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Upgrading a pc



Scampi

One of the Three
Jun 10, 2009
1,531
Denton
Hi,

My son wants us to up grade his pc. It has AMD A4-3300 processor which I'm pretty sure is it's weakest link ( he wants to play a pc game and the proceesor comes up as the factor which makes hos pc too underpowered for it)

How easy is it to replace the processor?

What would be a good upgrade and how much would it cost.

Any advice gratefully received
 


Springal

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2005
23,714
GOSBTS
It is likely you'll need to upgrade the motherboard, and then probably memory, and then possibly other things.

In all honesty, nowadays, it is probably better to buy a brand new PC, from someone like Dell or similar, than mess around upgrading stuff.
 


Coldeanseagull

Opinionated
Mar 13, 2013
7,716
Coldean
Also to consider is if it's a windows based system, is it 32 or 64 bit system? 64 bit would probably allow for a processor upgrade but if the OS is OEM you could run into a few gliches there. So I'd go with Springals answer. If you're not that proficient with the insides, buy a new tower
 




beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,265
who or what says the processor is underpowered? what's the game?

most games are limited only by graphics, CPU power being well ahead of coded AI abilities. if anything i sispect it will be the GPU component of the processor as these have a low/mid range GPU baked in. either way its probably a GPU upgrade needed, if anything at all.
 




willyfantastic

New member
Mar 1, 2009
2,368
who or what says the processor is underpowered? what's the game?

most games are limited only by graphics, CPU power being well ahead of coded AI abilities. if anything i sispect it will be the GPU component of the processor as these have a low/mid range GPU baked in. either way its probably a GPU upgrade needed, if anything at all.

yes but the cpu could bottle-neck any future upgrades
 


brakespear

Doctor Worm
Feb 24, 2009
12,326
Sleeping on the roof
I'm not sure that processor is any wirse than mine (difficult making an Intel/AMD comparison) and I play all the latest games (although I will be upgrading the CPU at Christmas this year). The A4-3300 also appears to have an HD6410D gfx chip on board (which is better than mine :p ) although I'm guessing it's using shared memory? Which game is it?
 


seagull_in_malaysia

Active member
Aug 18, 2006
910
Reading
I thought you couldn't really replace the processor as it is attached to the motherboard. And you can't really replace the motherboard as your copy of windows is tied to it. So you'd have to buy a new copy of windows as well. Best to buy a new PC I guess.
 




brakespear

Doctor Worm
Feb 24, 2009
12,326
Sleeping on the roof
I thought you couldn't really replace the processor as it is attached to the motherboard. And you can't really replace the motherboard as your copy of windows is tied to it. So you'd have to buy a new copy of windows as well. Best to buy a new PC I guess.
None of the above is true unless you have a MAC (I think), a laptop (generally) or an OEM version of Windows (rather than a retail copy). And it's generally the HDD Windows is tied to rather than the mobo. You can readily remove the processor from a mobo as long as you replace it with another one that fits the same socket (or buy a new mobo to match the processor).
 


Billy the Fish

Technocrat
Oct 18, 2005
17,472
Haywards Heath
I thought you couldn't really replace the processor as it is attached to the motherboard. And you can't really replace the motherboard as your copy of windows is tied to it. So you'd have to buy a new copy of windows as well. Best to buy a new PC I guess.

Quite possibly as wrong as you can get!

To the OP's question, it's difficult to give a sensible answer here on that information. Can you post the game requirements and the PC spec? More likely to be the graphics card.
 


Igzilla

Well-known member
Sep 27, 2012
1,641
Worthing
It's mainly a case of "it depends". Yes, usually to upgrade a processor mean upgrading the motherboard and possibly memory as well. Some MB's can take a faster CPU of the same strain, but it's usually a small incremental gain it's not worth it.

Windows is tied into the hardware,but it's a combination of CPU, MB, memory, HDD and so on, but generally upgrading the MB and CPU and memory will muck up your Windows licence. No issues with Linux of course, so worth checking if the game in question is available via Steam/Linux.

Another poster does makes a very good point about the video card - a reasonable MB can take a more modern graphics card as the slot it goes into is fairly standard. Worth double checking too.

Buying a new tower? Well, maybe. You always end up compromising on one component or another. The beauty and flexibility of a PC (over a Mac) is that you can (given the will and the money), spec each and every component to the utmost. Think the difference between buying a car at Shady Joe's or customising your own hot rod.

If you do buy a new tower, look for a separate graphics card (none of this shared memory rubbish), plenty of RAM, and add on another £100 for the Windows tax, if you want to waste your money on 8.1.
 




seagull_in_malaysia

Active member
Aug 18, 2006
910
Reading
None of the above is true unless you have a MAC (I think), a laptop (generally) or an OEM version of Windows (rather than a retail copy). And it's generally the HDD Windows is tied to rather than the mobo. You can readily remove the processor from a mobo as long as you replace it with another one that fits the same socket (or buy a new mobo to match the processor).

I thought almost all computers come with OEM versions of windows? Pretty sure it isn't tied to the HDD as I've had new hard drives a few times and it just requires reinstalling windows, not a new product key.

Didn't know you could replace the processor though. I always thought it was soldered on.
 


Igzilla

Well-known member
Sep 27, 2012
1,641
Worthing
I thought almost all computers come with OEM versions of windows? Pretty sure it isn't tied to the HDD as I've had new hard drives a few times and it just requires reinstalling windows, not a new product key.

Didn't know you could replace the processor though. I always thought it was soldered on.

It's a combination of a lot of hardware. Each one has an id code, and Windows creates a unique code based from these that the licence key is tied to. If one component changes,then it's ok. If two change, then maybe you'll be ok, as Microsoft in their infinite generosity allows some flexibility around the initial, unique code.
 


sjamesb3466

Well-known member
Jan 31, 2009
5,182
Leicester
It all depends on how much money you want to spend. I built my PC for roughly £500 3 years ago and that's with an AMD 1090T 6 core processor, Asus M4N98TD Evo Motherboard, 2 nVidia GTX 260 graphics cards running in SLI (two joined running together as one), 8GB of RAM, 1TB HDD, Antec Case and Windows 7 64bit. Am in the process of upgrading now and I could build a comparable spec for the one I built 3 years ago for an extra £400.

I would personally go for building a new PC but if you are not confident with this route I would really avoid Dell or similar as most of their PC's can be difficult to upgrade as some of their components are built into the case and can prevent you from upgrading more than the RAM and maybe graphics card. Maybe worth speaking to a local PC repair/build company and see if they can build you something for a similar price.
 




brakespear

Doctor Worm
Feb 24, 2009
12,326
Sleeping on the roof
I thought almost all computers come with OEM versions of windows? Pretty sure it isn't tied to the HDD as I've had new hard drives a few times and it just requires reinstalling windows, not a new product key.

Didn't know you could replace the processor though. I always thought it was soldered on.
Sorry yes, as [MENTION=25615]Igzilla[/MENTION] states above it's a combination of things - I was harking back to the last time I bought a pre-built PC, when Windows came pre-installed with no CD so if the HDD was changed you had to buy a new copy of Windows :) But yes, processors just slot into sockets nowadays and are then secured in place.
 


drop dead fred

Active member
Mar 8, 2011
398
Just go to overclockers.co.uk and buy one of their pre built systems
Better, faster and cheaper than buying something from the likes of dell
 



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