My AMD A4-3300 is underperforming.. upgrade suggestions?

[DR0PBASS]

Hi I am working on my dads pc and I think the cpu might be shot. When running 3dmark Cloud Gate I get an extremely low physics score in the 400's.

Should I try buying a new cpu of the same type? or is there a better upgrade option for the FM1 socket that i could just pop in with out having to change anything else in the rig?

System specs:
CPU
AMD A4-3300 @ 2500mhz

Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-A75M-D2H

Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 4670

RAM
4GB Crucial Ballistix Sport

Hard Drive
64GB Crucial M4

PSU
Antec 350W

 

[kanewolf]

Ignoring the benchmark scores, for a minute, what functions is that PC supposed to support? That A4 is a dual core low performance CPU. According to the CPU support list on Gigabyte's website there are some CPU upgrades that could be made -- http://ca.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-A75M-D2H-rev-10#support-cpu You could get an A8 quad core CPU.

But, rather than spending money on an obsolete PC, a new CPU, motherboard and DDR4 RAM would be a better choice.

 

[das_stig]

A4 is a weak processor and the best you can do is ..

Upgrade motherboard BIOS version to F5 to fix glitches and better support.
Upgrade CPU to Athlon II X4 651 3GHz or the the 651K as it can be overclocked, cheap on Ebay and a better heatsink required.
Add an identical 4GB dimm or upgrade to 8GB, matched pair of dimms, as fast as you can get 1866mhz is the minimum.
Upgrade SSD to a faster SATA3 model.
Clean install of Windows and latest drivers.

 

[DR0PBASS]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm thinking a CPU upgrade as mentioned above sounds good probably going to go with Athlon II X4 651K 3GHz, also I guess I could upgrade the ram to two 4GB dimms. I can't really afford to buy a whole new pc so this seems like the best option for me. Any recommendations on the ram? I don't know exactly what kind I need or what will work. looking for 2x4gb 1866mhz dimms

 

[kanewolf]

The Athlon option assumes you have a discrete video card. It isn't obvious from the original post that you have a discrete graphics card.

 

[DR0PBASS]

I do, it's this exact card: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102792

Would these be okay? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matching-Pair-Corsair-8GB-2x4GB-PC3-15000U-DDR3-1866-NON-ECC-Desktop-Memory-RAM-/182359515782?epid=141716952&hash=item2a75796286:g:XWoAAOSw44BYMKDy