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  1. #1
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Need help upgrading

    I know NOTHING about how to upgrade PC's but would like to install a better graphics card and if possible upgrade the speed.

    I have this PC http://www.pcworld.co.uk/product.php?sku=840223 and would like to go from 2.6ghz to around 3.5 if thats possible.

    How do i go about finding what graphics cards fit my PC? Is it possible to get more "speed" out of it?

    Cheers Chris

  2. #2
    Committee, Shop Manager, SE Regional Rep Bigfoot's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Need to know what motherboard is in the computer to see what you can upgrade processor wise as they will only be able to take up to a certain amount on the board. Problem being with upgrading graphics cards on those purpose built computers they only give a big enough power to supply to just do the job its built for. More than likely its going to be a PCI graphics card as its quite a new computer. Space wise is what you need to look at as well as most fast graphics cards are quite long and you will need to make sure it fits in place.

  3. #3
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    cheers Dale i'll try and find what mother board is in it this evening. Is it something that my system will tell me?

    As for the power supply, are these upgradable also?

  4. #4
    Committee, Shop Manager, SE Regional Rep Bigfoot's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Yeah Power supply is easy to upgrade really. Just need to see what watts its producing, most ones from PC world will come with around 250-300watts, you would need to start looking at around 600 if you start looking at powered graphics cards.

    Would need to take the case off and take a look at the numbers on the board that would be easier to do. When your upgrading the processor might be worth looking at getting better cooling on the processor as well as that normally slows it down plus its quite cheap to do so with whats out there. What might be worth looking at though for the money your looking at upgrading, might be worth just being a base unit which is already built as can get decent ones for what you are after for around the £300 mark.

  5. #5
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Where could i get a decent base from mate? How naieve am i, was hoping to spend £100ish

  6. #6
    Shifter of old Freezers djinuk's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    whats the computer going to be used for ?

  7. #7
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Quote Originally Posted by djinuk View Post
    whats the computer going to be used for ?
    Hmm, good question. Its going to be used for everyday word processing, AutoCAD and a little gaming mainly Flight Sim X. Its Flight Sim that i need to make the changes for the most

  8. #8
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Does this mean anything to anyone?
    Attached Files Attached Files

  9. #9
    Non-member tiff_lee's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    An e6600 is a solid cpu no need to upgrade that at all for what you want, that ati card is a piece of crap for gaming that's the problem.

    You can pick up 512mb 8800gt's for about £50 and it will p*** flight simulator, for other things like autocad and normal day to day usage upgrading to 4gb ram would be good as well.

  10. #10
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Quote Originally Posted by tiff_lee View Post
    An e6600 is a solid cpu no need to upgrade that at all for what you want, that ati card is a piece of crap for gaming that's the problem.

    You can pick up 512mb 8800gt's for about £50 and it will p*** flight simulator, for other things like autocad and normal day to day usage upgrading to 4gb ram would be good as well.
    ! Does anyone know a good cheap place to get 4gb RAM? I need DDR2 PC2 -5300?

    Thanks for everyones help

  11. #11
    Committee, Shop Manager, SE Regional Rep Bigfoot's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Hebden View Post
    ! Does anyone know a good cheap place to get 4gb RAM? I need DDR2 PC2 -5300?

    Thanks for everyones help
    http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...BKIT667D2.html

  12. #12
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Cheers Dale, found it for £72 all in from Ebuyer that looks the cheapest

  13. #13
    Non-member tiff_lee's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Yeah ddr2 is an absolute rip now, a few year ago you could pick up 4gb of high speed ram for just £40.

    Do you need to by a 4gb kit? you could add to your existing 2gb? although i'm making the assumption it is 2 x1gb and you have 2 slots spare.

    Alternatively for that kind of money you could pick up an ocz 4 gb kit on ebay for far less plus you're covered with the initial purchase on ebay as paypal guarantees a refund if claim is in your favour (which it would be if item was faulty) plus ocz ram carries a lifetime guarantee.

