Which part to upgrade?

E

Encrtiadude

New Member
Heya,

Name's Enc, & I've got a question I'm hoping someone in this community might be able to help me out with...

Y'see, I've been playing some Xtended Terran Conflict recently, & decided that I kind of have to upgrade my PC (serious lag in the game). I've had this problem for a while now where the Graphics Card has an error (mid game) where the whole screen has to refresh for about 10-20 seconds every now and again, across multiple games (It just so happens that in X3:TC it's non-stop). I presume it's some fault with the Graphics Card physically (since this problem has occurred after updating the drivers, & even clean installs of Windows) so I think I'm probably going to have to buy a graphics card, but since I'm not too Tech savvy (I know how it works, how to install it.. but haven't had a wallet to go spending so don't really know much about specs / comparisons) I was hoping if I post my PC Specs here, someone might be able to help advise me as to what I should invest in.

As for my Specs (If I missed something, please tell me):

ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Intel Core i3 CPU - 530 @ 2.93GHz, 2926 Mhz, 2 Cores,4 Logical Processors
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Gigabyte Technology Co, Ltd. - H55M-UD2H (motherboard?)

If there's anything else I missed... I'm looking through Device Manager / CPU-Z.

Any advice ?
 
We need power supply information. You need to look inside the computer and tell us the brand and model of the PSU (it has all kinds of wires sticking out the back connecting to stuff and will almost deffinatly be in the top or bottom right of the pc). If it's a oem unit from dell or something with a PSU that has never been upgraded, their is no need, you will need a new one no matter what. Also, what's your budget?
 
OCZ Technology - OCZ500SXS2

As it stands, if it's ok with you, a low-down of how able / incapable my PC is so that I have a good footing. Being a student, I'm not going to want to upgrade a whole PC, but find the weakest point then move from there. The budget would therefore be a couple hundred quid.
 
That's an okay PSU, and the CPU sounds okay. Really, I would add a MSI HD 7850 gpu for 200 pounds, and the PC will game pretty good. Also, get a G.skill 2 x 4 gb kit to replace your current 4 gb of ram if you can afford it. I would say just add another 4 gb, but you have to find a stick of the exact same model.
 
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Get a 7770 or a 7850 for less than £200 (7770 is about £80-100 I think and the 7850 around £150). The power supply should be able to handle either one of those.

The CPU is OK, if a tiny bit dated. If you wanted to upgrade to a more powerful CPU without changing your board, you'd have to see if you could get an i5 750 or 760 or i7 8xx chip second hand. Those are quad-core processors. I used to an i5 760 a couple of years ago, fantastic CPU. :) However, if you want to upgrade your processor, I'd probably recommend upgrading your board to something newer too and possibly look at going the Z77 + i5 3570K route, but that will be fairly expensive.

I'd suggest upgrading to 8GB of RAM (2x4GB). Make sure you get DDR3 1600MHz. That'd cost about £50 or so.

So in conclusion I'd look at upgrading your RAM and graphics card, and if you have money left over, maybe look at upgrading to a newer CPU and board combination.
 
As others are saying, I would go with a new GPU. But if you're planning on overhauling the rest of it eventually, don't go with a cheaper GPU, go with a more expensive one. Yes, it will probably be slightly bottlenecked NOW, but when you get other better parts, it will balance out better. IF you can afford it, go for a 7870 XT/Tahiti Le.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

I took a look at the MSI HD 7850 & ordered it for £150 on ebay (with a complimentary copy of the latest Bioshock, Tomb Raider & Far Cry..bioshock caught the interest ;P), but as for overhauling - I'm going to stay the hand for now. I made that purchase yesterday at 8am though, so didn't see Toast's comment 'til now, heh. "VTX3D Radeon HD 7870 - TAHITI L" going for £190 or so on ebay. I'm not that fussed about paying an extra £40, so d'ya think it'd be a such a better investment than the 7850 that I should return the 7850 to get the 7870 ?

Still, cost is only an issue now because of how I'm currently a student. I'm sure that won't be a problem in the future, so will commit to a whole new rig, custom made later on. As for now, I'll just stick with a new GPU. An "Ok CPU" 'll have to do.

I think I might have a better CPU somewhere around actually.. I'll probably post back to know whether it'd be an improvement from my current one or not.

Thanks again guys for the help thus far.
 
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I'd just stick with your 7850. It's probably not worth the hassle and expense of sending your 7850 back and replacing it with a 7870 which isn't an awful lot better. The 7850 is a great card anyway.
 
Ok, when using my original 5700, it had 2 sockets for the Computer Screen. One of which was evidently an old style of connecting Screens, most likely outdated as the 7850 has only 1 sockets which is the one that does not support my screen. Is it possible that I can find a converter for it on ebay? Not even sure what the socket is called, otherwise I'd've checked first. I don't think I'm going to be able to purchase a whole screen haha

Here's hoping..
 
You're probably looking for a VGA to DVI adapter, in which case, yes you can get them very cheaply. They tend to work OK for the most part. They'll be a couple of quid off eBay or Amazon. :)

Check to see if your monitor supports DVI or HDMI though, and if it does, grab either a DVI or HDMI cable to use with your monitor instead of VGA.
 
I was in luck, I neglected to see that 1 was supplied... thanks for the quick response though!

So, quick question.

When do I install the driver for the new card ?

NEVERMIND

Again I rushed into asking for help. The first time I booted it said "Input not supported", but of course, I needed to plug the Disc in first.. so that it'd read the disc.. sorry heh
 
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Should have uninstalled the old driver before replacing the card. Uninstall the old driver, shut down, replace the card, boot up and install the new driver.
 
A 7870 tahiti le is a LOT better than a 7850. A 7870 XT has a tahiti le processor (7950) on a 7870 pcb. Big difference from a 7850..

You'll be happy with the 7850 though. I wouldn't worry.
 
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