PC Upgrades for Gaming

[JoeMamaLoos]

My game of choice is League of legends, which (using Razer Cortex GameBooster) runs at around 35fps. This computer was given to me from a friend, and the only upgrades I've done were my graphics card (a cheap one I randomly found on eBay) and my RAM. I had 2GB DDR3, and I bought an additional 8GB DDR. I'm fairly new to all of this, so I was wondering if someone had any cheapish (be gentle) upgrades I could do that would be compatible with my current hardware. Would I just be better off starting completely from scratch? I just don't want to have the $70 RAM upgrade be pointless. Is my motherboard even utilizing all of that RAM I put in? It runs 100% better than it did so I assume it is. At the very least, is there just a better compatible graphics card I could get?

My system information (according to Speccy).....PSU wasn't on there but it is 320W max.
CPU
Intel Pentium E5400 @ 2.70GHz 36 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology
RAM
10.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 398MHz (6-6-6-15)
Motherboard
Hewlett-Packard 3048h (XU1 PROCESSOR) 43 °C
(more info on my motherboard http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?calledBy=&docId=emr_na-c00590499-16&docLocale=)

Graphics
SAMSUNG (1600x900@60Hz)
1024MB ATI Radeon HD 5450 (Gigabyte) 54 °C
Storage
232GB Seagate ST3250318AS (SATA) 31 °C
29GB UFD USB Flash Drive USB Device (USB)
Optical Drives
hp DVD-RAM GH40L
Audio
Razer Surround Audio Controller

 

[iballew]

What is the exact model of your hp? That page says your motherboard is only compatible with the old Pentium ds. You are currently running a wolfdale dual core cpu (in plain English, your cpu does not work on the motherboard you listed)

Edit: I was searching around and was finding multiple motherboards with the same name. It would be much easier if I knew the exact model of your pc.

 

[JoeMamaLoos]

What is the exact model of your hp? That page says your motherboard is only compatible with the old Pentium ds. You are currently running a wolfdale dual core cpu (in plain English, your cpu does not work on the motherboard you listed)

Edit: I was searching around and was finding multiple motherboards with the same name. It would be much easier if I knew the exact model of your pc.

HP Compaq 6000 Pro Microtower. There was little to no information physically on my motherboard, but there was a barcode sticker with this on it: 104319737A0125377 VER:A01

 

[iballew]

Great news. Your hp supports the q8000 and q9000 series quad cores. They can still keep up with modern gaming and will be a huge improvement over that Pentium dual core. Before upgrading your cpu, make sure your bios is up to date. The q9650 is stupid expensive because is is the best core 2 quad out there. The q9550 is much cheaper and offers similar performance. They normally go for 50-60$. Because your psu is stock, a gtx 750 or 750 ti would be your best bet. They are both great performers and will be massively better than your 5450.

gtx 750: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121854&cm_re=gtx_750-_-14-121-854-_-Product

gtx 750 ti: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500349&cm_re=gtx_750_ti-_-14-500-349-_-Product

q9550: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-2-Quad-Q9550-2-83GHz-12M-1333-05A-SLAWQ-/151550439802?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23491c317a