Computer dummy looking to improve performance.

[steview]

Hi all

Ive got an old piece of junk pc and im looking to upgrade it a little to get me through for a year or so, the only game i play is civ iv..and the slowdown on large maps is awful..not while scrolling screens but between turns (so i think that means its processor??)

Anyway looking for advice on what to upgrade, got around 180 uk pounds to spend.

Current junk is

Sempron 2400+ (1.7Ghz)
1GB pc2700
80GB hdd 7200rpm
9200 card (sigh)
crappy 350W q-tech PSU.

I know 180 wont turn the machine into a speed demon i just wanna be able to watch dvds / play civ on custom maps etc with bearable speed.


Id considered the card first..i could pick up an old but good 9800 pro for peanuts (50 quid) or a 6600GT for more. But the concern there is the PSU and im thinking that as the slowdown is between turns my problem isnt the card

The processor is socket A (462) so difficult to upgrade. Id considered blowing my budget on an athlon 64 cpu/motherboard if i shopped around. But again not sure about the psu.or the ram.

Can i improve things for 180 ?. Will get a new pc next year, but cant atm.

Cheers

Stevie

 

[Speedo]

Well, if you can find comperable pricing to the stuff I'm looking at (Newegg.com, which only ships to the US...) then you have a few options...

You could upgrade to a SocketA Sempron 3000, or if you really did some looking maybe find an AthlonXP in that range (will have to check that you motherboard can support them, though). You should also be able to get a 6600GT and have a fair amount left over. I think I would advise this route.

You could get a Socket754 motherboard and S754 Sempron or Athlon64 processor... you might be able to get some thing slightly faster - a 3200, maybe a 3400. Along with a 6600GT this would take up pretty much all of your budget.

Or, get a Socket939 board, and a S939 Athlon64. Since they're more expensive, though, you'd only be able to get a 3000, and with a 6600GT this would stretch your budget to the limit. It does have the advantage of giving you more upgrade options in the future though.

Any of those setups would give a very respectable machine. A 350W PSU should be adequate for the 6600GT.

 

[Zakharov]

Well, if you can find comperable pricing to the stuff I'm looking at (Newegg.com, which only ships to the US...) then you have a few options...

Unfortunately for steview, computer hardware in the UK is more expensive than in the US.

The 6600GT is around £100 on its own. I don't believe £80 is enough to buy a motherboard and a cpu, so the Socket A Sempron 3000+ (£70) is the only suggestion which fits under the £180 budget.

@steview, as you are only looking to make this machine last another year, you may be better off just taking that 9800pro for £50, then add the Sempron 3000+ for £70. Keep the remaining £60 and put it towards a new PC next year.

 

[steview]

Cheers, im considering waiting 2 more months now and rebuilding keeping
only the monitor / dvd drive / cdrw which are new.

I could probably raise 400 or so then, not sure if i can build a pc though
on that.

About the sempron 3000+

is it really a noiceable difference to the 2400+ one runs at 1.7 the other
2GHZ?.

And im really concerned about the PSU being q-tech ive read 'real' power on these units is lower than stated?.


Anyway appreciate the input thanks.

 

[Zakharov]

I don't have any experience with Sempron cpus, but the numbering system would indicate a 25% boost in performance. Whether or not that is worth £70 is another question. I would tend to say probably not.

If you really can wait a couple more months and spend a lot more money on a mass upgrade, then I think that would the best course of action. My suggestion earlier was more of a quick fix than a cost effective long term solution.

Btw, your PSU shouldn't be a problem with those components. I would only be worried if you had something like a 7800GTX in there.

 

[tokala]

Increasing the CPU speed for a given percentage yields roughly half of that percentage in gain for "real world" applications like games (if leaving the rest of the system as is). And even if you would get the full 25% incraese, you probably wouldn't feel much of a difference.

If your preferred game is civ4, and scrolling/zooming is fast enough, you rightly presumed that the cpu (and its memory requests) is your main problem. However, any upgrade on your existing SocketA board, if available at all, would be prohibitively expensive in relation to the effective speed gain.

This leaves the change to a athlon64 based system, a brand name board should be 40-50 pounds. You could use your existing memory without much of a performance drop compared to PC3200, especially if you use a 2.0 GHz cpu (the details are a bit complicated).

Throw in an Athlon64 3000+ for ~90 pounds and you should get a performance boost of some 50% and stay comfortably within your financial reach.

If your PSU can handle the sempron, then it should be sufficient for an athlon64, although cheap PSUs sometimes doesn't take the abrupt changes in power consumtion due to the cool'n quiet feature very well, but cnq is optional anyway.

The gain/price ratio for this upgrade is still debatable, but in your situation probably the most sensible option. Considerung spending even more on a cpu/Board/memory upgrade, the gain/price ratio will drop further.

The exception may be a "window of opportunity" with the transition of socket 754/939 to AM2 in the second half of this year. There could be a price drop to get rid of the "obsolete", but still quite powerful hardware.

Oh, and if you consider the asrock dual-board (AGP/PCIe) as the most flexible option, make sure to browse some geek forums about experiences with that piece of hardware, in its present state there seem to be some problems.

 

[Gohano]

you would probobly get a better speed boost getting a better video card than changing anything else. your setup isnt that bad at all.

 

[dragokatzov]

MY suggestion is to upgrade to an Athlon XP 3200+, or a 3000+. either or are still great processors. our ram is good. then you may want to upgrade your video card. I'd suggest a Geforce 6600 or 6600GT either or will do, get the GT if you can. this will make your computer a fine machien, as long as 64 bit computing doesn't take off, but for what you are using it for, you should be fine.