Upgrading my pc

[bnpifer]

I have a HP A6000N PC. It currently has 1GB RAM and a AMD Athlon 64 X 2 Duo Core Processor 4200 + 2.20GHZ CPU. I am not sure of the graphics card. It has what it came with. What can I upgrade it to with current mother board as far as RAM what so I need and what is bestt CPU and graphics I can put in it without breaking bank???

 

[saaiello]

It appears that it uses onboard graphics as you video. It does have one PCI-E slot so you can upgrade there but the stock PSU will hold you back a little on what you can upgrade to. I cant find how many watt PSU is in it but I am guessing its probably a 300 watt or 350 watt PSU so with that you are limited on picking a card. A safe pick would be an Radeon HD 5670 that will have no problems running in your box and will give you a huge boost in performance from onboard graphics. Now onto your RAM it has 4 DIMM slots which 2 of them are being used by 512MB PC 4200 DDR2 RAM. It can be upgraded to 8GB using 4 2GB sticks up to DDR2 800. So for a nice upgrade I would say get ditch the RAM that is in there and get a nice 4GB kit of DDR2 800 and get an HD 5670 if you want more power then that you will have to upgrade your PSU.

 

[bnpifer]

how about the CPU? Can I also upgrade it on this motherboard?

 

[saaiello]

The max CPU it will support is an Athlon 64 x2 5600+ (up to 89 watts).

 

[Thadius856]

Before you even think about replacing the CPU, you're going to want to upgrade that RAM. Your system would purr along a lot nicer with 4gb, assuming you have a 64-bit O/S.

Get yourself two 2gb sticks of PC-6400 (DDR2 800). Throw the old sticks at a car on the highway, grind up and feed to the neighbors dog, or anything else you like. That's by far the biggest bottleneck in your system.

After that, go for a new graphics card. As SAAIELLO said, a 5670 would be a reasonable bargain upgrade. Personally, I'd future proof and go with a big power supply and then a big graphics card for use down the road. A 5770 would do just fine as well.

 

[bnpifer]

It says it is a 32 bit. Should I still do as you say?

 

[unknown_13]

It says it is a 32 bit. Should I still do as you say?

If you wanna use all 4GB that you'll eventually upgrade to, yes you would have to go with 64-bit OS.
32-bit OS's use max 3.25GB mem.

Get 2x2GB DDR2 and an HD5670 and enjoy.
And for upgrading your CPU as far your mobo at max supports an X2 5600+, you shouldn't waste your money on CPU upgrade.

 

[Thadius856]

It says it is a 32 bit. Should I still do as you say?

Yes. Get 4gb installed in that system first. Then consider migrating to a 64-bit O/S and working on the other issues as were spelled out previously.

 

[bnpifer]

I am running Windows Vista. Is that a 32 or 64 bit system?

 

[Thadius856]

It can be either. With the system booted, press Win+Break. It should say about half way down the page, in the System section.

Note that you can *install* 4gb of RAM on a 32-bit O/S, just that not all of it will be seen or utilized. That's why I recommended installing the RAM first, then migrating the O/S to 64-bit if it isn't already.

 

[unknown_13]

I think 64-bit systems require at minimum 2GB RAM.
So since you have 1GB you probably have 32-bit OS, but be sure to check it.

 

[bnpifer]

it says windows vista premium home and 32 bit os. Once I install more ram can I cahnge it to 64 bit or do I have to buy something??

 

[Thadius856]

I think 64-bit systems require at minimum 2GB RAM.
So since you have 1GB you probably have 32-bit OS, but be sure to check it.

Never heard of this minimum system requirement... there were computers in the 80's capable of handling 64-bit addressing.

it says windows vista premium home and 32 bit os. Once I install more ram can I cahnge it to 64 bit or do I have to buy something??

Buying Vista retail usually meant you got both 32- and 64-bit versions. You shouldn't have to buy anything else, unless there's some strange OEM stuff going on that I've missed.

You *will* have to reinstall Windows as a 64-bit version though to see more than 3gb of RAM without hackage. There's no easy upgrade path, as they're just too dissimilar.