what do i need to do to upgrade this pc?

[deedee24]

My boyfriend has a Hi-Grade pc, i bought him it to play his games on, the man in the shop said it was excellent for gaming and had brillaint memory etc..
When my boyfriend was on night shift i set the computer up bought him a new chair and computer desk etc and was really pleased thinking i'd done good only to find the pc is s****e and his game only lets him play certain stuff cos the computer either runs slow and doesn't have a graphics card for it...
He's trying to play medieval II total war....here is the spec of the pc.
Manufacturer - Hi-Grade
Rating - 2.1 windows experience
Processor - Intel (R) Celeron (R) CPU.
430 @ 1.80 Ghz
Memory (RAM) 1.00GB
System type - 32 - bit operating system.

I'd like to expand the computers memory and graphics but have no idea what to ask for at the shop. i'm taking it to pc world to get upgraded but would like some sort of idea what i need so i don't get ripped off..


thank you in advance.
dee
x

[ACtheTROLL]

a quick look round and it sounds as if the game is extremely hungry - and to be honest - you haven't been sold anywhere near a gaming machine...

you haven't given the model number or operating system ... but

a celeron with 1Gb isn't realy enough to run vista ... let alone a game.

and pc world will rip you off anyway - this sort of upgrade will take about half an hour tops (�30-40) - I bet they charge double that at least

the two key things are more memory ... total of 2 or 3 Gb )extra 2Gb about �35)
a decent graphics card ... 256Mb + �100+

depending on how long ago you bought the machine ... you could possibly return because it was certainly misrepresented as a gaming machine.

[SlackAlice]

The pc specs certainly are not for a gaming machine. the CPU you have is the minimum for the game to run. Memory is very low, just enough to run XP more or less. I'm assuming as you do not mention a graphics card then you've got onboard graphics.
To be quite honest if you can return it under the misrepresentation I'd do it.

My gaming pc, which by the way is now a bit ancient (2yrs old!) has

CPU-Intel Core2Duo 3Ghz

Graphics Card
Nvidia 9800GTX

6Gb Corsair Dominator memory

Vista 64 bit

Western Digital Raptor HD

My machine is now no longer a fast machine compared to some out there. It just depends how much you've got to spend.

I do not think you can upgrade your machine cheaply bearing in mind the CPU you have.

[Mobius1]

Basic user-upgrading of that machine is a lost cause if you want "a high end gaming machine". You can put all the extra RAM in you like, and get a nice graphics card, but you're still going to have that horrible Celeron chip panting away in the middle of it all.

A PC is only as fast as it's slowest component. A quick search shows that you can buy a dual core Celeron clocked at 2Ghz (faster than yours) for �35. So spending loads of dosh on extra components for that processor to bottleneck is pointless. But, to change the processor to something decent, you're looking at a new motherboard and a job that's suited to someone who knows what they're doing.

If you just bought this machine new, take it back and say you want a refund. Even if it's a bloke in a shop, you have your statutory rights. You wanted a high end machine, and you got sold a very low end one.

[deedee24]

ok so i've come to the conclusion that its a waste of space and money getting it upgraded, i bought it 9mths ago so doubt i could take it back....could anyone recommend a good gaming pc for him then? i have a really good monitor so just need the tower (sorry don't know the proper name) i'm willing to pay about �500-600 quid, can anyone point me in the right direction? thank you x

[ACtheTROLL]

tower is correct

I like mesh - and for 500 you can get a pretty beefy machine
Elite Pro HD4670

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE =PRODCATEGORYVIEWPAGE&USG=APPLICATION&ENT=APPL ICATION&KEY=414924

do tick
Genuine Windows Vista� Home Premium SP1, 64-bit + Windows 7 Upgrade Option - English[upg � 0.00]

untick
Complete 12 Month BullGuard Internet Security License (3 User Edition) +�20.00
6-Socket Surge Protection +�19.80
8GB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM - (4 x 2GB) �40.00
1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer +�40.00

the 8Gb ram is tempting ... but it breaks your budget ... and 4 is a good size

[SlackAlice]

nice choice for the price

[ACtheTROLL]

oops - you said 5-600
so you could go for the 8Gb of ram
and
1GB ATi HD4850 Graphics accelerator - DVI, DirectX 10.1 PCI Express 2[upg � 40.00

to hit �600
if you want to hit �550 - just update the graphics card