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  1. #1
    Doesn't take it for granite
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    PC upgrade options?

    After two years milking the most out of my 07 fanfest PC and getting some money gifts the poor thing needs some love. Currently running:

    AMD Athlon Dual Core 4200+ x64
    32-bit Vista Ultimate
    2G RAM (only 2 slots I think, ram is in black, slots next to them are yellow)
    NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS
    650W Power supply
    PCI-E
    Some sort of ASUS mobo

    Being nearly completely inept at hardware puts me as a loss as to what I can do. I imagine a newer graphics card and RAM are needed but unsure of options. Currently have ~$500 budget and no real brand preference.

    I beseech you BG Tech for wisdom.

  2. #2
    My Little Ixion
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    Just looking at the specs here I'd upgrade the video card and CPU. Video card is an easy call, but the CPU's a bit harder without knowing the model of your motherboard. Chances are your mobo is old but it'll still do the job. At best guess you can probably go as high as a Phenom x4 9950BE (which like all the older AM2+ CPUs is now off/leaving the market), tho with a BIOS update you should be able to use the newer AM3 ones. Your memory looks fine for now, and since your board definitely can't support DDR3 it's not worth the effort yet. Plus, memory prices are on the rise big time as people switch over from DDR2 to DDR3 so it's not worth it now even if you have the money.

    Final recommendation: Pick up a Radeon 5770, and check if your board can get a BIOS update to support a Phenom II x2 550. When memory prices come down, consider a motherboard & memory upgrade.

  3. #3
    Doesn't take it for granite
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    Oh god, newegg has like 19 different Radeon 5770. Is there a certain type I can use or are they all the same with different prices?

    Had to dig around for mobo information and I think this is it:
    Motherboard 09/21/2007-MCP55-M2N-E-00
    Motherboard ASUS M2N-E ACPI BIOS Revision 1102
    Motherboard DMIMOBO: ASUSTeK Computer INC. M2N-E

    Thanks for the advice olo, much <3

  4. #4
    My Little Ixion
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    No prob man.. I live for this stuff heh.

    ASUS M2N-E.. yep I was afraid it had that damn nVidia chipset. Best CPU you can get there is the Phenom x4 9950BE which is now sold out @ Newegg, you can still get the 9850BE for $90 tho. Just a heads up the one I linked is an OEM model and doesn't include the CPU fan/heatsink so use the one you have now. You'll need to get some thermal compound too - clean off the old stuff from the bottom of your heatsink with some qtips & rubbing alcohol before you reattach it.

    The basics of the video card (the GPU and the board) don't change much from brand to brand.. you can get different cooler designs and sizes, different warranties, in some cases different connections, and on the more expensive models factory overclocking. I'd been recommending an XFX card that's a little more expensive than the baseline because it has a lifetime warranty but it looks like Powercooler just brought out a card with a MUCH better cooling unit which IMO is more valuable in the long run.
    And for some reason, XFX doesn't include a Crossfire link cable. Not a very big deal, but cmon is there really a need for them to be that cheap?

  5. #5
    Doesn't take it for granite
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    Ok, so I got the 9850BE and the Powercooler today and unsurprisingly after installing both my display doesn't want to show up and I don't think windows is loading up (no startup sound). I remember when I first got the PC the graphics card didn't sit well and connecting a monitor took some wiggling. I tried putting the old graphics card in but still didn't want to work. Did I fubar something and needs to go to a shop?

  6. #6
    Doesn't take it for granite
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    Fixed the issue. BIOs needed an update for the processor >.>;

  7. #7
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    a little late x.x, but people have reported that the phenom IIs would work with this motherboard, although it'd be displayed as unknown processor

  8. #8
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    Mine refused to load at all and took a bit of juggling to sort out. Props to Killgannon for the /assist.

    Can't wait for RAM prices to go down. 2 gigs just doesn't feel like enough.

  9. #9
    E. Body
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    yeah, i dont think i can imagine working with less than 4gb and win7, atm i'm using 2.8gb lol

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