PC Upgrade Ideas

So, I picked up this desktop about seven years ago—though, let's be honest, it’s mostly just gathering dust at this point because I switched over to a laptop. But lately, I've been thinking about actually doing something with it, maybe an upgrade, and now I'm stuck wondering where to even start. Right now, I'm running an Intel Pentium 4, I've only got 1 GB of DDR2 RAM, and I don't even have a dedicated graphics card—just some ancient Nvidia Geforce with 64 MB that struggles just to keep the desktop running. The power supply is a 400W unit. I was planning on swapping out the CPU, GPU, and RAM all at once, but since my bank account won't allow for a total overhaul today, I need to prioritize. For the new parts, I'm looking at an Intel Core 2 Quad 2.2 ghz 95watt AM2 socket, 4 GB of 800 mghz Samsung DDR2, and a Radeon 6450 1 gb card. I'm genuinely torn on the order of operations here—will upgrading the CPU first be a waste if the RAM is still choking the system? Or should I grab the RAM first and see zero difference? Or maybe I go for the GPU only to find that games still crawl because the CPU and RAM can't keep up. What's the move? 🎉

You really ought to just grab everything at once because picking things up piece by piece like this is pointless... what motherboard are you actually using? Will that Phenom even fit on it?

So, what kind of budget are we looking at?

Because if you want a winning combo, you should go with all-new parts.

A Celeron 1820 is roughly $100
some cheap motherboard around $117
4GB of DDR3 RAM around $70

Of course, you could definitely aim higher. I'm just throwing out rough numbers here, assuming you can find a Celeron for $90 and maybe an even cheaper board.

If you have a SATA hard drive, you might be able to reuse it, since newer boards don't really support PATA anymore... well, they support EIDE, but still...

And then you've got a little extra left over.

It would also be a smart move to swap out the power supply; 700W is a lot...

So, here’s the deal—my motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-M61SME-S2L with an AM2 socket, and I'm running a deluxe KY-400 ATX power supply. I've got about $200 to work with. I spotted a Phenom quad core for 250, some RAM for 200, and a graphics card for $67, but then I stumbled upon an Athlon 64 x2 2.8 ghz from a buddy for $50. I was leaning toward the Phenom since I really don't want to swap out this motherboard, but if the Phenom isn't a fit, I might just go with the Athlon and the DDR2 RAM instead. Also, I'm wondering if that power supply can actually handle the whole setup.

frozenpanther said:So, here’s the deal—my motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-M61SME-S2L with an AM2 socket, and I'm running a deluxe KY-400 ATX power supply. I've got about $200 to work with. I spotted a Phenom quad core for 250, some RAM for 200, and a graphics card for $67, but then I stumbled upon an Athlon 64 x2 2.8 ghz from a buddy for $50. I was leaning toward the Phenom since I really don't want to swap out this motherboard, but if the Phenom isn't a fit, I might just go with the Athlon and the DDR2 RAM instead. Also, I'm wondering if that power supply can actually handle the whole setup.

Can you explain why you even want to upgrade this PC in the first place? You mentioned yourself that you barely use it anymore and that a laptop has basically replaced it. This is such an ancient platform that investing in it just doesn't make sense. What are you actually hoping to gain by swapping out these few components?

So, I ended up swapping it out for this Lenovo laptop I've been using—mostly just for surfing the web, definitely not built for any real gaming, much less my desktop. My plan is to put together an upgrade so the rig can actually handle some decent games. Do you think the platform is just too old to bother with? Like, is an upgrade even worth the effort at this point?

This platform is definitely too old if you're thinking about upgrading for gaming. I guess—what kind of games did you have in mind?

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...aspx?pID=2644#

Check which CPU fits your setup and what version of the BIOS you're running

The platform is pretty dated. I'm not sure which GPU you're eyeing, but for $67 it's nothing special... You might get some early COD titles running... I haven't seen many Phenom chips clocked at 2.2 GHz... maybe this one

AMD Phenom X4 9550 2200MHz 512KBx4 2MB Agena 65nm B3 95W

As for raw power, just hit up Google. Compare the specific Phenom model against that Athlon and look at the benchmarks...

Your power supply is a disaster... and those older cards can be huge power hogs if you decide to grab one...

The integrated graphics on the motherboard might be struggling because there isn't enough RAM, and honestly, you're low on RAM across the board... That card is fine for browsing the web, though...

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid...hlon+64+x2+240

If we're talking about those processors, you're probably better off grabbing a cheaper Athlon. The performance is similar, and for older games, single-core strength matters more. Not many people were looking for quad-core back then... plus, it draws less power, assuming the BIOS supports it

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...+athlon+x2+240

You could actually get some decent gaming out of that Athlon, especially if you overclock it a little...

