Hello people! I kinda need some help upgrading my PC as it is starting to lag behind in its capabilities

I have a HP Pavilion t250 which has an MS 6575 v3.1 motherboard (i think, i am no PC genius)
I was thinking of upgrading my Graphics card (128mb) and my ram (512mb 333mhz!, I know, there are 2 slots, but 1 is empty) and I was wondering if anybody could help me in finding out what products i could fit to improve the performance without spending huge amounts of money.
If anybody could help it would be much appreciated!

thanks in advance,
Jack

Does this look like your motherboard?

If it is, then the most RAM you can have is 1GB, so you need to add 1 more stick of 512 MB DDR (333 or 400 MHz, 400 is backward compatible with 333 and are easier to find and cheaper in most cases). You should be able to pick one up for ~10 pounds.

The board also has an AGP slot. The best AGP card on the market is the Radeon 3850 512 MB, which is around ~90 pounds, any other AGP card will be cheaper. Make sure your power supply can handle it though, it should be more than 300W.

thanks cobra

EDIT: is there any way of upgrading the processor? its 2.67ghz, socket type 478

From what I've seen on the web, it can only support up to 3.06 GHz P4 CPU. It's probably not worth it if you already have a 2.66 GHz one.

oh ok thanks for the replies cobra

bump(ish) if i do upgrade to 1GB of ram and the Radeon 3850 512 MB willit make much of a performance difference?

i think so, but i´d get more then 1gb. try to get 3 or even 4 gb of ram then its up to date for a while.

For games I recommend 2 GB RAM at least. The 3850 512 MB is just fine.

TBH, I wouldn't bother upgrading a single component and just strip out the guts and start again with a new CPU, mobo, graphics card and RAM.

Those components are now so old that any upgrades to the existing system would cost a lot more than you'd expect simply because the components are harder to get hold of (DDR1 is a lot more expensive than DDR2 for example)

You can put together a respectable C2D-based system (which will grind your existing setup into paste) for around £270 if you keep the existing case and CD drives.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products ... 800-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-ATX
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products ... che-10x-Multiplier-Retail
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products ... Cores-D-Sub-DL-DVI-I-HDMI
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products ... -Non-ECC-Unbuffered-CAS-5
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products ... 0-7200-rpm-8MB-Cache-9-ms

thank you to everyone who gave me advice

@ toki & bastian, its limited to 1GB =[

yet another question! this forum is sooo helpfull

my dad tells me that motherboards are not the same size. Will the motherboard crashgate showed me fit in my case? is it the same size as mine? (MS 6575 v3.1)

This is yours, am I right?



If so, that's a standard ATX motherboard meaning the one I showed will also fit your case.

That's not an ATX board crashgate, it's µATX.

Quote from shiny_red_cobra :

That's not an ATX board crashgate, it's µATX.

Nah it's an FATX (FAIL-ATX)

Crap, you're right, it isn't ATX. :dunce:

Too busy looking at the proportions of the board to check the relative size of the components..

well, ive got a motherboard, its actually a smidge smaller, but, it fits. I've got the Intel E8400 and a ATI Radeon HD 4650 and 4GB of ram, problem is, my PSU is only 185 watts (laughable) so i need a new one, is coolmaster a good brand?

yeah, Coolermaster make good PSUs.

Also good are Antec, Thermaltake, Zalman, OCZ, Enermax, Asaka and Corsair.


You shouldn't need more than about about 500W with that system.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

yeah, Coolermaster make good PSUs.

Also good are Antec, Thermaltake, Zalman, OCZ, Enermax, Asaka and Corsair.


You shouldn't need more than about about 500W with that system.

well, i went to a local pc store ( when i say local, i mean its called pyramid computers!) and got a 650W PSU for £25

Is that the Coolermaster one?

£25 is *very* cheap for a 650W PSU. I would *strongly* advise against buying cheap PSUs as they often don't last long.

If it is made by Coolermaster it *should* be ok though.

Watch out for cheap coolermaster power supplies, they are very loud. I made the mistake of buying a 550W one for like $40, and as soon as I turned it on I realized I made a big mistake buying it. However, I bought a more expensive coolermaster one for like $80 and I don't even hear it, and it runs great.

id like to say thanks to everyone who helped me, i now get 250fps instead of 50fps in LFS, everything works SOOOO much faster! and btw, it isnt a coolmaster, but it is quiet enough for me!

Excellent work, glad to help

only thing is i think my CPU is overheating, as it freezes every now and then. I have changed the BIOS to make the CPU and case fan run 100% all the time. Is this a good idea to do this untill i can afford a new cpu cooler?

Quote from anbiddulph :

only thing is i think my CPU is overheating, as it freezes every now and then. I have changed the BIOS to make the CPU and case fan run 100% all the time. Is this a good idea to do this untill i can afford a new cpu cooler?

The best thing to do is set the fan's to auto if you can?

That way the bios increases the fan speed when it starts getting pretty hot and lower's it when the temprature fall's.

That should be fine unless you have overclocked on a stock fan?

Quote from mclarenmatt :

The best thing to do is set the fan's to auto if you can?

That way the bios increases the fan speed when it starts getting pretty hot and lower's it when the temprature fall's.

That should be fine unless you have overclocked on a stock fan?

what happened was that when i had the fans set to auto, it kept overheating and crashing, but since i have put the fans to 100% all the time, it has not crashed. All im asking is, will the fans last?

PS: stock fan, stock processor