Hi all, New to the forums, and am working on upgrading an older machine for light gaming. The computer I have is an HP Pavilion a1606n HP Pavilion Media Center a1606n Desktop PC Product Specifications HP Pavilion Media Center a1606n Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English) I know it is old and outdated, but it is what I have to work with and can't afford something new til i'm out of school. It's also running XP SP3 I have upgraded to RAM to a total of 3 GB, which is the most an XP machine can have I believe. 2 X Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) 2 X 512mb (original memory) I've upgraded video to a EN8400GS, but am trying to find an HD 4670 for cheap. I thought that these upgrades would boost graphics performance by a lot, which they did, but not to the level I was hoping. I am now considering upgrading the stock CPU PentiumD 805 (S) DC 2.66 GHz to perhaps a D 950 3.4Hz. Is this a good upgrade? would cost around $50, or is there a better upgrade that will work with my motherboard. I'm also running a 485w PSU if that helps decide anything. Any input on the cpu upgrade, or also the graphics card upgrade would be much appreciated. thank you!
Hate to break it to ya, but i did some research on your board and it only supports up to Pentium D 940 series (3.2 Ghz). But even with a 950, you really won't see an amazing difference or even a slight one. At least you've upgraded other peripherals though. You'd need to switch your motherboard. I know money is rough, but i found a sweet combo deal you might be interested in here. It supports your RAM and VGA.
hmm yes thats a good deal, just curious as to how much i'll hate myself for not upgrading to ddr3 if i am replacing the mobo though. I know my current memory isnt exactly the fastest or anything, but for a little more i think it would be worth it to go with this? Newegg.com - ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard Newegg.com - GeIL Value PLUS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model GVP34GB1600C9DC Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X3 715 Black Edition Heka 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor HDZ715WCJ3DGI - Processors - Desktops then ill probably need to up the psu as well... Newegg.com - RAIDMAX RX-600AF 600W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Power Supply that for $217 + ~$30 cooler... meh it adds up fast! or the quick $130 fix Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more! and maybe upgrade my RAM to something quicker any thoughts on the pros and cons here? for the extra $100 is the performance going to be much better or am I thinking wrong?
found yet another solution, but again, im not really sure of how much performance id would be gaining from my current build and losing from the options here there are a little more expensive: Newegg.com - ASRock N68-S UCC AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7025 / nForce 630a Micro ATX AMD Motherboard Newegg.com - AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition Kuma 2.8GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core Desktop Processor AD785ZWCJ2BGH - Processors - Desktops Newegg.com - Rosewill RCX-Z80-AL 80mm Sleeve CPU Cooler and I would use my current ram also curious, cause ive heard many different things, if I have the 64 bit version of XP, will it use 4 gigs of ram if I have it? I thought I read somewhere that it only supported up to 3 thanks for all the help
Yeah, XP 64-bit will read up to 16gb of RAM. And that build is pretty nice. But check this board out. I think its worth the extra $10 if you have it. It supports a larger variety of DDR3 speeds, unlike the one you chose, and also has better integrated video. And on a personal note, i would take ASUS over ASRock any day. And make sure that CPU cooler comes with Thermal Paste. Let us know what you decide.
well thank you very much for all the help, I think i've figured out what I'll use for the build Rosewill DESTROYER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC ... GeIL Value PLUS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz now I need to figure out if I want to drop the money for windows 7 check my OS and it is the 32 bit ( i was at school away from desktop) or would getting 64 bit xp be cheaper?
