What should i upgrade

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Advent_Cloud

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Dec 10, 2006
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Hello guys, my current computer is

AMD 5600+ Cpu
2GB RAM (1GB DDR667 x2)
Asus M2N-MX SE Plus Motherboard
7950GT 512MB
640GB WD Harddrive
XP Pro SP3
1440x900 res Monitor

Im looking to upgrade to either to

Intel E5200 and OC to ~3GHz
Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L Motherboard
2GB of DDR800
---------------------------------------------> $250
OR

Sapphire Dual Slot fan HD4850
---------------------------------------------> $250

I dont play games that much, but last i remember playing NFS Pro Street and Undercover, sometimes i would get a few seconds of lagg every few mins. So this upgrade is basically focused on improving game performance.

Which upgrade option do you guys suggest i take? I have no idea at the moment and reason i came up with the CPU, MB and RAM option was because i thought maybe CPU was bottlenecking the graphics card. Or should i just upgrade the graphics card? Both options are the same cost around here...

Opinions appreciated. Thanks :)
 
I dont play games that much, but last i remember playing NFS Pro Street and Undercover, sometimes i would get a few seconds of lagg every few mins. So this upgrade is basically focused on improving game performance.
Click to expand...

Why are we looking to improve something you don't do a lot of? I'm confused. If you want your games to work better, overclock your CPU and buy the new GPU. If you want your computer faster overall, buy the new CPU and mobo. Where are you that a new 4850 costs $250?
 



Ah sorry for confusing you i meant; i don't play games that much so i haven't upgraded my computer in a while. Last time i played NFS it lagged but i never had time to upgrade because i was busy with studies. Now term break is coming up soon so i wanted to upgrade my computer knowing that it was lagging last time i played games....if that makes sense :sweat:

The computer works plenty fine as a homework computer....just games :) I live in New Zealand...computer components are pretty high over here... heres link if your interested in looking at what we pay for this stuff

http://pricespy.co.nz/cat_16.html
 
Ok, I understand now. Got some time coming up, and you want to game on your PC. Last time you tried it didn't go so well, so its time to upgrade before trying again. The CPU and ram are a little slow/small, and the GPU is weak/old. I would upgrade the GPU now if you want better game performance. The 4850 would be good, as would the 4770, 4830, 9800GT, 9800GTX, GTS250. Find one of these that fits your budget, it should work out great.
 
The E5200 wouldn't give you much improvement in games so long as you have that old video card. Upgrade to a 4850 and buy an aftermarket cooler to overclock your CPU. You shouldn't have a problem getting it to around 3 GHz.
 
Thanks for the replys. I will look into buying the graphics card :)

Is there any specific aftermarket cooler that can be suggested to get a 3GHz overclock on this CPU? Im using the stock cooler at the moment and it idles at around 25 Degrees Celsius(Winter now), not sure about load, but in summer it was about 55 Degrees Celsius on load.

I was thinking maybe one of those Artic Cooling Freezer Pro 64 ( $50 🙁 )... or would one of those AMD 6400+ stock cpu coolers with the copper heatpipes be enough ($25 :) )?
 
Yes, what PSU do you have? Not just wattage; please give brand and model. The PSU will likely put an upper limit on the GPU you can use. If it is weak, the good news is that a 4670 uses very little power (and no PCIE power connector), and is still notably better than your 7950 GT.
To me, your symptoms suggest a background task problem. An inadequate CPU or GPU would likely ALWAYS lag to some extent, but OCCASIONAL lagging may be because your system is busy. Check / minimize background processes. Two GB of RAM should be enough; going to 4GB (even if you have 32bit XP which only sees ~3.25GB of it) may help, but it may not.
 
I have one of those Corsair HX520W modular power supply. I think its enough to run a HD4850...Any idea on a cheap heatsink?

@ jtt283; Yeah i thought it was something in the background, but i don't know what it could be. I did an anti-virus scan and found nothing.

NFS Pro Street lagged the worst, its like every 2-3 mins it will lagg for like 7 seconds which was really annoying. When i played Undercover it didnt lagg at first, then after a few days it started to lagg like Pro Street did but then it wouldnt lagg the next day.... I found it strange and it happened again later, so that time i minimized the game and looked around. I found a stupid 'anti-vrius scan running' icon running :fou: So i turned off the auto scan every week feature (which i didnt know was turned on :??: ).

Ok so i thought i fixed the problem, tried Pro Street again, still lagged, tried Undercover again, it didnt lagg very often, but then sometimes it would. Did some googling because i thought the CPU was bottlenecking. I found the AMD Processor Driver and Dual-Core Optimizer, installed those, nothing really changed, so yeah... Im stumped.
 
Don't run your AV in the backrgound 😛 and make sure your computer isn't installing updates to anything. That's a good PSU, enough to run anything solo. Get a 4850 and a Xigmatek classic and enjoy.

What OS are you running? More memory might not be a bad idea either, and its not expensive.
 
I have XP Pro SP3. I think ill buy the card first then see how i go, and maybe upgrade the other stuff later when i really need it. Thanks :)
 
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