Looking to upgrade my PC

[sukkafree63]

I'm looking to upgrade my pc that i bought back in march or april of 2010 and im trying to figure out what i can do with my motherboard because the specs on DDR2 RAM are kinda vague on the Asrock webpage and in my motherboard manual. The manual says maximum of 4GB Ram whereas the Asrock site says a maximum of 8Gb with support for 1066/800/667/533<----i know nothing about these.

 

My pc specs are;

 

OS: Windows 7 home premium 64bit

Power pack: Rosewill LC-8360BTX (350W max)

Motherboard: ALiveNF6P-VSTA (Micro ATX)

CPU: AMD Athlon LE-1640 running at 2.71GHz

Chipset: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE/nForce 430

Memory: Single 2GB

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 160Gb

 

 

Im looking to upgrade the Ram to close to the maximum (around 7 or 8Gb according to the Asrock webpage), the CPU, and install some kind of video card (not sure what).

 

I'm trying to build it for gaming (mostly Fallout 3). If anyone has any good recommendations i would appreciate the insight since im new to upgrading pc's.

 

Thanks,

Russ

[prandiningrat]

Asrock site says a maximum of 8Gb with support for 1066/800/667/533

Those are freq. speeds of your memory. usually some manufacturers use 'PC' to determine speed :

PC 8500 - 1066 MHZ

PC 5300 - 667 MHZ

PC 6400 - 800 MHZ

PC 4300/4200 - 533MHZ

before upgrade anything I'd only suggest upgrade your CPU first..you need good CPU and GPU so your system not wasting your planning 8GB RAM..

[sukkafree63]

Any recommendations on a CPU? I was looking at the AMD Phenom Quad Core but I'm not sure what GHz i should get. I'm thinking around what i already have or maybe 3.0 if i can find a good deal on one. NewEgg has theres out of stock right now so I'm gonna have to keep looking around to find one.

 

As far as the Ram do you think i should go with the PC 8500? Or a little lower just to be safe. I use my computer on a daily basis and anything i do to it i need to be completely stable so i don't end up with a huge amount of money down the drain and a pc that doesn't work.

 

Any recommendations would be a huge help. (I'm a pc newb)

[Nadimos]

Yeah, dont take the fastest CPU there is. That is good. Then make it after the price in that range you want.

I dont know about RAM, but check your Motherboards Homepage or Manual for maximum compability.

One thing i do then is go to a big site and read the reviews there and then search for the cheapest price

of the module i want and if i got it all, i recalculate everything and order, wherever it is the cheapest.

 

If i dont understand a tech, i use google and read up on it in the various magazines. Does not take to long and also together with the reviews you will then know what is good for you.

 

Small tip: If you dont already have it, get a better cooler for the CPU. Stock ones are usually crap and i like silent, so i dont mind paying 30-40 bucks here and then it also is silent for real. In my case it is a Scythe Mugen 2.

 

Edit: Ooops, i just red something about mini atx. Might not fit the case then,

which brings me to the next tip: If you buy a cooler, always check for size! ;)

Edited January 27, 2011 by Nadimos

[Illiad86]

This is your CPU, correct? Single core...sheesh, didn't know they still made em.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103239&cm_re=le_1640-_-19-103-239-_-Product

 

It is a Socket AM2 processor, which means your motherboard is Socket AM2. You cannot get a Phenom II x4 because they are socket AM3. Scooting around newegg here, I only see AM2+ quad core available :(

 

Wow, looks like they totally cleaned their stock out of AM2 dual cores too....sheesh.

 

Your motherboard also supports DDR2 RAM. DDR3 is the new stuff about, so you will be paying a fair chunk of money for it now because they don't make it anymore.

 

Pretty much, you'd have to get a new motherboard...sorry.

Edited January 27, 2011 by Illiad86

[Nadimos]

On that note: Gigabyte.

 

And if you get a new graphic card aswell, you must check for power consumption. I dont know for sure, but 350w might be abit tight

depending on what you get.

Edited January 27, 2011 by Nadimos

[Illiad86]

Gigabyte :thumbsup: Got a MA-770T-UD3. Pretty affordable. I got this processor. Not too bad of a price either, but the great thing is, with a little tweaking in the BIOS it can be unlocked to a quad core :biggrin: It's a quad core now overclocked to 4.0GHz on a stock original Phenom x4 cooler :thumbsup:

 

This RAM is pretty nice. But, it all depends on what brand you like. I've never had a problem with Gskill :)

 

As for a graphics card, I'm not to up to date about those now...I have an "old" one...a ATI 5770. It's a pretty nice card. But, that also depends on what brand you like and what type of games you want to play.

 

As for a PSU, you would want to get at least a 600W. Antec is one of the nicer brands. You want to pick out a decent one with high amperage 12V rails.

 

Hope this gives you an idea :)

Edited January 27, 2011 by Illiad86

[sukkafree63]

Cool thanks for that info Illiad86.

 

According to my motherboard manual it supports the following CPU:

 

Socket AM2 for Phenom X4 / X2, Athlon 64FX /64X2 / X2 / 64 and Semprom processors.

 

The Asrock web page states that my board supports: (directly off the Asrock site http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ALiveNF6P-VSTA)

 

- Support for Socket AM2+* / AM2 processors: AMD Phenom™ FX / Phenom / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / Athlon X2 Dual-Core / Athlon 64 / Sempron processor

- AMD LIVE! Ready

- Supports AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet Technology

- FSB 1000 MHz (2.0 GT/s)

- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology

- Supports Hyper-Transport Technology

 

*If you use AM3 / AM2+ CPU on AM2 chipset motherboard, the system bus speed will downgrade from HT3.0 (5200 MT/s) to HT1.0 (2000 MT/s), but the CPU frequency will not be influenced.

It also states that the max ram is 8Gb which is different than what my manual says (4Gb in the manual)....Probably due to constant updates to there website.

 

So as you can see I'm kind of conflicted as far as the CPU goes. I'd like to keep the motherboard i have if possible so i don't have to try and hunt one down that will fit my PC case (its off brand pile of junk with only 2 provisions for cooling and both are 80mm....there is a large vented area on the side access cover that i might be able to put a large fan into somehow)

[Nadimos]

nvm somehow i siwtched to this tab without noticing. Edited January 27, 2011 by Nadimos

[Illiad86]

 

*If you use AM3 / AM2+ CPU on AM2 chipset motherboard, the system bus speed will downgrade from HT3.0 (5200 MT/s) to HT1.0 (2000 MT/s), but the CPU frequency will not be influenced.

It also states that the max ram is 8Gb which is different than what my manual says (4Gb in the manual)....Probably due to constant updates to there website.

 

If you want to keep the motherboard and deal with the Hyper Transport going down so low, go ahead :) You won't see it's full potential until you get an AM3 motherboard, but if you don't have much money to spend, that's a good upgrade :)

 

But still, I'd say you'd be better off getting new parts. It's really not worth paying $60 for 4GB of DDR2 800 when you can get DDR3 1600 for the same price.

 

All depends on your budget I guess. You can actually get a pretty decent case for $60:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007583%204026&IsNodeId=1&name=%2450%20-%20%2475

 

Here's a list of all the cases newegg has from $50-75.

 

Good luck :)