Upgrading my PC

[myles]

Hi all,

I am looking to upgrade my PC for both gaming and video editing use. I'm looking to play games such as Red Orchestra 2, Guild Wars 2, Skyrim, amongst others at a reasonable frame rate and graphics setting. I am also a cameraman by trade and am looking to upgrade my system to assist with freelance editing via Adobe Premier CS3 for the time-being.

My current PC specs are below:

Operating System: Windows XP Professional Edition SP3
System Model: Amilo Desktop PI3410A
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7300 @ 2.66Ghz (2 CPUs)
RAM: 3GB
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS @ 1440x900 32Bit 75Hz

Now I'm not particularly tech-savvy, but from doing some research on external websites I believe my primary upgrades would be to my graphics card and my processor? I'm honestly not entirely sure as to how expensive it would be to get a new processor, do I need to get a new motherboard or...?

As for graphics cards, I've been looking at the Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCIE. Would this be a viable upgrade to be future-proof for a couple of years? I'm looking to spend around £100-£150 max on a graphics card, so any suggestions are welcomed.

Any help appreciated.

 

[PP Mguire]

6870 would be a great upgrade in the graphics department, but your CPU/Mobo/RAM are very aged. To really take advantage of that GPU it would require to upgrade those and go with Windows 7.

 

[myles]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm looking to upgrade my PC over the next few months (as money trickles in). How would you say I should prioritise this process? Graphics Card > CPU/Motherboard > Windows 7 > RAM?

I must be honest... I'm not particularly tech-savvy, preferring the casual stance towards computers, would you have any recommendations on purchasing a new motherboard? Would it be the norm to buy a motherboard with a CPU, or are these seperate entities?

 

[PP Mguire]

Graphics card, then you would have to buy all 3 at once. Reason for this, is the newer CPU will need the newer motherboard which would require the newer RAM.
First and foremost, what is your PSU like?

IMO, if your PSU checks out the 6870 would give you a huge increase in gaming performance to tide you over, then I would try to get an i3 2130, or i5 2500k, 1155 motherboard, and 8GB of DDR3 1600.

Edit: Any way you can take some pics of the inside of your case and your PSU? Google isn't really bringing up much info on the model you gave us.

 

[myles]

Yeah I do think the graphics card will make the biggest difference as a short-term solution. I've been checking out prices and windows 7 home 64bit seems affordable. The meat of the upgrade would be in the CPU and motherboard like you mentioned. I haven't actually thought of upgrading my RAM but I would assume it is a necessary purchase if I'm thinking of upgrading everything else.

I'm actually at work right now, but tomorrow I will open up my PC and take a few photos to post up so you can see it in a bit more detail I'm not entirely sure on my power supply and i'll get that confirmed, but I'm fairly sure that will need upgrading as well haha!

 

[MindoverMaster]

Well, your RAM would be incompatible with 1155 boards. Your 775 board uses DDR2, 1155 uses DDR3, theyre not switchable.

 

[myles]

Here are some pictures, hope they help. Was very surprised by the amount of dust in there...very bad!