What to Update?

[JBURNS489]

I have a friend who has asked me for advice on what to update. All he does is surf, email, watch you tube and other videos, etc.....no gaming at all. I am not sure what to tell him. He has buffering issues watching Youtube videos at high resolution. He doesn't need anything high end or anything crazy expensive, as far as I can tell. If more info is needed, just let me know, but this is what I know about his computer:

EMachines ET1331G
AMD Athlon II X2 235e Processor 2.7 GHz
EVGA GeForce 8400 GS 1024MB DDR3
Installed Ram 6.00 GB
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[pigeoncracker]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($37.50 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($72.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Logisys CS6801BK MicroATX Mini Tower Case w/350W Power Supply ($42.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $318.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-12 23:12 EDT-0400

Cheap, will run fast. He shouldn't have any issues. This is an entire PC build with better integrated graphics than what that 8400 GS has.

It's an old machine. He's going to update everything if he wants an improvement.

 

[Gavin Mathis]

He needs to upgrade his gpu. Something like a GTX 750 TI would be good enough. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487024&cm_re=gtx_750-_-14-487-024-_-Product

 

[pigeoncracker]

He needs to upgrade his gpu. Something like a GTX 750 TI would be good enough. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487024&cm_re=gtx_750-_-14-487-024-_-Product

With an Athlon II? It would bottleneck it to all hell!

For just watching a youtube video at a high quality (you're talking 1080p or something, right?) the minimum is a cheap AMD APU. The integrated GPU on the Skylake CPUs is good enough for 1440p videos.

 

[geofelt]

While I like the I3-6100 and the ssd in the best answer post, I must disagree on two details.
1. When you are using integrated graphics, it is important to use a dual channel ram kit.
2. The only psu Included with a case that I would trust is Antec.
Logisys is considered a tier 5 and to be avoided because it is unsafe.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

 

[pigeoncracker]

While I like the I3-6100 and the ssd in the best answer post, I must disagree on two details.
1. When you are using integrated graphics, it is important to use a dual channel ram kit.
2. The only psu Included with a case that I would trust is Antec.
Logisys is considered a tier 5 and to be avoided because it is unsafe.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

I entirely forgot about the dual channel thing. I just need to write the damn thing down somewhere. I even thought about it.

The aim with the PSU was to make it cheaper, but I see your point nevertheless. A different PSU would be better. Could you point him to a better PSU for the case that'll keep the price relatively low?

I'm crap with PSUs xP