What can I do to this piece of wood?

[JoaoSacramento]

Hey guys,
I have a really crappy PC, and I wanna make it better with what I can work with....

Here are the specs from CPU-Z:


I'm kinda short on cash, so my budget won't be too large(200-250€ max)
I don't need to remodel the whole PC, just make it good enought so it stops freezing, and so it will be able to run League of Legends or CoD4 without lags...
So, any suggestions?

Thanks

[jdeb]

more budget

[David M]

You can only throw so much money at a computer before it becomes more cost effective to start from scratch. Also once a computer is a couple of generations old or so there is nothing that can be done to make it run as fast as a current generation computer. Typically the only parts that are still compatible is the optical drive, case, hard drives and maybe the power supply.

[rwest]

There's a few things you can look at. But as previously said, you will probably find out that its more cost effective to transition into newer stuff.

1. First and foremost we need to figure out why your pc is freezing. Maybe the psu is going or maybe the video is hanging or maybe its just getting too hot.

Once we solve that, you could look into upgrading some of the components.***


So let's start with what's going on. Is she freezing when playing games? the same game? or all games? How about when just surfing? How's the restart going? Will she always boot on restart? or does it have to be a cold start?
What do you have for a PSU?
Have you tried cleaning it out?



***The cpu in that unit is not a a dog. It's a dual core cpu and your using DDR2 Memory. The tech's old but not that old.

2.Yeh, you could probably upgrade the cpu, but I doubt you'll find anything that's worth it. Of course it will depend on what you can find. The problem here is, were probably looking at used parts.

3. 2gigs of ram is actually plenty for quite alot of games. Not sure of the games you want to play though. Your maxed out on the quantity of ram. You could get faster ram, but this is where you will find cost not being worth it. Cost to performance increase is nearing the stupid level.

So what were left with is the psu and vid card.

You probably could use a psu and upgraded video card, but you may still be slightly limited on your selection of video card due to the older cpu.

I bet you could get a real nice jump in performance from a 5670 redwood from your old Geforce 6500. I'm pretty sure the redwood doessn't need a strong cpu to drive it. It's a direct-X 11 card and should set you up for your next upgrade. Maybe one of our mods can shed some light on this for us.

But we really need to know what you have for a PSU first, and if it's the culprit of your frezzing problems. If it is; then that's actually a good thing, because were probably replacing it any way. $200 bucks can get you a quality PSU and decent vid card.

[JoaoSacramento]

It mostly freezes when I'm playing. It doesn't freeze so much now, because I cleaned it, but it did freeze alot. I play League of Legends, Call Of Duty 4:Modern Warfare, and it all gets me extremely low FPS.

I'm not sure about my PSU but I think it's 300W-350W.

I did clean it, but not with thermal paste, or compressed air, just a superficial quick cleaning on the fans.

Oh, and I'd like to start playing Skyrim, even on the lowest graphics, because the gameplay looks so awesome!

[jdeb]

Skyrim:System Requirements - UESPWiki

As you can see, your best upgrade path would be to do a new build. It really does not make to much sense to throw money at your current setup.

[JoaoSacramento]

Believe me, I'd love to fully rebuild my PC, but the crysis in Portugal is bad :s

[glc]

350 watts will not support a decent video card. You also have a motherboard that is known for being unstable. Sorry, but you do need a complete rebuild.

[JoaoSacramento]

The PSU is okay, I was already expecting to have to buy one, and they aren't really expensive...

But would buying just a motherboard,ram,GPU and PSU be enough?
Because if it is, I found this setup:

Asus Radeon HD6450 Silent 1GB DDR3 PCI-E - 53.5€
Asrock H55M-LE Intel H55 SK1156 - 66.5€
Corsair Vengeance 2x2048MB (4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CAS9 1.5V - 25.5€
1Life DNA 500W w/Sata - 18.5€

Total of 164€ only, and I may not be pro with hardware, but it seems like a decent setup able to run those games.

[David M]

I would consider a console. You still do not have the budget for a gamer that is not going to leave you frustrated at its slow speed.

[JoaoSacramento]

But that new setup I posted would make my PC's performance in gaming alot better wouldn't it?

[David M]

A 6450 card, yes, it's better. And it will play many games of course. I am just concerned you might get frustrated playing the more graphics intensive games when you are getting unplayable frame rates at the lowest game settings. Then you will have thrown away your money. I'm not going to kid you that a $50 graphics card will play just fine with these types of games, it won't. For more static, slower moving games, it will work. You need to budget $200 and up for the card alone for the more graphics intensive games and then most likely you will need 650 watt PSU. This is why I am suggesting a console.

[rwest]

I'd follow the given adivce for sure on this one. Your pc is upgradeable, but obviously not for what you'd like it to do. 200-250 will definely help it, but not put it where you want it.

