My brother-in-law built my current rig for me about 5 years ago. He hasn't kept up with any of this for the past few years, so I'm not sure if I should go to him with this.
Here's what I got going on...
I have about a $500 budget and I'm not sure if I should upgrade my 5 year old PC or build a new one. Besides surfing the web and downloading music, I do a little video editing with Windows Movie Maker and some light gaming, so I believe $500 should be enough money to suit me for now.
I wasn't sure if putting a new processor, adding RAM and a decent video card on a old mother board would be worth it.
Here's what I'm thinking of doing atm...
edit: after doing more research I've decided on these parts...
Right now all I have is integrated graphics in my motherboard.
I'll add a SAPPHIRE 288L Radeon HD 4650 1GB 128-bit DDR2 AGP 8X HDCP Ready Video Card - $84.99
(my brother-in-law says I need a AGP card because of my motherboard)
Link
___________________________
I have two 512MB sticks of DDR2 SDRAM.
I'll add one G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - $93.99
Link
___________________________
I have a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3000+ 1.9GHz processor
Replace with a AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor - $99.00
Link
___________________________
Right now I have a 120GB (i don't remember any other specifics).
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $55.99
Link
____________________________________________________________________________
Just a few of questions...
Shouldn't I be able to swap out the processor and hard drive with no problems? I'm not sure what kind of power supply I have (i think a 550 watt), but would these chages cause a concern for that? And can I add the two sticks of 2GB RAM in my empty slots along with my current two 512MB sticks to give me 5 GB total, right? Last, should I do something like I have listed here, or should I just go ahead and spend $500-$600 on a completely new computer?
...and if all of this just looks throw together, it's because I have barely a clue as to what I'm doing, that's why I need your help…lol...and sorry for the long length. I'm not sure what all I needed to add to make it clear as to what I want to do. If any other info is needed please let me know.
Here's what I got going on...
I have about a $500 budget and I'm not sure if I should upgrade my 5 year old PC or build a new one. Besides surfing the web and downloading music, I do a little video editing with Windows Movie Maker and some light gaming, so I believe $500 should be enough money to suit me for now.
I wasn't sure if putting a new processor, adding RAM and a decent video card on a old mother board would be worth it.
Here's what I'm thinking of doing atm...
edit: after doing more research I've decided on these parts...
Right now all I have is integrated graphics in my motherboard.
I'll add a SAPPHIRE 288L Radeon HD 4650 1GB 128-bit DDR2 AGP 8X HDCP Ready Video Card - $84.99
(my brother-in-law says I need a AGP card because of my motherboard)
Link
___________________________
I have two 512MB sticks of DDR2 SDRAM.
I'll add one G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - $93.99
Link
___________________________
I have a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3000+ 1.9GHz processor
Replace with a AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor - $99.00
Link
___________________________
Right now I have a 120GB (i don't remember any other specifics).
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $55.99
Link
____________________________________________________________________________
Just a few of questions...
Shouldn't I be able to swap out the processor and hard drive with no problems? I'm not sure what kind of power supply I have (i think a 550 watt), but would these chages cause a concern for that? And can I add the two sticks of 2GB RAM in my empty slots along with my current two 512MB sticks to give me 5 GB total, right? Last, should I do something like I have listed here, or should I just go ahead and spend $500-$600 on a completely new computer?
...and if all of this just looks throw together, it's because I have barely a clue as to what I'm doing, that's why I need your help…lol...and sorry for the long length. I'm not sure what all I needed to add to make it clear as to what I want to do. If any other info is needed please let me know.