Upgrading E2140 for TF2

[springhalo]

To start off, this is a computer I'm trying to get gaming-ready for my little brother. I just recently upgraded my old Inspiron 530s to a new i3-2100/6850 build. He's currently gaming on an AMD turion 1.6GHz dual core laptop with Radeon HD 4200m graphics. I just got a new screen for my computer, so he'll be adopting a 1440x900 screen.

The old computer has a 1.6GHz e2140 paired with a Radeon 1330x GPU and 3gb DDR2. I'm wondering what should be a higher priority for upgrading the old computer. Getting a new graphics card (5570/5670) or getting a new CPU. I stumbled upon this thread where the poster was upgrading a 530 aswell (to an E5200). My motherboard is also a G33M02, so I think that limits me towards getting a quad core CPU.

My other limitation right now is a 250w PSU, but I believe that should be able to handle a 65w-85w CPU and a ~100w GPU Nicely.

Basically I would like to max or get close to maxing TF2@1440x900

Yet another option could be to get a new/used motherboard that supports overclocking and try to get the e2140 to ~2.8GHz or something.

If I upgrade the CPU, I'll upgrade the GPU later. If I upgrade the GPU, I'll upgrade the CPU later. Though if an e5200 is good, I could probably get a GPU sooner.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[rolli59]

You might have trouble running a PCIe version 2.1 GPU on that motherboard. Looking at everything else it is hardly worth upgrading since upgrading one component gets limited by another. Probably the biggest boost would come from a GPU upgrade but be aware of the no video issue with version 2.1 cards in version 1.x slots. HD4650 would be another option.

 

[springhalo]

would it be possible to get something like this and have the possibility of upgrading to a better GPU and a Q6600 later on? Does that board support overclocking and is overclocking the e2140 feasible?

EDIT: I looked into that board further, and I think it's limited to PCI-e 1.0a aswell.

 

[springhalo]

bump

 

[rolli59]

Intel motherboards are generally bad overclockers, you are better of with board from manufacturers like Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and so on.

 

[springhalo]

Best answer selected by SpringHalo.