable difference.

Hope this helps.

PS You clearly love your machine, so I won't make the standard comment about buying a new one!

Answer 8

I would get another 512 Meg of RAM so that you have 1 Gig total. Gaming uses a lot of RAM. Also not sure which video card you have Nividia makes a bunch. It may need upgrading also. Your Processor is pretty decent.

Answer 9

The immediate solution would be to install an additional 512mb-1gb of ram. There are guides online that explain the process. You will notice a difference after this upgrade.

Answer 10

My recommandations:

Increase the RAM to 1GB
Use an additional graphics card of 256 or 512 MB (u havent mentioned that.. its very important for games..)

Your processor is awefully outdated ...

(better u change ur PC)

i cant suggest more.. i need to kno bout ur motherboard and graphics memory... also trying customizing and reducing the startup prgs...

i dono where u shud get all this done but i may be able to suggest wat all to get done....

Answer 11

by uninstalling programs or other things you dont use will help, use system tools, they will help. but buying another 512mb of ram will help a lot. i would have a local tech install it, so in case things dont work he can fix it. also check to see if you can disable some running programs not needed.