£250 Budget - What changes should I make to my PC?

[Robscure]

just to save any future confusion for yourself, its 32 bit not the OS that is the problem.

look for a 2nd hand dell 2407wfp, lovely monitor
or even a 2409 (tn) for a cheap price, 24 inch is the nicest thing ever to have


tbh, if your not feeling the strain save the money for something else.. im still happy with my 8800gts 512 and even though it doesnt play some games fully maxed, lowering the settings a notch is fine with me.

Thanks for that confusion-saver

24" is the nicest to have next to a 22", I don't think 2" is worth the performance cut for me, personally.

[Hawker1986]

Well personally I love my 24" monitor all that space is excellent and games look great, performance cut just means you need more power . But I think in this case the GPU upgrade is the way to go over a new monitor, because trying to game with top settings on a 22/24" monitor with a 3650 isnt going to be a step forward. Getting the 4870 will boost your performance with your current monitor to the point you can play whatever you want all out, and later if you can afford/want to upgrade your monitor you can and will still have the power to game well on it.

Hawker

[Robscure]

Well personally I love my 24" monitor all that space is excellent and games look great, performance cut just means you need more power . But I think in this case the GPU upgrade is the way to go over a new monitor, because trying to game with top settings on a 22/24" monitor with a 3650 isnt going to be a step forward. Getting the 4870 will boost your performance with your current monitor to the point you can play whatever you want all out, and later if you can afford/want to upgrade your monitor you can and will still have the power to game well on it.

Hawker

I second that. Except the risk of ghosting is present on monitors the larger they are.

[Hawker1986]

I second that. Except the risk of ghosting is present on monitors the larger they are.

True enough, but if you do some research and avoid the ones with these problems its fine, my dell doesnt have any problems with ghosting so its not a definate thing.

Hawker

[richieuk]

I wouldnt upgrade the CPU. The GPU is fine for now but if you wanted the 4850 is PLENTY (£100) but thats not an essential... The montior could be upgraded or add another as you will then see a big difference in your system, but no bigger than 22" for replacement or 17" for extension.

Only things I would do is maybe RAM to 4GB, (so what if you lose half a gig due to 32bit limitations, big whoop, it is there still). Now, I will make one more suggestion, but you may not like it.

Upgrade to Vista 64bit premium. The reason I say this is that this will be the one thing that you WILL see a MASSIVE difference in and make you feel like you haven't threw money down the drain. You will obviously see a big difference quickly! It will take a little time to get used to, and you may need to phase out some old hardware (like I have to get a new game controller, but thats it and I have alot of computer junk).

So my suggestions are:

Vista 64Bit (£70)
4GB Corsair XMS2 Memory (£40)

and/or one of the follwing -
17 or 22" Montior (£80-140) *For dual screen setup, have larger as main screen*
or an ATi Sapphire 4850 (£110) *Just to say you have a better graphics card*

[d032sh]

It seems criminal to have an E6300 and an aftermarket cooler only to run it at stock.

Go on. You know you want to, and you should be able to get a decent overclock out of it.

[Robscure]

I wouldnt upgrade the CPU. The GPU is fine for now but if you wanted the 4850 is PLENTY (£100) but thats not an essential... The montior could be upgraded or add another as you will then see a big difference in your system, but no bigger than 22" for replacement or 17" for extension.

Only things I would do is maybe RAM to 4GB, (so what if you lose half a gig due to 32bit limitations, big whoop, it is there still). Now, I will make one more suggestion, but you may not like it.

Upgrade to Vista 64bit premium. The reason I say this is that this will be the one thing that you WILL see a MASSIVE difference in and make you feel like you haven't threw money down the drain. You will obviously see a big difference quickly! It will take a little time to get used to, and you may need to phase out some old hardware (like I have to get a new game controller, but thats it and I have alot of computer junk).

So my suggestions are:

Vista 64Bit (£70)
4GB Corsair XMS2 Memory (£40)

and/or one of the follwing -
17 or 22" Montior (£80-140) *For dual screen setup, have larger as main screen*
or an ATi Sapphire 4850 (£110) *Just to say you have a better graphics card*

Note: that's the OEM version of Vista, meaning you can only install once on a single system, then after that you would need to buy another. So unless you plan on keeping your mobo for a while, it might not be worth it. But if you don't plan on upgrading your mobo for a year or more then go ahead.

[Zadock]

Out of interest, apologies if I missed it somewhere in this lot, but is your C2D overclocked? if its not perhaps thats the way to go? save yourself a bit of cash in the short to medium and invest in a nice new graphics card?

[GeorgeStorm]

If you need to upgrade, I would overclock the e6300 to around 3GHz, should be no problem, and maybe get a 4850, great card for the money, although, as other have said, the 3650 is bad, but the 4850 would defo be a big improvement.....
A bigger screen is always an option, although, if you get a bigger screen, you will then almost NEED to get a 4850 or something similar to power it..

Just me.......