Upgrading my computer...
- Thread starter Olorune
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As Kabutos said it would help if we knew what was already in your PC. If you don't know it helps to download a program like SIW (system information for windows) which can tell you pretty much anything you need to know.
Unless you have a really old or budget PC upgrading your graphics card will probably be enough though, that's pretty much the biggest component for gaming.
Unless you have a really old or budget PC upgrading your graphics card will probably be enough though, that's pretty much the biggest component for gaming.
OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista? Home PremiumKabutos said:
Version 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
System Manufacturer Gateway
System Model GT5468
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Genuine Intel(R) CPU 2160 @ 1.80GHz, 1800 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date 945GCT-M3 V1.05, 5/7/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6002.18005"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) Not Available
Total Physical Memory 1.99 GB
Available Physical Memory 932 MB
Total Virtual Memory 4.22 GB
Available Virtual Memory 2.66 GB
Page File Space 2.28 GB
Property Value
Manufacturer ELITEGROUP
Model 945GCT-M3
Version 3.0
Serial Number 945G
North Bridge Intel i945G Revision A2
South Bridge Intel 82801GB (ICH7/R) Revision A2
CPU Genuine Intel(R) CPU 2160 @ 1.80GHz
Cpu Socket Socket 775 LGA
System Slots 2 PCI
Memory Summary
Maximum Capacity 2048 MBytes
Maximum Memory Module Size 1024 MBytes
Memory Slots 2
Error Correction None
I'm on a budget of about $170.
Um, yeah, the only thing I could gather from that is your CPU and RAM. It might help if you used something like speccy [http://www.piriform.com/speccy].
EDIT: I googled 'Gateway GT5468' and it came up with this [http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/1009564/1009564sp3.shtml] prebuilt. If this is your current computer I'd recommend just saving up and building from scratch.
EDIT: I googled 'Gateway GT5468' and it came up with this [http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/1009564/1009564sp3.shtml] prebuilt. If this is your current computer I'd recommend just saving up and building from scratch.
Do you have any info on your graphics card?
That cpu is pretty under powered. You didn't specify exactly what kind it is so it's hard to give an idea of what you could get to replace it but intel still sells a bunch of dual core cpus so I'm assuming they still sell ones that fit your motherboard so you wouldn't have to replace the motherboard as well (though upgrading your graphics card would probably still be the better idea but I can't say for sure without knowing what it is).
Edit: Nevermind, you posted more info before I posted this. With that socket you could even upgrade to a quad core at a better clock.
$170 isn't much, you might want to hold off until you have more money. It would be better to wait until you can get something good that will last longer than buy something ok and need to replace it again sooner.
Edit 2: After doing some research (I'm currently figuring out what parts I'm going to buy to upgrade my PC) I found this very nice article http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/07/05/how-many-cpu-cores-do-games-need/ it seems in general anything higher than a dual core doesn't offer much, if any, difference for gaming. Your clock speed is pretty low though, you could try overclocking it before you go buy a new cpu and just to reiterate the main thing that gives improvement in games are graphics cards so if you can only get one of two you'd be better off going with a graphics card.
That cpu is pretty under powered. You didn't specify exactly what kind it is so it's hard to give an idea of what you could get to replace it but intel still sells a bunch of dual core cpus so I'm assuming they still sell ones that fit your motherboard so you wouldn't have to replace the motherboard as well (though upgrading your graphics card would probably still be the better idea but I can't say for sure without knowing what it is).
Edit: Nevermind, you posted more info before I posted this. With that socket you could even upgrade to a quad core at a better clock.
$170 isn't much, you might want to hold off until you have more money. It would be better to wait until you can get something good that will last longer than buy something ok and need to replace it again sooner.
Edit 2: After doing some research (I'm currently figuring out what parts I'm going to buy to upgrade my PC) I found this very nice article http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/07/05/how-many-cpu-cores-do-games-need/ it seems in general anything higher than a dual core doesn't offer much, if any, difference for gaming. Your clock speed is pretty low though, you could try overclocking it before you go buy a new cpu and just to reiterate the main thing that gives improvement in games are graphics cards so if you can only get one of two you'd be better off going with a graphics card.