Graphics and Processor recommendations?

[Marty9231]

Hi all,

I want to upgrade my current 'gaming' hardware setup. Especially the Graphics card and the Processor. My current ones are:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core processor 4000+
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT (512mb)

I have a relatively slow PC, is this caused by the processor? Because it's only 2.1 GHz?
What would be a better setup to play some heavy games, like Red Alert 3 on HQ, or Crysis etc.?

Another question: A friend of mine said the graph. card was pretty good, so if I replaced the processor I would be able to get much higher preformance, and speed... Is this true?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for my bad English.
Marty

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The video card is nowhere near good. A decent video card for great performance at any resolution upto 1440x900 would be the HD 4670. Light-years faster than that 8500GT and cheap too. (<$100)

The CPU should be okay though, but if you want to upgrade, the only worthy upgrade would be a Phenom II X3 or one of the older Windsor chips with 2MB of L2 cache memory.

 

[Marty9231]

Hmm... maybe I understood my friend wrong.
Nonetheless, if I was to change my graphicscard and maybe my processor, would I need to change anything else to support them?

 

[LinkedKube]

You have a pci E lane it seems and you could upgrade to a more current amd chip with the same motherboard. Make sure you have at least a decent 500 watt psu,

 

[Marty9231]

Ehm, I'm not in to this kind of computer stuff... So I have no idea what all that means, say if I bought a new graphics card, would my pc be able to support it, and where should I check to make sure it does?

 

[LinkedKube]

I know your pc can support any current video card just by seeing the specs of it currently. Its a "pci-E" interface for your video card. You can search newegg.com for the card recommended above.

 

[Marty9231]

Ok, so placing the graphicscard would be no problem, and if I were to buy a new CPU? Where can I check if my motherboard supports that?
If it helps, my current motherboard is: Asus M2A-VM Series (690G)

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

For a CPU, check this list to see which CPUs are supported with which BIOS version. To see if you need a BIOS update or not, check your current BIOS via the Mainboard tab in CPU-Z (Google for the program).

For a video card, it really depends on what resolution you play at and what kind of PSU (Power Supply Unit) you have in your current system.

 

[Marty9231]

Ok, I checked the link provided, and if I search the recommended Phenom II X3 720, it says it isn't compatible with my motherboard, is this right? And I'm not able to find it's compatibility with my BIOS (Phoenix AwardBIOS v6.00PG) If not supported, how can I update it so it is?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Yep, you cannot use any new Phenom II CPU. The next best one would be this CPU IMO. You can also go with this one if you can afford it.

As for updating the BIOS, first go to this page and download the required BIOS zip file. Extract this anywhere and then follow the instructions in this document pertaining to installing the ASUS Update software and the section relating to "Updating the BIOS through a BIOS file". It is pretty easy but if anything screws up, you may need to get a new BIOS chip from ASUS. So do NOT go for the update unless its absolutely necessary and refer to the link on the ASUS Support page I linked you to that tells you how to tell what BIOS version you currently have.

 

[Marty9231]

Ok, that's about all the info I need, thank you for your effort and help!

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

You're very welcome mate.