Hi everyone, hope I'm posting in the right forums, first time here.



So I have a pretty low end computer atm .





My video card is a PCI-E Radeon X800 256 mb with only 2.0b pixel shaders.

The cpu I believe is a AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+, 2.0 ghz i believe has the socket 939.

1gb of Ram.

The Motherboard is a MSI MS-7191, I THINK this a link to the right motheboard http://www.motherboards.org/mobot/mo...8MS-7191%2529/



I'm aiming to do about 3 things.

I want to upgrade my video card mostly to be able to play games that require Pixel Shader 3.0 and to be able to handle Crysis when it comes out on medium settings at least.



Looking for a Dual Core Processor even though I'm not sure if I can even replace the one on my motherboard (not sure if its integrated). Aiming for not top end but same as above able to support Crysis and also for PS2 Emulation.



Finally I'm not sure if I should upgrade the motheboard, I don't know if it'll help with getting a processor cheaper and boost my performace at the same time or not, also worried I would have to get a new power supply/fans/ and buy a cooling system which I believe are all out of my league currently.





I'm just really looking for any advice, not huge top of the end recommendations that are expensive just because they're new but I do have a slightly fair budget on all of this.



So if any one could recommend me things, New MB or not? Which CPU in my current or new MB, if a new MB what also would I need with it, which graphics card or whatever else you think I need upgraded?



Sorry for the long post, but if any 1 wants any of my specs just ask I'll copy and paste from Sandra if you need it.

Thanks for the help .

Hi Sergey,
Firstly, I'd like to welcome to CompuForums - it's good to have you here. I hope you will be on the board for a long time, and if there is anything I can do to make your experience better please let me know. We are here to help you, so it would be appreciated if you could help us by posting in threads as well as your own. By doing so, you are helping to keep this site running in the future, and we will respond to your thread faster too. If you can't help us, then we can't help you.

If you want to go from an AMD based to an Intel based system, you will almost certainly need to get a new motherboard. To

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What I would do is get a new AMD motherboard with a AM2 socket.. I would go with ASUS. Then I would go with AMD Athlon 64 x2 4200+ CPU.

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Newegg.com - ASUS M2N-E AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail


Does that seem like a good motherboard? I would probably have to get new Ram sticks also with it?

And thank you for the welcome Ash, I'll be glad to help out with others if I got any info, I think your post cut out though at "to".

Its a nice motherboard , no doubt. .. but i can find a better board if.. if your willing to spend a bit more ... how much do you have to spend on this upgrade

You will need new ram
New processor
New video card
possibly new powersupply and case

Can you tell me How many pin your powersupply main board connector is and how many watts the power supply is .

Is the case you are using a ATX Mid tower or larger?

I was thinking of spending up to 900, thats how much I have on the budget on this, would like it a tiny bit cheaper but I'm willing to go that high if dishing out a little more buck would get me a ton more bang.

Now on the case, powersupply, and the pin questions... I'm not sure how to check any of those ;\

I assume I would have to look at pictures to tell which case I have, but is there any diagnostic program like Sandra to check the powersupply watts and the pin thing is?

And what exactly do the pins your powersupply main board board do?

Thanks for the help so far.

Okay i can get alot of information if you do one thing .

Do you feel comfortable removing the side and your case and looking into the system and copying some things down for me?

Yea no problem, just tell me what you need to know.
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I was thinking of first upgrading my video card before I start with the bigger upgrades, wanna do 1 thing at a time.

I was aiming for this graphic card: http://www.futurepowerpc.com/scripts...2GXPB&REFID=PW

I'm not sure if my motherboard supports the 2.0 PCI-E interface though.
MSI MS-7191-040 RS482M4-ILD AMD Socket 939 uATX Motherboard. Refurb. - ComputerGate.com

If it doesn't would it work in it? And if so how much of a performace lost would I see?

Oh and by the way my current graphics card... a Radeon X800 PCPartner ATI Radeon X800 256MB PCI-E Video Card w/DVI TV PC Partner 199-06C60-000FS X800
, is that a 1.0 or 2.0 PCI-E graphic card interface?

Thanks again for all the help.