Igor Rizvi? asks:
I’m running a 3 year old PC.
Mainboard : Gigabyte G31M-S2C
Chipset : Intel G31/G33/G35
Processor : Intel Pentium E5200 @ 2500 MHz
Physical Memory : 4096 KB (2 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM )
Video Card : ATI Radeon HD 4850 gddr3 512mb
Hard Disk : Hitachi HDT721025SLA380 ATA Device (250GB)
Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8101 PCIe Fast Ethernet Adapter
Is it worth upgrading it or should I just buy a new custom build PC?
I’m using it primarily to play casual games, a lot of surfing and dowloading, file manipulation, multitasking etc. But am eager to have a fast responsive PC at my hands.
Fell free to post comments on my build, any suggestions would be appreciated.
10 Answers -
George Monroe
July 31, 2012if you have the money why wouldnt you, if you are a tight wad as i am, (i am also still using 775mobo) i would say save your money and wait about another year, if you are watching the online comp. stores you have noticed tablets dropping in price and some good off lease machines coming down the pike.
another option is linux, i dont know if you are interested, but linux makes, i believe better use of comp. resources. i use Ach which is slightly tricky to install as a noob to linux, but the upside is it is very flexible, you can just about set it up exactly the way you want to.
Thanks for your response:) Really apriciate it!
July 31, 2012Is arch linux that good, for a long period usage system or?
February 5, 2013ha14
July 31, 2012your configuraion is enough for office work, now if you are going for heavy work and also online games then a new suitable configuration is advised.
Daniel Boyd
July 31, 2012You didn’t mention what Windows OS you are running, but regardless, you will see improvement by upgrading memory to 8GB or more if possible. That is a cheap fix as memory is inexpensive now.
It also might be a good idea to clean up your software installations and make sure you are not running multiple anti-virus/malware software suites as this will slow down file system access considerably, causing everything to slow down. Make sure you are running latest drivers for all hardware also – check via Windows Update.
I would stick with this machine at least another year.
EDIT: If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, the memory update will not help as the additional memory cannot be accessed, but the other advice is still good…
July 31, 2012Currently using win7 ultimate 64bit for the past year (4gb ,dual slot ram memory .thx for the response
July 31, 2012Dalsan
July 31, 2012Core™ 2 Extreme QX9770 at 3.2GHz is supported on your board, which is a quad core and should give you plenty to work with if you are just a casual gamer and do multitasking. Upgrading your video card would be advised, but would be good enough for most normal usage. To squeeze out more performance, you can use some guides or software to stop unnecessary features and services from running and such. If you don’t want to spend the money to keep your system going and want more up to date equipment, I would spend the money on a newer system as it would give you more performance and better longevity than what you have now.
Thanks for the response,im considering to take it
August 5, 2012As a suggestion, get Tweaking.com’s Simple Performance Boost or Advanced System Tweaker to help disable some unnecessary background services and features to squeeze out even more performance. If you don’t use it much, Aero Peak can be disabled for a little more performance. No matter what system I have, I make sure unnecessary items are disabled and unnecessary programs are uninstalled just to keep my systems at top performance. I would also suggest getting CCleaner, Glary Utilities, Advanced System Care, etc. to clean your computer every so often (I use the safer CCleaner daily) to reduce junk and clutter. You can use a flash drive for Ready Boost for a little me performance, though if you are going with an SSD drive, then you can’t use Ready Boost. Ready Boost is supposed to help get somewhat close to SSD performance from the programs you mainly use as it caches to your flash drive instead of hard drive. There are many other things you can do to help, but honestly, your system as is should be pretty good for average use, just needs some tweaking. Personally, I would save up some money for a system you can build yourself that can be upgraded in the future, though you could change your motherboard, CPU, get nice memory for cheap, reuse some parts, sell other parts, and get an SSD drive. Still, the choice is yours, but my suggestion is to use the tweaking program and see if the results help some.
August 6, 2012Something like this you could use, also for greater performance at a moderate price. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000JNNAU0/ref=mp_s_a_7?qid=1344239698&sr=8-7
August 6, 2012MatthewOMealey
July 31, 2012Always the easiest update to a system after its first couple of years of use is to max out the RAM, but it looks like that particular motherboard only supports up to 4GB of RAM.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3135#sp
Save your money and get a newer setup, and spring for nicer components that can be maxed out to much higher levels later on to extend the life of the machine.
Janeesh VJ
August 1, 2012better to buy a new one
James Bruce
August 1, 2012Looks fine, and more than suitable for your needs. Dont waste money on an upgrade or new build you dont actually need, unless youre a hardcore gamer.
Thanks for the respond:)
August 1, 2012Paul Pruitt
August 3, 2012Try investing in a 128 GB SSD and reinstall your operating system on it. See if the computer then gets fast enough for you. It should make a big difference. They cost about $100 now.
You can always use the new SSD in a new PC if you decide to buy one eventually.
Good idea,thanks for the reponse
August 3, 2012Achraf Almouloudi
August 5, 2012Check if Core i3 or Core i5 is compatible with your motherboard and get it, also upgrade to 8 Gb of RAM to see how fast you’ll get to .
Well thats why i posted this question,becauze its support uptto intel celeron quad core,but it has a lga775 socket so …. and max motherboard ram size is 4gb.Thanks for the response
August 6, 2012Reý Aetar
August 7, 2012no need to upgrade just switch to some light weight linux destro but ubuntu will also run fine if you add some more memory
and dont worry about games there are plenty of casual games in ubuntu
but yes before changing the os remove the graphics card as that might have problem or may be incompatible
your pc will be more responsive
Im running ubuntu linxu at dual boot (64bit version),and i though i would have a problem with the graphic card,but the default drivers provided trough ubuntu software centar is working great and stable since version 8 i think. Thanks for the response:)
August 7, 2012