Upgrade advice needed

groucho · #1 8th Oct 2007, 09:42

Hi. Im a bit of a novice so... apologies in advance.

I'm not that happy with my PC's performance and as it's at least 5 or 6 years old... i think... i'm pretty sure that an upgrade is needed, if not a whole new machine.

I have a SiS730S motherboard
2 x 512MB SD RAM
Windows XP
76 GB Hard Disk
AMD Athlon Processor - 1.24 GHz

I want to start using my PC for digital photography and also for games and the internet.

Can anyone offer any help as to what i can upgrade to improve my PC's performance (i don't think i can get any more RAM on my motehrboard) or whether i should be looking at scrapping it and getting a new one?

Thanks

**alex** · #2 8th Oct 2007, 10:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by groucho

Hi. Im a bit of a novice so... apologies in advance.

I'm not that happy with my PC's performance and as it's at least 5 or 6 years old... i think... i'm pretty sure that an upgrade is needed, if not a whole new machine.

I have a SiS730S motherboard
2 x 512MB SD RAM
Windows XP
76 GB Hard Disk
AMD Athlon Processor - 1.24 GHz

I want to start using my PC for digital photography and also for games and the internet.

Can anyone offer any help as to what i can upgrade to improve my PC's performance (i don't think i can get any more RAM on my motehrboard) or whether i should be looking at scrapping it and getting a new one?

Thanks

Hi Groucho.

There pretty much isn't anything you can upgrade, as everything is really centred around the motherboard. This is an old motherboard.

The 'SIS' isn't the motherboard but rather the chipset resident on the motherboard.

You could potentially upgrade the processor (I believe, might be wrong) that it's a socket 754 but we need more info on the motherboard before being able to tell you.

I'd hazard you're correct on the max installable ram, if thats correct then you're already at max.

I'd suggest it's time for a new pc, sorry. If you're happy to go down that route whats your budget? and do you need a screen?

groucho · #3 8th Oct 2007, 10:39

Thanks for your reply.

From what i've read i was starting to suspect a new pc was on the cards.

My budget would probably be between £200-300 (i could probably stretch to a a bit more if it was really going to be of benefit). I have an old chunky monitor so i would probably be best to upgrade that as well.

Any suggestions for what to get?

**alex** · #4 8th Oct 2007, 10:40

You're going to be pretty limited at that budget Groucho (no offence), so i'd have a look at Dell, pcworld.

groucho · #5 8th Oct 2007, 10:48

ah. what sort of price range should i be looking at? i mean i want a decent pc (fairly future proof) but without going crazy. If i were to up the budget to say £500-600 how much difference would that make? Would i still be best to look at the likes of pc world?

**alex** · #6 8th Oct 2007, 11:02

For £500-£600 you could get a decent unit, and wouldn't be limited to the "likes" of PCworld (Heh, like the way you said that, and I agree).

As you need a screen as well it's always helpful to up your budget so there's more for the build itself.

Have a look at:

www.meshcomputers.com

www.evesham.com

www.pcspecialist.co.uk (my fave of the three)

groucho · #7 8th Oct 2007, 11:16

Great, i'll have a look at those sites. Thanks a lot for your help!

**alex** · #8 8th Oct 2007, 11:23

Anytime.

If you require any further help feel free to post back.

**mrdaveyk** · #9 9th Oct 2007, 03:43

ive got an evesham, their deals are good but i got lumbered with a lousy card that didnt like or work well with vista. for gaming your averaging around the £500 last time i looked, but its commming up the the season so urll find a bargain almost anywhere. if you find any chuck us a link, i rushed into buying and didnt get all that i hoped for (for the third time, im very impatient) lol

**alex** · #10 9th Oct 2007, 15:26

Problem is that Evesham have gone into administration....

.....And like an idiot i neglected to mention that on my initial post.