Just need a little boost.

waffle21 · 20 Feb 2017

Not sure if it's the right thread but here goes.

Hello everyone. I'm fully aware how bad and outdated my PC is and some of you might even cringe but i'm pretty satisfied with it. I'm using it mainly for League of Legends, youtube and possibly some low graphic games I might find of interest.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

My question is, what should I add/upgrade to increase performance a bit? I can play league on Medium settings though it's perfectly playable, it's not *smooth*

I'm wondering if I should just get a new GPU and that would solve it easily, or is there anything else I can do(besides buying a completely new CPU, like i've said, im kinda satisfied but a little upgrade wouldnt hurt)?

Mellon Head · 20 Feb 2017

Well, there is a lot of room for improvement there. The first thing I would do is to upgrade the graphics card. At least you can take that with you when you upgrade.

A CPU upgrade wouldn't hurt either, as long as you can find a compatible processor and it is supported by your motherboard. That may be tricky, given the age of your system.

If your system is serving your needs, a small little bump like this might be enough to get you by. If you want to play any modern games, however, you will almost definitely need an upgrade. That's motherboard, memory, CPU and GPU. If you change out your motherboard, you will likely need a new copy of Windows as well.

ThrashZone · 20 Feb 2017

Hi,
You should of posted the main board section too
But yea ddr2 ram isn't going to cut the mustard not to mention a dual core processor.

Time to start saving for a new build and yes gpu is about the only upgrade you should spend on now.
Make sure it at least uses ddr5 memory and also the least would be a gtx750ti.

johnhoh · 20 Feb 2017

You might just ask yourself how often do I want a new system just because I want a new system? Every ten years? Or maybe five? Then go for it, cuz your mainboard came out six years ago!

A new intel kaby lake cpu, memory, with just on board integrated graphics would be a 285% improvement for gaming vs what you have...

UserBenchmark: Intel HD 630 (Desktop Kaby Lake) vs Nvidia GeForce GT 520

here's a sample low-end system priced out - $470 if you re-use your existing case and power supply. Though you would want to double check your existing power supply specs. The new ssd drive from samsung has a good cloning tool too. Not sure why you could not re-use your existing windows 7 license. Food for thought...

Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core - System Build - PCPartPicker

I just got an i7-7700k with a z270m board myself. Very happy with the triple-monitor onboard HD 630 graphics. I'm on a strict upgrade-every-five-years-whether-I-need-it-or-not strategy..

Mellon Head · 21 Feb 2017

johnhoh said:

Not sure why you could not re-use your existing windows 7 license. Food for thought...

Changing out the motherboard on a system invalidates an OEM or system builder Win 7 license, and MS is unlikely to reactivate it, unless the OP calls in and gets a really nice MS employee. With the push to Windows 10, that prospect is fading fast. Unless the OP has a retail license, he/she will have to call to reactivate Windows. I know from personal experience that this is now becoming difficult. In my case, some begging was involved.

RolandJS · 21 Feb 2017

Youse guys, would maxing the RAM total be helpful? At school, cannot see that URL's images.

johnhoh · 21 Feb 2017

Mellon Head said:

In my case, some begging was involved.

that's too funny. Did not realize it had gotten that way.

RolandJS said:

would maxing the RAM total be helpful?

Not really. Trying running passmark, which will tell you the relative performance of all your components. Your cpu and video card are what's holding you back. Also, your cpu and video card are pretty much "paired" well right now, meaning if you upgrade one and not the other, you'll have one new fast component being held back, always waiting on the old slower component...
PassMark PerformanceTest - PC benchmark software

ThrashZone · 23 Feb 2017

Hi,
ddr2 memory isn't worth wasting the money on even if one was able to find it :)