want to upgrade my pc

[amanbhati17]

Dear friends,
I have a compaq CQ3420 desktop pc with configuration is as follows-
1. CPU- Pentium dual core E5500,2.80 Ghz.
2. RAM- 1GB single channel DDR3, 400 Mhz (6-6-6-15)
3. MOTHERBOARD- FOXCONN 2A8C (CPU 1),Intel G41 Express chipset 256 MB on board graphics
4. PSU- 250 W output
5. OS- Windows XP Pro, SP 3

I want to upgrade this pc as an average gaming rig so that I can play almost every game in minimum settings. Please suggest me better upgradable components in details mentioning brands name. I don't want to change my cpu and motherboard. I got my system information by Speccy. my configuration is dated so please suggest me compatible RAM and graphics card and also power supply unit.should i use DDR2 or DDR3 RAM ? Please suggest me a good gaming configuration. I am eagerly waiting your reply.THANKS

 

[Samarth 619]

RAM: It would be better if you stick with DDR3, because its more "future oriented". DDR3 is freely available, while DDR2 is a bit expensive. And DDR1 is hardly available anymore. One of my friend's friend has rejected the idea to get a decent 256 MB DDR1 for Rs. 4000. And even DDR3 is quite cheaper than this.

And I hope you know that DDR2 and DDR3 are NOT intercompatible. Everything from voltages to timings and signalling is different. Fortunately, they're physically incompatible, too, so you won't burn them up if you try some unnatural type of mating.
Performance wise, the latest CPU's will be better with DDR3, almost double the performance of DDR2, but old CPU's might choke. You can measure their performance in Mhz.



Conclusion: Get a good Core i7 processor, but a Double-Core processor (good for gaming), with turbo (maximum) speeds around 3-3.5 Ghz. A good example is i7-620M.

Also, a mid range motherboard with 1-2 GB integrated graphics memory should do. And finally, get a 4 GB RAM DDR3 stick from a good brand like Sandisk, Kingston, etc. As you're on XP, you won't be able to use more than 3.5 GB memory, so taking 8 GB stick is useless.

And think about upgrading to Windows 7 too, because even Xp won't let you unleash full performance of this rig, although it should be good.

I'm more of a laptop guy, so can't suggest you on exact models you should purchase.

 

[axes2t2]

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