    Just an idea.

  14. #14
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Quote Originally Posted by tiff_lee View Post
    Yeah ddr2 is an absolute rip now, a few year ago you could pick up 4gb of high speed ram for just £40.

    Do you need to by a 4gb kit? you could add to your existing 2gb? although i'm making the assumption it is 2 x1gb and you have 2 slots spare.

    Alternatively for that kind of money you could pick up an ocz 4 gb kit on ebay for far less plus you're covered with the initial purchase on ebay as paypal guarantees a refund if claim is in your favour (which it would be if item was faulty) plus ocz ram carries a lifetime guarantee.

    Just an idea.
    no i have only two slots so the only way to get 4gb (that i know of) is to get 2 x 2gb ram! I'll have a look into the OCZ 4gb kits thanks

    edit: cant find a 4gb from OCZ that is PC2 - 5300

  15. #15
    Non-member tiff_lee's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    It doesn't need to be pc2 5300 you can get any faster ram it will just run at a slower speed, although cosidering a e6600 has an fsb of 1066 there is no need to run faster ram that slow.

  16. #16
    Non-member tiff_lee's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading


  17. #17
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    So regardless of the other numbers i can use what ever ram i wish? As long as its the correct DDR (to suit the mother board?)

    Thanks for your help

  18. #18
    Non-member tiff_lee's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Basically yes as long as its DDR2, your board will just run 'faster ram' at the slower speed which is no problem, in fact it would allow you to tighten the timings but lets not go there.

  19. #19
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Quote Originally Posted by tiff_lee View Post
    Basically yes as long as its DDR2, your board will just run 'faster ram' at the slower speed which is no problem, in fact it would allow you to tighten the timings but lets not go there.
    Thanks for your help matey! Can you believe i am looking to build a system my self then learn to overclock it and i dont know much about RAM ! Somethings going to go bang!

  20. #20
    Non-member tiff_lee's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Hebden View Post
    Thanks for your help matey! Can you believe i am looking to build a system my self then learn to overclock it and i dont know much about RAM ! Somethings going to go bang!
    Its not hard mate everyone has to start somewhere. My first build was a Duron 1.2ghz with 512mb sdram and a geforce mx440, probably less powerful than an iphone!

    If you need any more help building a rig or overclocking just ask mate i'll be gald to help as no doubt will others on here.

  21. #21
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Quote Originally Posted by tiff_lee View Post
    Its not hard mate everyone has to start somewhere. My first build was a Duron 1.2ghz with 512mb sdram and a geforce mx440, probably less powerful than an iphone!

    If you need any more help building a rig or overclocking just ask mate i'll be gald to help as no doubt will others on here.
    Really appreciated, thank you!

    I'm just sorting out an AMD spec from Overclockers, would you mind having a butchers over it to make sure everything is compatible, i think it should be! As for overclocking that will be a whole different ball game

  22. #22
    Non-member Slim's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    js had a brief look at this post....

    tip: no point having 4GB Ram on a 32 bit O/S .... It will only see 3.5 of it..

  23. #23
    Regional Rep Chris Hebden's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Quote Originally Posted by Slim View Post
    js had a brief look at this post....

    tip: no point having 4GB Ram on a 32 bit O/S .... It will only see 3.5 of it..
    thanks, with the new build i want to go Windows 7 64bit (well thats the plan)

  24. #24
    Non-member tiff_lee's Avatar
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    Re: Need help upgrading

    Quote Originally Posted by Slim View Post
    js had a brief look at this post....

    tip: no point having 4GB Ram on a 32 bit O/S .... It will only see 3.5 of it..
    Yeah I wouldn't really be concerned about this considering you have only 2 slots and the benefits from have 1.5gb more ram far outweigh the fact you won't be able to use 512mb of it.

    It's not as if you had four slots and would goto the trouble of fitting a 2gb, 1gb and a 512mb stick.

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