I've gone against "not upgrading advice" before and have seen it work, but this is not one of those times. I think for you a 360 pr ps3 would be a good choice. Maybe even repair your pc too at a nominal cost.

[glc]

Asrock boards are not reliable. You haven't selected a new CPU, which you would need. There is no such thing as a QUALITY 500 watt PSU for that price. A 6450 is not a gaming card. The only viable component you have selected is the ram. I understand budget issues - take the money you have and save it and wait till you DO have enough to buy worthwhile parts.

[JoaoSacramento]

Ok guys, thanks
I'll save up some more

[JoaoSacramento]

I've been looking to see how much I'd need, and i got this:

POWERCOLOR ATI HD6670 1GB DDR3 PCI-E - 71€

KINGSTON DDR3 4096MB 1333MHZ - 18€

INTEL CORE I3 2100 3.1GHZ 3MB BOX - 103€

ASUS P8H67-I DELUXE INTEL H67 SK1155 REV3.0 - 133€

COOLER MASTER ELITE POWER 500W - 35.5€

The rest (network card, controller, sound card, stuff like that) would be standard stuff....

Total- 360.5€(without the network card, sound card, controller, etc) With that stuff it would be like 400, 400 and something right?

What do you think? Like performance, quality/price, is it worth it?

[glc]

You want a 2x2 ram kit, not a single 4gb module. That motherboard is a mini-ITX and won't fit in your case. You don't need a sound card, controller, or network card, those features are onboard almost all motherboards these days.

[Nuclear Krusader]

The mobo comes with sound and NIC.

[JoaoSacramento]

I didn't know about that Sound, NIC, and controller thing, thanks.
As for the RAM, I got this:

CORSAIR VALUE SELECT 2X2048MB DDR3 1333MHZ CAS9 - 22€

Motherboard:

ASUS P8H61-M INTEL H61 SK1155 REV3.0 - 66.5€ (good choice? don't know if it's another mini-ITX, im new to building PC's)

Almost forgot about the hard drive:

Samsung 500GB Sata II 16MB F3 - 83.5 €

With these changes the PC goes at 381.5€

I'm wondering, will the GPU bottleneck the CPU?

Updated Setup:

Hard Drive - Samsung 500GB Sata II 16MB F3 - 83.5 €

RAM - CORSAIR VALUE SELECT 2X2048MB DDR3 1333MHZ CAS9 - 22€

Motherboard - ASUS P8H61-M INTEL H61 SK1155 REV3.0 - 66.5€

PSU - COOLER MASTER ELITE POWER 500W - 35.5€

CPU - INTEL CORE I3 2100 3.1GHZ 3MB BOX - 103€

GPU - POWERCOLOR ATI HD6670 1GB DDR3 PCI-E - 71€

[glc]

Replace the Samsung drive with a Hitachi or Western Digital. Motherboard is good to go, it's micro-ATX which will fit in any ATX case. No bottleneck, a 6670 is not a high end card.

[JoaoSacramento]

WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR GREEN 500GB 32MB SATA II - 85.9€

How do I do to mount the pc? Because I could ask them to mount there, but I'm not purchasing a new case, and I don't know how to mount it by myself

[jdeb]

Installing a new hard drive (NCIX Tech Tips #6) - YouTube

http://pcsupport.about.com/gi/o.htm?...hard-drive.php

Yours is a sata

[JoaoSacramento]

The CPU, GPU and RAM are easy, just plug it in the MoBo... Is the PSU simple to remove and place a new one?

[glc]

I wouldn't get a WD Green for a primary drive - a Blue would be a better bet.

PSU's are mounted with 4 screws in the rear panel, and you have a bunch of cables to disconnect and reconnect. Very easy.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Don't get a Green: slow as molasses and the vari-speed might be an issue. They're great for storage only, but not to run programs off them.

[JoaoSacramento]

WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR BLUE 500GB 16MB SATAIII (6GB/S) - 87.9€
This one is SATAIII, I don't know if it will work with my specs?

What do you think, are these good prices?

[Nuclear Krusader]

Yes, it will.

[JoaoSacramento]

I currently have 2 drives, one 97.6GB and the other about 51.3GB, but today I looked into my case, to try to get a better understanding of PC building(according to that video you showed me) and I realized that one of my drives has SATA cables and the other has IDE cables

Btw, how is this setup in therms of noise? Is it silent or noisy?

[glc]

The motherboard you chose does not have an IDE controller. Your hard drive and optical drive both have to be SATA.

[JoaoSacramento]

The hard drive is in a partition, so I assume that it's only one drive, recognized by the PC as two drives. The IDE one should be the optical drive, so I must by a new SATA one?

In that case I found a SONY DVR 24X DLAYER SATA BLACK BULK for 18.5€, which is SATA and so fits the MoBo.