Old System - Upgrade advice please

[ShaneMcG]

Graphics ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 Pro with 512 MB DDR2 RAM, DirectX 10, double monitoring, PCI Express, 2x DVI/-I(with HDCP-support), HDMI and VGA via adapter, TV out

Is the current card - slots available below

Internal slots 1x PCIE (16x) / 1x PCIE (1x) / 2x PCI, 4x SATA, 1x PATA, 1xFDD
Free slots: 1x PCI-E(1x); 1x PCI, 2x SATA 1x FDD

Thanks very much in advance all advise welcome

 

[Pc6777]

What's the rest of the systems specs?

 

[ShaneMcG]

Processor/cooler AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 5200+ Dual Core with Hyper-Transport und QuantiSpeed, Arctic Cooling Super silent cooling solution
Motherboard Pegatron® by ASUS® M2A-VM, Micro-ATX (Targa Edition), AMD® 690G chipset
Memory 2.048 MByte DDR2 667 RAM
exp. up to 8 GByte DDR-RAM
Graphics ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 Pro with 512 MB DDR2 RAM, DirectX 10, double monitoring, PCI Express, 2x DVI/-I(with HDCP-support), HDMI and VGA via adapter, TV out
TV card Hauppauge® analogue TV-Tuner, DVB-T tuner and FM Stereo
Audio High Definition Audio, analogue and SPDIF out (RCA and optical)
Harddisc 500 GByte Seagate® with 7.200 r.p.m., 8 MB Cache, SATA port
Optical drives Toshiba ® HD DVD-ROM 2,4x SL/DL, 15x CD-R/RW, 5xDVD±R, 5x DVD±RW, 5x DVD±R DL

Optiarc® SATA Multinorm Dual/Double Layer DVD/CD Writer
Write: 20x DVD+R, 20x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+RW, 8x DVD+R Dual Layer, 8x DVD-R Dual Layer, 12x DVD-RAM
48x CD-R, 32x CD-RW
Read: 48x CD-ROM, 48x CD-R, 16x DVD-ROM, 12x DVD-RAM
Card reader 8-in-1 card reader device, supports 15 different media types; reads and writes CompactFlash®, Sony Memory Stick®, Sony Memory Stick Pro®, SD Card™, Smart Media™, IBM/Hitachi Microdrive and Multi-MediaCard (for digital cameras, MP3 players, etc.)
Communication/LAN 10/100/1000 Mbit Ethernet, Wireless LAN Stick according to IEEE 802.11g, downwards compatible to WIFI-Standard
Interfaces front 8-in-1 Card reader, 4x USB 2.0, 1x Line Out, 1x Mic In
Interfaces rear 2x PS/2
4x USB 2.0
1x RJ45 (Gigabit-LAN)
1x LPT-Port/ parallel
3x Audio-Out (6-channel),
1x SPDIF-Out (RCA)
1x SPDIF-Out (optical)
1x Line-In
1x Microphone
2 x DVI-I (HDMI and VGA via adapter)
1x Video-Out (Adapter to S-Video-, Composite- and Components-Out)
1x Firewire IEEE 1394 6pin
1x Video-In (RCA)
2x Audio-In (l/r, RCA)
1x DVB-T & analogue TV antenna
1x FM antenna
Internal slots 1x PCIE (16x) / 1x PCIE (1x) / 2x PCI, 4x SATA, 1x PATA, 1xFDD
Free slots: 1x PCI-E(1x); 1x PCI, 2x SATA 1x FDD
Keyboard Wireless RF multimedia keyboard
Mouse Optical, wireless RF scroll mouse
Measurements (WxHxD) 198mm x 450mm x 510mm
Weight ca. 14,5kg
Scope of delivery • RF mouse and Keyboard incl. batteries
• USB receiver for mouse and keyboard
• WLAN USB dongle
• Remote control incl. batteries
• Video adapter
• USB receiver for RC
• Manual
Warranty /Service 3 years incl. On-Site service and hotline

This are the full original specs, what I have changed just from that is the RAM now max 8gb. What im really wondering if I upgrade the card, will the rest of the system bottleneck it. And b should I just start again or can iget a little juice up using different upgrades/software then I am now

Thanks a lot in advance

 

[Pc6777]

I recomend getting a new system if you can. Your dual core cpu will hold you back. It's a pretty old system. If there are any quad core cpus for that motherbaord that would help a bit along with more ram. For the gpu I wouldn't spend too much beacuse your system would bottleneck anything half decent even if you upgraded to a quad core (if they make any for that mobo) you can gtx 950s for a little over 100 dollars, or you could wait for the rx 460(I recomend it) but if you can't get a quad core in there it's not worth investing in a new gpu. Dual cores (except modern i3s) are not for gaming at all, you at least need a quad core (dosnt even need to be a good quad core, as long as it's not complete garbage) I recomend 8 gigs of ram(at least 6) but if you don't mind closing everything in the backround while you game 4 gigs is enouf for most games. Again, if you can't upgrade your cpu take not worth investing in a new gpu for your pc.also, do you have any info on your power supply, you may need to upgrade it to get a new gpu.

 

[tsnor]

Updating the video card on this system will give you substantially better gaming. The following assumes that gaming is what you want to do. If you want to do something different please post. If you have more details like "I want to play these 3 games at high settings post that". If want you want is to browse the web faster a video card update likely won't help.

The AMD 5200 is an older CPU, but it's not a horrible one. Updating this PC with a $100 budget is not a bad thing. But if you have $600 then starting over from scratch is a good idea. I still have a 5200+ plus running as a media server.

Your current video card is terrible for gaming. It was slow the day you got it, and it is horrible now. You can replace it for $75 to $100 and get a much better experience.

To know what cards to recommend we need your current power supply output. If you give us the maker/model number of your PC likely we can find this by googling. Or you can open the case and read the yellow sticker on the power supply. It will say something like "20a at 12V".

We also need to know your CASE size. Most video cards are full size. Some are low profile. If you have a small form factor case you need a low profile card. Again, make/model# of the PC will let us google it.