Upgrading the processor on my PC

[remal]

I have an 2/3 year old PC my cousin built for me and am looking at upgrading the processor.

I have a AMD Athlon 2400+ and am finding new games such as Battlefield2 and GTR struggle and most games are set to medium or low setting to help with speeding up the game.

And what would people recommed for about £150-250

I have 1GB of ram and 256Mb 5800 nvidia graphics cards that I put in about 6 months ago.


Will upgrading the CPu help speed up my PC? and as i have never replaced a processor before how easy it to do. does it just need me to tees out the old CPu and replace with the new one. then re-install windows and the new drivers?

i was thinking of buying a new PC but if its just my CPu I would prefer to stay with the PC I have

you help is greatly needed

regards

[pdV6]

You need to find out and post here what make & model of motherboard is in your PC for us to be of any help with this one.

[petros]

Look on e bay, there are some seriously fast processors for sale. Don't forget though, fast processors run hot, make sure you have plenty of cooling.

[remal]

pdV6 said:

You need to find out and post here what make & model of motherboard is in your PC for us to be of any help with this one.

Right just had a looky

I got a MSI KT4 Ultra

www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?articleid=135

What next

[pdV6]

That review said:

Supports Socket A (Socket 462) for AMD Athlon XP Athlon/Duron processor Supports 800MHz up to 1.8GHz (Athlon XP 2200+) processor

So if that's right you're maxed out on the processor already I'm afraid.

[RemaL]

OK so how difficult would it be for me to upgrade the motherboard and processor? is it just one out one in. new processor added then install windows?

[Pigeon]

All correct apart from the last couple of words

[Zod]

Pigeon said:

All correct apart from the last couple of words

meaning of course that there is no need for a full install.

He wants to play games, not fart around with Linux!

[RemaL]

Right, now. What would be cheaper. If I need a new motherboard, CPU, I would also like a DVD-RW,r+- and a LCD, and a larger HD or get a new PC. I ask as I have seen many PC for around £1000. looks like I may spend that ont he bits I need to upgrade



Any ideas?.



Ans any suggestions on Mortherboards, processors to look at as their are loads avalible but i'm not sure what I would need?

Again I want to get them to play good games and not have to upgrade in 6months time

[__Lee__]

Quite often it is now cheaper to buy a new machine than upgrade.

Take a look at this and this is not that cheap!. When you shop around you can get some really good stuff for cheap now due to the PC's cut throat price market.

You might want to consider one of the new PCI-E graphics cards though to future protect the machine as much as possible.

There are a lot of bargains out there to be had if you look around.

[pdV6]

__Lee__ said:

future protect

[remal]

I have bought a MESH Laptop for work a few months ago and have been looking at their desktops. anyone have one of these? and are they any good?

Still not sure whether to try and upgrade my PC. it really needs a few things I have said above.

[__Lee__]

pdV6 said:

__Lee__ said: future protect

Hey!, you know what I mean.

I always reccomend that people get the best that they can reasonably afford so it will stay useable for as long as possible.

[__Lee__]

remal said:

I have bought a MESH Laptop for work a few months ago and have been looking at their desktops. anyone have one of these? and are they any good? Still not sure whether to try and upgrade my PC. it really needs a few things I have said above.

The problem is that unless you can source the parts for a more reasonable price then your wasting your time in most cases.

The companies that make PC's can buy the parts at dirt cheap, much more than half as much as you pay in the shops.

[mcflurry]

RemaL said:

Right, now. What would be cheaper. If I need a new motherboard, CPU, I would also like a DVD-RW,r+- and a LCD, and a larger HD or get a new PC. I ask as I have seen many PC for around £1000. looks like I may spend that ont he bits I need to upgrade Any ideas?. Ans any suggestions on Mortherboards, processors to look at as their are loads avalible but i'm not sure what I would need? Again I want to get them to play good games and not have to upgrade in 6months time

IMHO if you want to play games, buy a console not a pc. The game specs change quickly, upgrades are costly etc.
Also an LCD monitor is probably not as good as an old fashioned CRT for gaming unless you spend loads of money and don't buy (too) cheaply.

[remal]

I got a xbox and PS2 but play on the PC more than the consoles. Better games out for them. I And online PC games are much better too. like counter strike and battlefield2. that why I need to upgrade.

it may cost me quite a bit to upgrade my PC so thats way I may need to geta new PC me thinks

[mcflurry]

remal said:

I got a xbox and PS2 but play on the PC more than the consoles. Better games out for them. I And online PC games are much better too. like counter strike and battlefield2. that why I need to upgrade. it may cost me quite a bit to upgrade my PC so thats way I may need to geta new PC me thinks

Fair enough, maybe pick up a copy of micro mart, there are a couple of high end builders in there