Help uprading from A6-3620

[Gaborik]

I'm looking to upgrade my old pc to be able to play some games at a respectable frame rate on medium-high settings. I have a gateway dx series with the following specs:

CPU- AMD A6 3620 APU 2.2GHz
RAM- 6GB
HDD- 500 GB HDD
OS- Windows 8.1
Graphics card- AMD Radeon HD 6530D
PSU- 300W

I'm a real noob with all this stuff but from what I've gathered I almost definitely have to replace to the PSU. As far as the graphics goes, I've heard I can crossfire with a couple graphics cards and maybe overclock the CPU.

I'm wondering if anybody has any advice on how to proceed, whether it be crossfire or something else. The maximum I'm willing to spend is around $200 cdn (~185 US or €140) all in.

 

[clutchc]

I doubt your MB will allow CF, unless you are referring to AMD Dual graphics where the discrete card works with the on-die GPU. That really isn't a good solution however. I have tried it. Not impressed.

Do you know what motherboard you have? Or at least state the exact model of Gateway PC.

 

[Gaborik]

I doubt your MB will allow CF, unless you are referring to AMD Dual graphics where the discrete card works with the on-die GPU. That really isn't a good solution however. I have tried it. Not impressed.

Do you know what motherboard you have? Or at least state the exact model of Gateway PC.

It's a DX4370-UR21

 

[clutchc]

That's a pretty weak processor for gaming. And the on-die GPU is not very good for gaming either.
I would suggest a low/med level discrete gfx card for the least expensive way to improve performance. Unless you are up for replacing the motherboard, CPU, and buying a gfx card. But I doubt you could do all that for $185 USD.

What is the resolution of your monitor?

 

[Gaborik]

I'm currently using an old tv with a resolution of 1024 x 768 as a monitor, but should be getting a 1600x900 monitor from a friend shortly.

 

[clutchc]

I'm currently using an old tv with a resolution of 1024 x 768 as a monitor, but should be getting a 1600x900 monitor from a friend shortly.

The HD 7750 or R7-250/250X would be all I'd trust with that 300W OEM power supply. Either card will fly at 1024x768, and still be fairly decent at 1600x900. If you upgrade the PSU and card together, you can do this for ~$185.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371045
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127790

The only trouble you may face, is that sometimes OEM manufacturers like Gateway will have a proprietary BIOS that may be 'locked' when it comes to recognizing cards that they themselves don't sell. Chances are you'll be OK, but I better throw that out there.

 

[Gaborik]

That's a pretty weak processor for gaming. And the on-die GPU is not very good for gaming either.
I would suggest a low/med level discrete gfx card for the least expensive way to improve performance. Unless you are up for replacing the motherboard, CPU, and buying a gfx card. But I doubt you could do all that for $185 USD.

What is the resolution of your monitor?

I'm currently using an old tv with a resolution of 1024 x 768 as a monitor, but should be getting a 1600x900 monitor from a friend shortly.

The HD 7750 or R7-250/250X would be all I'd trust with that 300W OEM power supply. Either card will fly at 1024x768, and still be fairly decent at 1600x900. If you upgrade the PSU and card together, you can do this for ~$185.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371045
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127790

The only trouble you may face, is that sometimes OEM manufacturers like Gateway will have a proprietary BIOS that may be 'locked' when it comes to recognizing cards that they themselves don't sell. Chances are you'll be OK, but I better throw that out there.

I can't open those links, it just takes me to newegg.ca homepage and shows the menu bar with r7-265?. Also just to make sure, the parts you suggested should fit in the gateway case and won't bottleneck the cpu?

If so I think I'm going to go ahead and get the R7-265 and a new PSU as you suggested

 

[clutchc]

That's weird that you can't open the links. I just tried them again and they work fine. Try clearing your browser cache. Or just search the items out at Newegg for yourself. Or Amazon. Or Tiger. Or where ever you like to shop.

Your APU is about the performance of the older 2.6 GHZ Athlon II X4 620. http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-Athlon-II-X4-620-vs-AMD-A6-3620
I had one of those with a HD 7850 that performed fine. The R7-265 is basically the HD 7850 renamed. So you should be fine as far as bottleneck goes. But that is about the best you'd want to pair up with that A6. There may be a small amount of CPU bottleneck on CPU intensive games, but most games are GPU demanding more so than CPU demanding. If you want to save a few bucks, you could back off to the R7-260X. That's the old HD 7790.