Suggested upgrade fro £100

[rob4001]

AMD Sempron 3000+
ram 256
80gb hdd
250w power supply
GFX: unknown

This spec I got off a friend he has £100 to spend to upgrade it will be used for net surfing and games any suggestions? Sorry cant give you more details on spec but that is all I got.

I am thinking more ram and GFX card what about cpu? £100 is a very tight squeeze may not be possible.

[staffsMike]

Mobo, cpu, RAM I suppose.

That assumes the PSU is up to it..

Asus 690G board
Cheap AMD X2
2GB of RAM will come in below £100.

Up the mobo to a 780G and you will get basic gaming ability from the IGP.

[MSIC]

Crickey. Well i guess it's going to come down to the Sempron socket, since they came in 754 and AM2 flavours. If it's 754, then it's a no go. If it's AM2, you can upgrade to dual core.
(However given the RAM, i'd say it's a good chance it's 754).
The dilema therefore is... do you spend money 'upgrading' a very old, end of line system?

Honestly, just buy a whole new 'core' setup (yes, for £100!).
Motherboard: £44 Gigabyte AM2+.
CPU: Dual Core Athlon 64, 2.6Ghz AM2 £46
RAM: 1 x 1GB of DDR2 £9.

You'd be really better off spending another £10 on 2 x1GB memory, however compared to what he's got it'll fly.
Re-use all your other bits and pieces, and re-install Windows (hopefully it's XP and you've got a spare disc).

[rob4001]

Thanks, I there any way of getting away with leaving current cpu and just upgrading ram and GPU?

[staffsMike]

Need to know the socket of the cpu and the type of RAM he is using..

Also if the board is AGP/PCIe

[MSIC]

Yep, you need to find out more about the original machine. An easy way is to download and run "CPU-Z", a small and light application that tells you about the CPU, motherboard, RAM... etc etc.
Then let us know.

[rob4001]

OK found out from my mate its a 754 socket so I guess new motherboard. The graphics card is agp and rubbish can you suggest upgrades including graphics card for gaming for £150 (for the whole pc not just graphics card) if possible? Will an old 250w psu take the hammering?

What about a cheap intel cpu e2150 or something or don't they sell them now. Are there cheap boards that can OC at all? Although am2 look better budget buy.

[MSIC]

For £150 you can certainly get what you want. Either get my above recommended set-up, plus a cheap-ish (but still good) graphics card like this:
AMD / ATI Radeon 4650 512MB.
Review here, although be aware that they are talking about a DDR3 model, but you still get the idea.
I'm not saying it'll rock your world (and there would be plenty of people who would begin posting saying "no, you need to spend £110 on xxxx card instead), but i'm sure it'll be a visible upgrade from whatever you currently have.

In terms of your PSU, the 250W number itself is fine and adequate, however that's assuming it's a halfway decent PSU. It also might not be a decent one, but the things i've listed would only need around 100W or so, so you've got headroom even for a slightly dodgy PSU.
Of greater concern for me however is that your PSU might not have the correct modern power connections for a modern motherboard. Buying a new PSU however would blow your budget!

It might be an option to consider ebay.

Edit: To build a new whole setup might be a better bet, so here's an option:
Cheap case & PSU £30
MicroATX G31 £35
Pentium D E2180 £55
1 x 2GB Stick Corsair Memory £19.

Hmm, i'm afraid that's £150 without the graphics card. We could shave a tenner off with only 1GB memory, and go with a dual core Celeron instead for £36 (they are still ok).
Overall you'd be £20 over though.