This is what gaming looks like on a Phenom (if that's the one you mean)

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...Phenom+X4+9550

So, the CPU I’m looking at cooling is the Amd phenom x4 9500 am2 am2—which my motherboard actually supports—but I’m not exactly trying to run the latest AAA blockbusters here. I’m talking more along the lines of Euro Truck Simulator 2, League of Legends, and that kind of stuff. Do you think I need to swap out the power supply immediately? I already mentioned the GPU I'm using is a Radeon Low profile 6450 1 gb. If I just slapped all of this into the rig without touching the motherboard and threw in 4GB of 800 MHz DDR2 RAM, what would the situation look like? Would it actually handle running Euro Truck Simulator 2 and those other games, or am I looking at an urgent need for a new power supply?

I wouldn't touch those early Phenoms if I were you; they get incredibly sluggish once you move past two cores.

This looks like a better bet:

And this one is also a solid choice:

EDIT: Honestly, forget about gaming on an HD 6450... maybe at 720p on low settings, but that's about it.

Man, that's a bummer about the GPU... It’s definitely not anything special, though it might pull through at lower resolutions. Maybe it's better to just grab something older but more powerful??? What resolution are you planning to play at?

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ming+on+hd6450





https://www.youtube.com/results?q=ga...ck+simulator+2

An older 4850 for $67 absolutely crushes the 6450, and you might even find something better if you look closer

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-64...Radeon-HD-4850

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid...vs%20hd%204850

http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphic-card-listing

Kimberly Gomez34, I actually dig that first Athlon—but that’s for an AM3 socket, if that even matters—and I can't quite make out the GHz, though it looks pretty solid given the price and those 3 cores. Bryan Taylor6, if you've got any leads on a better low profile card in that same budget range, let me know. Any recommendations? P.S. I'm running at 1680x1080 or something like that.

There you go—that should be a solid build for those lighter games, plus a decent power supply.
You definitely need to swap out that PSU, though. Someone’s selling this thing with only 5A on the 12V rail.🤣 🤣

Basically, it might manage 150W, but honestly, I doubt it’ll even hit that.

EDIT Does the card have to be low profile?

Alright, I’m feeling good about the RAM, and the processor seems solid enough. The power supply is actually great—if it happens to have that 6-pin connector, we're golden, because then I can finally run this graphics card too. Thanks for the help here, honestly, I feel like I snagged a bit of a bargain. If you could just double-check whether that PSU has the right pin, I’ll go ahead and verify if the processor is a perfect fit for my setup.

The processor should fit, but you really need to check the BIOS compatibility first...

As for the power supply, if it doesn't have that 6-pin connector for the graphics card, you can just grab an adapter at a local Walmart to convert 4-pin to 6-pin$6.75

It does have a 6-pin connector

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/corsa...supply-review/

So, how can I figure out if this works for my BIOS? Do I actually need to fire up the PC and dive into the BIOS settings to check, or should I just go ahead and grab either 2 or 4 gigs of RAM right now?

When you boot up the PC, it should display the BIOS info... or just jump straight into the BIOS and check the version...

If you look at the CPU support list, the end of the table usually specifies which BIOS version you need... like E4 or J1.5...

If the BIOS version doesn't match, you'll either need to flash a new one onto the motherboard or find a processor that works with your current BIOS...

You might also try a tool like CPU-Z from the web; it can read your BIOS info, and there are plenty of similar programs out there...

As for the RAM, it really comes down to your budget... if you grab an extra 2GB to pair with what you already have, that’s plenty for older games... but if you've got the cash, just go for 4GB...

Alright, I'll hit you up tonight with my specific BIOS version since I'm not home right now. Besides, which BIOS does that processor actually need?

Athlon ii X3 440 3000 512KBx3 N/A Rena 45nm C3 95W 4000............ F5J- BIOS version

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...?pID=2644#bios

Also, make sure you grab the latest drivers too...

Yeah, but you guys found an AM3 processor—my socket is AM2, so if there's actually any connection there?

It’s been mentioned a few times already... you just need to flash (or rather, upgrade) the BIOS, and then it should support most AM3 processors.

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=2644

To get support for the X3 440, you'll need the F5J BIOS, which I think Bryan Taylor6 already linked for you:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...aspx?pID=2644# Go to Support -> Download, select Type BIOS -> and pick whichever Windows version you're running.

Here are some instructions:

It might be best to put the F5J BIOS setup on a USB stick and boot from there.