Upgrading PC for Gaming?

Question

I've been a PC gamer for years, and for me, having a console as well (I'm refraining from saying the console to prevent any console rivalry), it is by far the best option. The problem is I can only be a PC gamer at the weekend, as the computer at my mum's house (my parents are split up) is slow as hell and I live there the majority of the time. Buying a new PC would be far too expensive, as I'm only 16 and although I have a job I still don't earn enough to afford a brand new PC. This leaves me with the only option of upgrading my mum's pc, and since I'm not a huge buff when it comes to hardware (ask me anything outside of that i.e software, programming and I'm your man!), I need some guidance as to what to buy. I have a rough understanding of different pieces of hardware, but I could really use someone who knows their stuff! Anyway, here are the specs (I know they're ****, but it's my mum, she's only just discovered online shopping) and thanks a bunch for actually reading this long question!

Also, my budget is around £500, but don't allow that to be a restrictor, because I can buy parts in the future!

Lastly, assume that all parts with "(optional)" next to them are not on the board. I have literally just typed this out from the manual, so please appreciate how long this took!

*****Motherboard Specs*****

***Board

MSI Mainboard

Intel G31 Express Chipset Based (G31M3 Series)

Designed for Intel Core 2 Quad / Duo, Pentium & Celeron Processors

***Processor Support

Intel Core 2 Duo/ Core 2 Quad/ Pentium Dual-Core E2XXX and Celeron 400 LGA775 processors in LGA775 package. Supports 4 pin CPU Fan Pin-Heater with Fan speed control.

***Supported FSB

800/1066/1333/1600 MHz

***Chipset

North Bridge: Intel G31 Chipset
South Bridge: Intel ICH7/ ICH7R(optional) chipset

***Memory Support

DDR2 667/800 SDRAM (4GB Max)
2 DDR2 DIMMs (240pin/ 1.8V)

***LAN

Supports Realtek RTL8111C 10/100/1000 Mb/s
Supports Realtek RTL8101E 10/100 Mb/s (optional)
Compliance with PCI 2.2
Supports ACPI Power Management

***Audio

Chip integrated by Realtek ALC888
Flexible 8-channel audio with jack sensing
Supports Vista premium compliance

***IEEE 1394 (optional)

Chip integrated by JMicron 381
Transfer rate is up to 400Mbps

***IDE

1 IDE port by ICH7/ICH7R
Supports Ultra DMA 66/100 mode
Supports PIO, Bus Master operation mode

***SATA

SATA II ports by ICH7/ICH7R (optional)
Supports four SATA II devices
Supports storage and data transfers at up to 3Gb/s
Supports RAID 0/1/0+1 (for ICH7R only)

***Floppy

1 Floppy Port
Supports 1 FDD with 360KB, 720KB, 1.2MB, 1.44MB and 2.88MB

***Connectors

*Back panel
1 PS/2 mouse port
1 PS/2 keyboard port
1 serial port (COM1)
1 VGA port
1 parallel port supporting SPP/EPP/ECP mode
4 USB 2.0 Ports
1 RJ-45 LAN Jack
1 1394 port (optional)
6 flexible audio jacks/ 3 flexible audio jacks (optional)

*On-Board Pinheaders/Connectors

2 USB 2.0 pinheaders
1 CD-in pinheader
1 SPDIF-Out pinheader
1 IEEE 1394 pinheader (optional)
1 Front Panel Audio Pinheader
1 serial port pinheader
1 TPM (optional)
1 Chassis Intrusion Switch pinheader

***Slots

1 PCI Express x16 slot
1 PCI Express x1 slot
2 PCI slots
Support 3.3V/ 5V PCI bus Interface

***Form Factor


Micro-ATX (24.4cm x 21.8cm)

***Mounting

6 mounting holes


*****System Specs*****

***OS

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600)(Yes, I'm going to buy Win7 Professional)

***BIOS

Default System BIOS

***Processor

Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5400 @ 2.70GHz (2 CPUs)

***Memory

1014MB RAM (Yes, I am aware how bad that is)

***DirectX Version

DirectX 9.0c


*****Video Card Specs*****

***Name

Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset Family

***Manufacturer

Intel Corporation

***Chip Type

Intel GMA 3100

***DAC Type

Internal

***Approx. Total Memory

256.0 MB

***Current Display Mode

1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

***Monitor

Plug and Play Monitor


*****Soundcard Specs*****

***Name

Realtek HD Audio output

***Type

WDM



*****

Thanks so much for reading that. I know it is a lot but I would appreciate it so much if you could give me some upgrade options.

Thanks so much,

-Matt

Answer 1

Actually, upgrading your mums pc is NOT the only option, in fact I wouldn't even bother doing it at all.



Keep the case & the drives from your mums old PC, remove the old motherboard as it will not be needed.



£179.95 will buy you this http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Bulldozer-FX-6100-Core-3-30GHz/dp/B007IIXATK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1337617833&sr=8-4 The pack contains motherboard, 8 gigs of DDR3 & the processor.



£82.99 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Palit-GeForce-GTX550Ti-GDDR5DVIHDMI-Graphic/dp/B004RHPMFU/ref=sr_1_8?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1337618423&sr=1-8 GTX 550 ti Graphics card



£53.98 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMPSU-600CXV2UK-Builder-Series-Supply/dp/B0050AFU46/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1337618469&sr=1-1 Corsair 600W PSU - never go cheap with a PSU



£43.50 http://www.software4students.co.uk/Windows_7-software.aspx Windows 7 Professional, If you aren't a student, neither microsoft, nor this company check. (hint).



As long as you keep the drives, the case, and the monitor from the old PC you will have yourself a pretty much brand new computer, capable of playing all of the latest games, mostly at their highest settings for way less than £500.



£14.95 will buy you a basic pc case http://www.amazon.co.uk/CiT-2017-Black-Computer-Case/dp/B004WC0X7C/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1337618962&sr=1-6 if needed

Answer 2

There are 5 things to upgrade: the processor to a core 2 quad, the ram to 4 gb, the power supply to 600 watt, and the graphics card to a Radeon hd 6850. It should all cost close to $400.

Answer 3

Amazon is a good place to find parts or you can just go with a prebuilt gaming computer. I really like the Cyberpower brand they put together a good build.



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051UWEH6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=cellphoncomp-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0051UWEH6

Answer 4

I am building a PC for about £450 without a hard drive or operating system, but you could use your hard drive with the OS on, the monitor, mouse and keyboard and cables from your old PC. Here are the things to get. They are all on eBay and are probably the cheapest you will find them.



Chassis: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140670799313?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_2024wt_952 £21.10



RAM: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260809886185?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_3705wt_952 £46.81



PSU: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300672537918?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 £26.92



DVD Drive: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290666583985?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_6950wt_952 £15.85



CPU: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221017924192?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_2643wt_1185 £84.96



Motherboard: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170840265737?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_4099wt_1172 £58.88



Graphics Card: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270977231737?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_1814wt_1185 £48.29



Hope it helps!