PC Upgrade question

hj2k_x

hj2k_x

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Howzit. My PC is more than two years old but i cant afford to buy a new one right now...poor student i am and u should see varsity's fees this year- crazy!

Anyway, i am wondering if there is anything that i can swopout/replace that will increase performance and/or stability...

I am running an

AMD Athlon 2500 @1.83mhz
Chaintech Summit 7NJL3 mobo
1 gig DDR400 RAM (2 x 512MB)
2 x 80 gig western digital hdd
ATI Radeon 9250 128MB graphics card

Windows XP Professional

ATM i cannot write a CD and do other stuff at the same time as it either ends in some kind of crash or a CD with errors on it. I can get some more RAM for a resonable price- will this help at all?

Playing new games such as NFS or SWAT4 or FIFA2006 causes random crashes which i have put down to the graphics card overheating...Is there a cheap replacement that would allow me to play some of the latest games at least?

Is there anything i can do without replacing the CPU and the mobo to improve things performance and stability-wise?

Any help would be appreciated

l8rs

h
 
With your current setup you should not have CD burning issues. Unless of course if you have a crappy CD burner.
 
I think maybe you need to do some Windows cleaning first.....
If you want:
Download crap cleaner from cleaner.com run it and also run the issues check....
Run adaware
Run spybot
Update antivirus(and keep updated)
Get good firewall(sygate free edition)
etcetcetcetc
Download Hijackthis-run it and save the log file and PM me...
That should get the OS out the way....
Then you can start worrying bout spending money on Hardware....
It's up to you if you wanna do those things but I would recomend it,not one thing but all.
 
I would go for a better mainboard... Chaintech not the best brand. (maybe an upgrade of CPU 2, but the 2500 should be ok for now)
Maybe upgrade Graphics card - Check out www.dotcomputers.co.za for prices

To make it more stable i would reinstall windows on one of the drives - fresh install makes everything work nicely.
 
hj2k_x said:
AMD Athlon 2500 @1.83mhz
Click to expand...

Mybe stop underclocking it. 1.83MHz is really slow - try to get it into the GHz range, and it may be quicker. :)
 
Claymore said:
Mybe stop underclocking it. 1.83MHz is really slow - try to get it into the GHz range, and it may be quicker. :)
Click to expand...

Well 1.83 IS NOT UNDERCLOCKING A 2500+.

1.83ghz is the stock speed for this CPU so no problems there.

http://stores.tomshardware.com/rating_getprodrev.php/product_id=697070/id_type=M//

The link has the specs for it.

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (1.86GHz, 512KB, 333MHz, Socket A) - OEM(Link says 1.86 but pretty sure it is 1.83)

Found a better link

http://www.epinions.com/content_131437268612

Multiplier of 11

The multiplier is an internally set number which allows the processor to multiply the clock speed to achieve higher GHz. For the AMD 2500 at stock multiplier and FSB, you have 11 * 166 clock = 1826MHz, or 1.83GHz.
Click to expand...
 
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Claymore said:
Mybe stop underclocking it. 1.83MHz is really slow - try to get it into the GHz range, and it may be quicker. :)
Click to expand...


My appologies for the previous post as mentioned to luke I am a little sick today and didnt read your post very well. :D
 
EchoDown said:
Download crap cleaner from cleaner.com run it and also run the issues check....
Click to expand...
Rather try the one from ccleaner.com, otherwise you are going to have a house full of butt cracks trying to clean your toilets :D
 
decent graphics card would help the games massively.
 
Yeah but if u gonna upgrade rather do it in one go and not in bits and bobs...

Like if u need a new graphics card get a pci express card and not an agp... But thant means u will have to get a new motherboard... then a new cpu... then ram... blah blah... so rather save up till u can get it all in one go... makes the PC more future proof.
 
Hey guys.

Thanks for the feedback so far...

Thing is, i have just installed a fresh copy of windows and that doesnt seem to have done anything. Didnt mention that earlier...

So i figured the next thing to go for would be hardware...

What sort of a price should i be looking to pay for a decent mobo nowadays? Cos mine was about the cheapest that there was back when i bought it...

h
 
Ideally,
Mbo wize:
Asus-stability
DFI-Overclock
MSI,ABIT-second choices
GIGABYTE-Crudd ie not good.

So,You want a 939 mobo,an AMD 3200+ CPU....Best bet....
Then your GFX card is out of date man.
Multitasking problems can be indicative of RAM problems,but can also be lack of processing power,or general outdated machine..leave the New RAM as a last resort for now,try stick with that 1gig.
EDIT:Price wize mate:R600 to R1500,depends.
 
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Definately get a new graphics card if you are looking for one single piece of hardware to buy. That chip is still fine especially if it is the barton core version.
I would reccomend a 6600GT, you can get them for R1150 at the cheapest. Will run all those latest games fine even with the rest of your system.
 
Haat,can you tell me what writing CD's and doing other stuff at the same time(multitasking)has to do with Graphics cards???
That mobo only supports AGP cards so basically you are telling him to upgrade to AGP,this is just costing him more money because at the end of the day AGP IS DEAD....the last AGP card is coming this year.....So he will just have to buy another graphics card to use PCI-e .....You cannot delay the inevitable.
 
NO, it has nothing to do with the graphics card, but he also wanted a better system and one that doesnt crash playing games (put down to card overheating) and can handle the latest games. This a graphics card will help with and it is the best buy to increase the overall game performance. The issues of AGP, well obviously go for PCI Express if you can afford it, still prob go for the 6600GT if you on a budget. I was just think of a person with limited cash, as you would need a new chip then as well and likely new ram, almost a whole new system which he said he cant afford.
 
Best solution:

Ask your friends for welfare and try and build a new PC.

or

Take another loan from your student loan and give up sleeping for that fourth job, because it's worth getting a new PC.

or

Find out how much you can spend over what period and post that, so we can give you good options.
 
Carlhead said:
Best solution:

Ask your friends for welfare and try and build a new PC.

or

Take another loan from your student loan and give up sleeping for that fourth job, because it's worth getting a new PC.

or

Find out how much you can spend over what period and post that, so we can give you good options.
Click to expand...

or

Buy from me at cheaper prices

or

Get credit card and buy on budget over 6 months

or

I take it your at UCT or some large institution in CT with lots of other people - see how many orders you can get for computers\laptops\hardware and you can work off your pc doing nothing really. For every sale that comes through you i'll give you a % you can take it cash or in hardware.
 
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