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Upgrading store-bought pc.

M

Morgansaur

Weaksauce
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
90
I've got a store-bought Asus Essentio CM1630-05 (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370315,00.asp?tab=Specs). Looking to add a new video card (the HD 4650 I'm using is pretty meh) and a beefier psu. The cpu is an Athlon II X2 2200 (locked @ 2.8ghz) and I'm thinking this will be the only limitation. There's plenty of room in the case, and the airflow seems fine. What I am wondering is what is the best card I can get for this pc before running into a bottleneck with the cpu?
 
CPU going to hold you back. Not sure its worth upgrading as the HD4650 will play most games at medium settings.
 
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=LuKyOQkkOBGfC1Di

Processor
AMD AM3 For Phenom™ II/Phenom/Athlon/Athlon™ II Family /Processors
Chipset AMD 760G
AMD SB710
Memory 4 x DIMM Slots Dual Channel DDR3 1333 MHz. Support max 16 GB.
Power Supply 300W(PFC);

Looks like like you can upgrade the processor, I'd say get the card you want and upgrade the processor when you get some more cash if you feel its being bottle necked.


also, What games do you play? how many screens @ what resolution?
 
1920 x 1080 resolution. I mainly play Fallout 3/NV, Rift, Shogun 2, BFBC2. They run alright at medium settings for the most part, but it would be nice to kick it up a notch. I've been looking at a GTX 460 or HD 6850, but I'm not sure if it would be a waste given the limitations of my cpu.
 
You'll need a new psu to go with that gpu upgrade. 300 watts won't cut it. ) And I can vouch for the X3/GTX460 combo. You'll be able to play all the games you listed at the specified resolution with maxed or almost maxed setting. No problem. Overclock your X3. They overclock really easily.

- GTX460 (768MB for cheap or 1GB for not much more)
- new psu (TX650 or CX600 if your budget it tight)
- overclock that X3 (additional cooling required. I use CNPS9700)
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Not really interested in buying a new processor at this time, just planned on upgrading psu and video card and was wondering what would work best with the cpu I have. I suppose I'll stick it out with the 4650 I have, since I plan to build a new system in a month or two. Just wanted a cheap upgrade until then.
 
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