Newbie looking to upgrade

[Danfalc]

Sorry if there is a thread for this,but it seems to be locked.But I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to computer specs.But I'm sick of getting ripped off for pre made pc's so I want to upgrade myself.

My voltage is 34a
Intel Pentium Dual e2180 2.00ghz
The mother board is a Gigabyte LGA775
And Graphics card is a Geforce 8600gts
2gb of ddr2 memory (planning on getting anohter 2gb)

I also have another sytem,but its a bit older,has a worse graphics card and a single core cpu.It has more memory though and I do prefer AMD,the motherboard is an ASRock 939sli32 esata2, I "think" I was wondering If I should basicaly take out the hdd and scrap this.

I'm Looking to spend about £150 on a graphics card,But Im starting to realize my cpu is probaly going to need upgrading too if I want to game,and that might mean a new motherboard too.I cant really afford it all in one go but Im willing to invest to try and keep this rig future proof as much as I can.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me.
Danny

I just found out you can get an addon for my older so it can go 754/939 to socket 940(AM2)CPU so if thats a better board it might be worth upgrading that instead?.The upgrade is a AM2CPU Board

 

[Ritwik7]

My voltage is 34a

What's that? Are you talking about amperage on your PSU's 12V rail? It would be good if you could tell us the brand and wattage of the PSU you are using.

The mother board is a Gigabyte LGA775

Use CPU-Z to give us the exact model of the motherboard. That way we might be able to see if there are better CPUs that your board supports.

I just found out you can get an addon for my older so it can go 754/939 to socket 940(AM2)CPU so if thats a better board it might be worth upgrading that instead?.The upgrade is a AM2CPU Board

There are a few decent AM2+ CPUs around like the Athlon X2 78f0 Black Edition. However, availability may be an issue.

I'm Looking to spend about £150 on a graphics card

What kind of games are you looking to play and at what settings / resolution?

 

[Danfalc]

What's that? Are you talking about amperage on your PSU's 12V rail? It would be good if you could tell us the brand and wattage of the PSU you are using.

Sorry about that,The make is EZcool and its 500w

Use CPU-Z to give us the exact model of the motherboard. That way we might be able to see if there are better CPUs that your board supports.

(Intel board) GA-73m-S2

There are a few decent AM2+ CPUs around like the Athlon X2 78f0 Black Edition. However, availability may be an issue

.

My older board with the AMD chip is an AsRock 939 Dual Sata, ULi M1695/M1567.I think its pretty dated now,you can get an addon which lets you go from the 939 to 940 chip pin but I think it might just be easier to upgrade my Intel sytem.

Sorry for any misunderstanding,most of this stuff flies right over my head.As for what games I play,well I'd consider myself a casual gamer.Not hard core by any means.Current games I'm playing include Dragon Age,and Bioshock 2.I'd like my PC to be a viable gaming alternative to my xbox360.

I did some research and my intel motherboard can support a Intel CPU Core 2 duo E8500 3.16ghz,which seems a step up from my current Intel E2180 at 2.00ghz

Also after reading various reviews,I'm considering a "ATI Radeon HD 4890" or maybe a "ATI Radeon HD 5850"

Would these be good choices?.Anyway thank you for the reply,and for having the patience to deal with my stupidity when it comes to this sort of thing

 

[Ritwik7]

The E8500 is an excellent CPU. You could even get the E8400 for a little lesser as the E8500 is just an overclocked version of it.

I think your motherboard supports a maximum of 4GB of memory. You could therefore increase your memory too.

If you can afford it, the HD 5850 would be a great choice. However, you might need to change your PSU. How many amps do you have on the 12V rail?

 

[Danfalc]

The E8500 is an excellent CPU. You could even get the E8400 for a little lesser as the E8500 is just an overclocked version of it.

I think your motherboard supports a maximum of 4GB of memory. You could therefore increase your memory too.

If you can afford it, the HD 5850 would be a great choice. However, you might need to change your PSU. How many amps do you have on the 12V rail?

My PSU has 34 amps.I never would of realised this would of been a factor when upgrading so ithe advice is much appreciated.Same about getting the slightly cheaper E8400.

Thanks you so much for all your help!

 

[Ritwik7]

Theoretically your PSU should be able to run the HD 5850. It seems to have sufficient wattage and amperage on the 12V rails. Yest, to be on the safer side, I suggest you atleast look for a PSU like the Corsair 550VX.

 

[klepto12]

why not just grab the 5770 and e8400 with 4gb of ram? or wait for the 5830 to come out