Upgrade Help!

[tomcol]

hi,
wasnt sure where to post this. Im looking at upgrading the pc i bought from pcs this year and im not really sure which area to improve on.
Im hoping someone out there will have some suggestions for me keeping in mind ive never done any component changes before and have a budget of around £200-350.

Heres my spec:

COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE

Processor (CPU): AMD PHENOM II X4 965 (3.40GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3) - BLACK EDITION
Motherboard : ASUS® M4A87TD/USB3: DUAL DDR3,SATA 6.0GB/s, USB 3.0
Memory (RAM) : 4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card : 1GB ATI RADEON™ HD5770 - DVI,HDMI - DX® 11
Hard drive : 1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
Disc Drives : 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader: INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply : 450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling: SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card : ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB :4 PORT USB 2.0 INTERNAL PCI CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS

Any help will be greatly appriecated

Tom.

 

[Rakk]

What are you using the PC for, this will help people work out what upgrades will be best for you

 

[tomcol]

general gaming and entertainment really running bf3 and stronghold 3 alot atm and watchin films thats about it really

 

[AshleyUK]

For your Budget you would be able to upgrade to a newer AMD GPU, something along the lines of a 6950/6970 HD for around £230 mark and then an upgraded PSU with the rest of your budget to acomodate for the extra power needed by the GPU.

However thing you need to ask, do you need the extra power, does it slow down and make what you wish to do on the PC harder, if not it may be worth just keeping the money you have aside waiting another year to newer componets are out or even a brand new pc.

However if you feel it effects what you can do on your PC, playing the games you wish to at a better FPS and quality then go for a GPU and PSU upgrade, as that will be your main bottle neck currenty on your system. Always remember you probably get a fair bit from your old AMD card on ebay.

Good idea of the difference it will make to games from your current GPU to a 6970 is at the following link: http://www.hwcompare.com/6355/radeon-hd-5770-vs-radeon-hd-6970/

 

[tomcol]

ok thanks, how complicated is it to swap over the gpu without damaging anything also my friends have reccommended that i get a 2nd graphics card and use Crossfire but how do i know if my mother board can handle that and also another thing they suggested was a new solidstate hardrive

 

[Rakk]

I'm not actually convinced that motherboard can support Crossfire at all. I was looking here to try and find out.

Also as AshleyUK said, you may well need a bigger PSU to support a new graphics card.
Graphics cards are relatively easy to install, the PSU is probably a bit trickier (but I've never done it so can't really comment on it)

 

[vanthus]

to upgrade your present system for gaming your best move IMO,would be to get the best graphics card you can afford,making sure your PSU can handle it of course.
I have the same motherboard as you & like Rakk said I'm pretty sure , it doesn't support crossfire.
Another good upgrade is RAM if you really need it,
but 4GB is plenty at the moment for what you want to do.
Upgrading the HDD to an SSD is probably more expense & bother than it's worth,
save you a few seconds here & there,thats about all really.

 

[tomcol]

ok well RAM was what i was going to do anyway i think to start because ive done it before and its fairly inexpensive to do, i currently have as mentiond (2x2gb) samsung ddr3 @1333 do u think id get better performance by removing them completly and getting (2x4gb in there place rather than add the (2x4gb) to the mix with them??? and have you got any reccomendations on a graphics card for me that my psu can handle as it is now (450w) ???

 

[AshleyUK]

The ram would not really be noticeadble and would be a waste of your budget, a PSU is not that hard to swap out, there is plenty of guide's online and im sure a local PC shop would do it for you if not.

I think for your budget point and to get a noticeable performance increase that will last you longer the GPU and PSU is the best option, it is kind of difficult to say with your current PSU, however it wouldnt have much headroom for anyting much newer than your current GPU. The last thing you want to do is the PSU to go on you and take 1/2 your components with it.

 

[vanthus]

Personally I dont think upgrading the RAM from 4GB will make any difference performance wise for what you want to do.
As for graphics card I would suggest a

1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti or a 1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6870,your PSU should handle those & you would notice a marked improvement in performance.

 

[AshleyUK]

Personally I dont think upgrading the RAM from 4GB will make any difference performance wise for what you want to do.
As for graphics card I would suggest a

1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti or a 1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6870,your PSU should handle those & you would notice a marked improvement in performance.

Bearing in mind the two above GPU's are getting near to your PSU limit's I have attached a link to a guide for changing a PSU, have a look and see if it's something you feel happy doing. Or maybe see if one of your friend's would be happy to help, even an ICT tech at work/school? Or as I previously said a local Computer shop, if purchased from them maybe might even swap for free.

Linky: http://www.fonerbooks.com/r_power.htm

There are many guides and youtube video's out there, and belongs you spend some time, check what cables go where and double check your work after then you should be fine, however as "vanthus" has said if you wish to keep the same PSU then the two above cards are the top your going to be able to use on your current PSU.