What things could I upgrade on my computer?

Question

I have an eMachine ET-1831-07 (yes, that's a crappy computer) and my computer (and my internet) is somewhat slow. When I access the internet, it sometimes delays to the point where I have to refresh it. My CPU is very slow. When ever I play FIFA 2012, the graphics suck, and the frames per second are really slow. To sum it up, I want some opinions on what the best inexpensive approach to take to make my computer faster and better. Here are my specs on my computer.

CPU Processor: Pentium Dual-Core Processor E5400 @ 2.7ghz
Code Name: Wolfdale
Socket #: 775
Core Speed: Reaches to about 1200mhz each processor.
Instructions: MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, EM64T, VT-x
Core Voltage: Approximately 1.072 V
Windows 7 64-bit computer
Chipset: NVIDIA GeForce 7050
Southbridge: NVIDIA GeForce 620i
BIOS: AMI
Version & date of BIOS: P01-A1, 09/14/2009
Graphics Interface: PCI-Express
Memory Type: DDR2
Memory Size: 4096MBytes
Channels: Single
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 550ti
Memory size: 1023 bytes

I would love your feedback.

Thanks,
A concerned computer geek. (LOL)

Answer 1

I'd say that your processor is OK for gaming, & certainly not your bottleneck. You don't really have enough RAM - I'd recommend you go out to the Crucial.com website & check into an upgrade to 8GB total (hopefully you have 1x4GB now & you can just add another 4GB, getting you the added benefit of dual-channel memory access, see link below).



Well, you've listed 3 graphics devices (it comes w/this one: Nvidia GeForce 7050 PV; the other 2 mentioned are NVIDIA GeForce 620i & NVIDIA GeForce 550ti-don't know where you got them from).



I don't see how you can have a GeForce GTX 550 Ti graphics card - it requires a minimum 400-watt PSU & your system has a 250-watt PSU (even the GeForce GT 620 requires a minimum 300-watt PSU). So assuming you're wrong about having either one of these two graphics cards installed, I think that's your bottleneck. The bad news is that to upgrade from the Nvidia GeForce 7050 PV, you're going to also have to upgrade your PSU. I can't tell if your motherboard even supports PCIe interfaces required for the better cards.



From the review below, "The eMachines ET1831-07 isn't much of a video playback device...You can forget using this system for demanding tasks like watching HD video or playing games, but we can recommend it if you're looking for an affordable, basic productivity box."



I'd recommend that you stay w/just the RAM upgrade. If you want better performance, ditch it & buy a better system (or build yourself one).

Answer 2

Your system is OK, if not great.



Be sure the PSU is up to it. You better have at least 700watts. 50% of all PSU brands are rubbish and won't do what they claim.



Some hairs you can split -



It never hurts to do full anti virus and anti malware scans.



Switch to DDR3 Ram, and put in at least another 4 GB.

The GTX 550 is a better card. But yours should still handle it all OK.



Get a 4 or 8 core CPU



Update the bios MAY help



Do some Windows 7 tweaks. (Try Black Viper or Windows 7 Club)



Check your choice of router.



Check all cables - seriously.



And blow out the dust - especially from the fans. Maybe a better cooler?



Use CCleaner or some such to regularly 'take out the trash'. And defrag.



Using Firefox? Quite a few people have problems with having to refresh. It's been going on a long time. Other than useless advice about upgrading, it's the addons/plugins/corrupt profile, Mozilla will not help nor acknowledge the problem. Many have quit Firefox because of it.



Buy better bandwidth from your ISP



My system is much lesser than yours, and my bandwidth is only 4M, but I don't have your problems.

Answer 3

It might be Virus(Do a full System scan)

Upgrade your processor though your graphics card is also a bit old but still it will work

Get an i5 3570K or 3470 or AMD Bulldozer FX-4100 which one you can afford

If you get a new processor then you will have to upgrade RAM too and if you can afford a graphics card then get a Radeon HD7850 or GTX 660

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

What things could I upgrade on my computer?

I have an eMachine ET-1831-07 (yes, that's a crappy computer) and my computer (and my internet) is somewhat slow. When I access the internet, it sometimes delays to the point where I have to refresh it. My CPU is very slow. When ever I play FIFA 2012, the graphics suck, and the frames per...

Answer 5

open a terminal and type "sudo lshw" (Application>accessories>terminal) Which roughly translates into superuser-donextcommand listallhardware, and after you enter your password to get superuser privileges, it will list every piece of hardware on the system. If you type "sudo lshw > somefilename" it will create a text file with the output of the command. (carefull, as this will overwrite anyfile that happens to have that name so make sure it's unique by typing "ls" first) Just about anything that runs Ubuntu comfortably will run windows 7 32-bit (though not necessarily as comfortably) Probably the most noticeable upgrade would be to get a dedicated graphics card if there isn't one already, and the second is to increase RAM.

Answer 6

The emachines are like Ikea furniture. Its fine as long as you don't move it from the spot you assembled it. Emachines are budget machines with parts met to last a couple of years. Since you have 4G of memory, I would not recommend any more $$ investment in the machine. If you have boot image or factory restore CD, u can save your data, photos, and music to external drive and erase your hard drive & reinstall your OS. Your machine will be a bit faster.