best upgrade for asus p5gc-mx 1333

[Coleman Stoll]

I'm looking for the best GPU and CPU upgrade I can put in a little budget build I got. It had an Asus p5gc-mx 1333 mobo with a core 2 duo clocked at 2.33ghz and a geforce 6200 le GPU and a 380 watt PSU like I said I just want to know what the best GPU and CPU for this build is. I already plan on upgrading the RAM from 2gb to 4

 

[BadPeteNo]

A few thoughts--
CPU: For what those chips go for, you probably don't want to upgrade. New chips for the same price are far better. Mind you, what you have isn't too shabby. Why not overclock it a bit? That's free (unless you screw up really bad and fry your chip). You may find that $150 or so for a marginally faster dual core isn't really worth it.

PSU: You very well may need a better PSU if you plan to upgrade the video card substantially. Make sure to check the requirements for the card and take into consideration that older PSUs can't put out like they did when they were young.

RAM: If you upgrade to 4 GB, you OS might not recognize all of it. 32 bit OS's can only see 4 GB total including virtual memory. You can turn virtual memory off, but some programs will refuse to work without it. I don't know off the top of my head is your CPU can even run a 64 bit OS.

GPU: Again, make sure to check the power requirements. Most decent new cards require extra power cables also. One potential deal breaker is the PCIE revision. I couldn't find it in the spec and judging by its age it could only be 1.0 or 1.1. If it's 1.0, it will take SOME 2.0 cards. If it's 1.1, it will take any 2.0 card. If it's 2.0, it will take any card. There was a change in the power requirements between 2.0 and 2.1 cards that broke compatibility, and so the older slots can't take the newer cards. If you call ASUS, they'll be able to confirm what revision it is. You can try asking a friend to let you borrow one to test it.

 

[Coleman Stoll]

A few thoughts--
CPU: For what those chips go for, you probably don't want to upgrade. New chips for the same price are far better. Mind you, what you have isn't too shabby. Why not overclock it a bit? That's free (unless you screw up really bad and fry your chip). You may find that $150 or so for a marginally faster dual core isn't really worth it.

PSU: You very well may need a better PSU if you plan to upgrade the video card substantially. Make sure to check the requirements for the card and take into consideration that older PSUs can't put out like they did when they were young.

RAM: If you upgrade to 4 GB, you OS might not recognize all of it. 32 bit OS's can only see 4 GB total including virtual memory. You can turn virtual memory off, but some programs will refuse to work without it. I don't know off the top of my head is your CPU can even run a 64 bit OS.

GPU: Again, make sure to check the power requirements. Most decent new cards require extra power cables also. One potential deal breaker is the PCIE revision. I couldn't find it in the spec and judging by its age it could only be 1.0 or 1.1. If it's 1.0, it will take SOME 2.0 cards. If it's 1.1, it will take any 2.0 card. If it's 2.0, it will take any card. There was a change in the power requirements between 2.0 and 2.1 cards that broke compatibility, and so the older slots can't take the newer cards. If you call ASUS, they'll be able to confirm what revision it is. You can try asking a friend to let you borrow one to test it.

yeah it is 64 bit thats the first thing i checked when i got the system i'm running 7 ultimate x64 without a hitch. i was looking at the 6670 for the gpu I was looking through the reviews and it requires no additional power connector and there were several people in the reviews running it on 6 years old systems with only 300w psu's. from what it looks like the mobo is only PCIe 1.0 x16

 

[Coleman Stoll]

A few thoughts--
CPU: For what those chips go for, you probably don't want to upgrade. New chips for the same price are far better. Mind you, what you have isn't too shabby. Why not overclock it a bit? That's free (unless you screw up really bad and fry your chip). You may find that $150 or so for a marginally faster dual core isn't really worth it.

PSU: You very well may need a better PSU if you plan to upgrade the video card substantially. Make sure to check the requirements for the card and take into consideration that older PSUs can't put out like they did when they were young.

RAM: If you upgrade to 4 GB, you OS might not recognize all of it. 32 bit OS's can only see 4 GB total including virtual memory. You can turn virtual memory off, but some programs will refuse to work without it. I don't know off the top of my head is your CPU can even run a 64 bit OS.

GPU: Again, make sure to check the power requirements. Most decent new cards require extra power cables also. One potential deal breaker is the PCIE revision. I couldn't find it in the spec and judging by its age it could only be 1.0 or 1.1. If it's 1.0, it will take SOME 2.0 cards. If it's 1.1, it will take any 2.0 card. If it's 2.0, it will take any card. There was a change in the power requirements between 2.0 and 2.1 cards that broke compatibility, and so the older slots can't take the newer cards. If you call ASUS, they'll be able to confirm what revision it is. You can try asking a friend to let you borrow one to test it.

Also thanks for the awesome in-depth response 😀

 

[Coleman Stoll]

also for some reason i cannot seem to update the bios it always says that the file i am running is incompatible with my OS and the update tool from asus is for both 32bit and 64bit so i am confused.

 

[BadPeteNo]

hmmm... not sure on the bios update, but I'd say call asus. You get a live tech in indiana and they're pretty helpful.