Looking at upgrading motherboard but dont know how or what?!

[Dekka2107]

Hey all

im a noob when it comes to upgrading computer compoments, im currently playing swtor and whenever i play with 16 ppl my frame rate drops to 7fps, now im assuming that i need to upgrade my mothrboard for several reasons. main reason being i brought DDR2 2GBx4 800Mhz but my motherboard can only ut a max of 400Mhz (i didnt know this at the time as i said im a noob to this kind of stuff but hey gotta make mistakes to learn). so i know im only getting half the output on rams i should be getting.

My motherboard specs is

Manufacturer:- Packard Bell
Model:- EG43M
Chipset:- Intel P45/P43/G45/G43 Rev:A3
Southbridge:- Intel 82801JR (ICH10R) Rev:00
LPCIO:- ITE IT8720

Graphic Interface

Version:- PCI-Express
Link WIdth: x16 Max supported X16.

My graphic card is ATI Radeon HD 5570 1024 MBytes. i dont know what stats are the most important i should be looking at. can some1 plz help and advice what to do etc and what imformation i need to apply... also would this link here be an upgrade for me or not?? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MB-028-AK ... if there anything else i need to ask plz say

 

[patonb]

Nah, your mobo should be able to run ddr2 800. Where are you reading this?
For the record, ddr2 800 reads out as 400mhz in windows as DDR stands for Double Data Rate, so 400 x 2.

I think your computer in general is struggling. You didnt spec your cpu speed, but being 775 socket i'm assuming its under 3Ghz. You gpu also is on the entry level/general computing side.

I would not honestly put money into this setup. Sorry to say.

Welcome to the forum

 

[Dekka2107]

yeah socket is 775A LGA.. thats what im assuming when u said about the socket? as i said im knew to this stuff but i want to learn and the speificiatoon underneath is what u meant be "its under 3GHz"??

speciifaction :- Interl(R) Core (TM)2 Quad CPU Q8300 @ 2.50GHz

as a whole what do i look at when upgrading the system?

 

[patonb]

Yha, lga 775 is what I'm talking about.

Your computer should be just fine, with a q8300... Yha its not super fast, but its still plenty fine

Your issue i think is your gpu for sure. Depending on your power supply size, and case size, you can easily get a pretty good gpu like a gtx 560/amd 68xx card and you'll definately benifit from it.

 

[Dekka2107]

you recommend upgrading my graphics cards?? can i buy any power supply unit to go on a comp? or is there any special requirements i should look out for?

 

[Dekka2107]

also how do i know whats graphic card is better than the 1 ive got?? is there a test or something i can do online?

 

[patonb]

We have a pretty decent list in the stickies:
http://www.techist.com/forums/f76/graphics-performance-list-212331/

But you can also see resualts of independant testing by simply googling the card + review.

You can easily change up your power supply, just a simple switch.

What type of budget do you think you'll want to spend? And where are you from?

 

[Dekka2107]

around 150 but il consider 250.... atm im just doing research and so on

 

[patonb]

For that buydget, I'd get an AMD 6850 or 6870 ($135-$170) and a new power supply like Antec Corsair etc.

I like Antec for the lower priced option

 

[PP Mguire]

Pretty much anything we mention will be at the least 2-3x better than your card. Your GPU is most definitely the problem here.