Upgrading and need help

S

Stealth123

New Member
Hello

I am upgrading or buying a new PC as my old one is about 6 years old and needs some decent upgrades.

My current system is: (Let me know if you need more info on it)

Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601)
Install Language: English (United States)
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5B Rev 1.x
x
Bus Clock: 266 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 1803 11/26/2007
2.40 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
4096 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded

2048 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM0' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM2' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM3' is Empty

ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series [Display adapter]
Radmin Mirror Driver V3 [Display adapter]
LG W2343 [Monitor] (23.1"vis, s/n 251687, January 2011)

As of late the computer is running at a really low speed.
Does not start up straight away where the computer does nothing for about a minute then the BIOS beep comes.
Games (Online mainly but a few offline e.g. Age of Empires) I used to be able to run at full graphics with 60+ frames per second now drop to 20 on high graphics and the games are taking longer and longer to load into.
Generally it is taking the computer longer to open normal programs such as chrome and MS Office programs and a few games. (Again mainly online games are taking the longest)

I have done Glary Utilities, CCleaner, Slimdrivers etc... updates and it is running the same

I need a PC to have the following functionality:

• Run MS Office programs.
• Run up to 6-7 programmes simultaneously with no system lag
• Play online games with high frame rate
• Quick start up
• 1TB HDD – If included or else I have a 1TB external drive plus the 500gb internal.
• 4-8GB RAM
• Decent separate graphics card – if I need it.

I don’t need a mouse, keyboard, speakers or monitor.

Can you recommend a suitable system for me?

Or a good way to upgrade the old one?

I have a fairly large budget.
 
Really, you would be better off financially to try and fix your current computer than to upgrade. The specs you have are plenty (minus the RAM) to run what you outlined.

But if you really want a new one, are you willing to build it yourself?
 
May as well upgrade your RAM to 4GB or 8GB, get the hard drive you want and be done with it. Looks to me like you have a Q6600 there with a 3850 or a 3870, should be fine. Upgrade your graphics card if you need to.

How long has it been since you reinstalled Windows on this machine? That could be the reason for it being slow.
 
Agreed, you shouldn't need a wholesale change for your needs. A Q6600 and a HD38X0 card should be fine.

You should however spend your money on RAM and an SSD>
 
I was seeing what options were open to me and whether it was worth fixing my computer or buying a new one. I am fairly confident about building my own computer if not I know plenty of people who can do or help me with it but I would rather fix my current one.

I installed Windows 7 about 6 months ago.

Recently, around the time I installed and started playing Guild Wars 2 was when the machine started running slow and I found I had 10 fps on lowest graphics on Guild Wars which I wasn't happy with.

So basically what your saying is I should get a new graphics card if need be and increase my RAM to 8GB.

Also what are you talking about when you say I should "get the hard drive I want"

Thanks for the help by the way
 
you should be able to do better than 10 FPS on GW2 as is. It only needs a x1800 to play, and you are leagues ahead of that.

can you list exactly what you have for CPU, Power Supply (you will have to look in the case to find that one), and graphics card.

You will definitely be better off with a newer graphics card, and you may need a graphics card. Ram always helps. Put at least another 2048mb stick in and you will be better.

What is your budget for an upgrade?
 
wolfeking said:
you should be able to do better than 10 FPS on GW2 as is. It only needs a x1800 to play, and you are leagues ahead of that.

can you list exactly what you have for CPU, Power Supply (you will have to look in the case to find that one), and graphics card.

You will definitely be better off with a newer graphics card, and you may need a graphics card. Ram always helps. Put at least another 2048mb stick in and you will be better.

What is your budget for an upgrade?
Click to expand...

CPU = Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz 2.39GHz

Graphics Card = ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series

Power Supply = Ultrix Switching Power Supply ATX12V P4
AC INPUT: 230VAC 3A 50~60Hz

Then a bunch of values like 3.3V and a another value underneath it. I can copy that down and include if need be.

Budget is anything really, I have a spare 120GB SSD I can put in the computer but I don't really want to go anything over $1000, or though I doubt the budget will reach near that anyway.

Also the windows rating for my graphics is 2.3 when I go on computer properties (the windows one). Should that be a worry or will a new graphics card fix that?
 
wolfeking said:
okay, you need a new power supply. That one is no good.
Click to expand...

After you mentioned the power supply I thought it might be a problem as it has not been upgraded in quite a while.

Are there any you would recommend that would last a few years?

Also any recommendations for any upgrades you think I need on the computer. RAM is fairly easy but any graphics cards you would recommend?
 
Power supply, go for the Corsair CX600 and graphics I would go for a HD7950. They are hard to beat for the money right now.
 
Thanks a lot for the help, most useful. Probably saved buying a lot of needless things to try to upgrade my computer.

Many Thanks.
 
Also will my system be able to run the HD7950? Or does it not really matter that much.

What would the next best suggestion be after the HD7950 but cheaper as I don't need a high end graphics card as of yet and the HD7950 seems a bit pricey.
 
Stealth123 said:
Also will my system be able to run the HD7950? Or does it not really matter that much.

What would the next best suggestion be after the HD7950 but cheaper as I don't need a high end graphics card as of yet and the HD7950 seems a bit pricey.
Click to expand...

HD 7850 maybe? or even 7870
 
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