Refreshing an old workhorse

[Guest andyysplash]

At the end of last year I gave my old PC to my sister since the family one was suffering myriad issues and she really needed her own for school and other things. It's been around since late 2007, originally built as one of those bundles from Maplin with a few bits and pieces added over the years.

 

Here's the current spec:

 

PSU: 350W (branded but I can't remember what. It's pretty solid)

Case: Emachines OEM case

Mobo: ECS (might be GeForce6100PM-M2)

CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (stock cooler, 2.2GHz)

RAM: 3GB mismatched DDR2@400MHz (up from 1GB)

GPU: Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB (bought to run some games on medium settings)

HDD: 160GB WD Green from ages ago (will chuck a 1TB in there later)

 

Anyway, she would like a new computer at some point, but doesn't want to spend £500+ on it. Since I suggested a GTX750Ti for a possible build, I thought that we might as well upgrade her current rig with that card as it'll help her performance regardless of whether she gets a new pc or not.

 

The question is, I reckon that the cpu will bottleneck that card a lot, so without spending so much that I might as well have bought a new mobo and stuck an FX series in there, what would it be worth upgrading to?

 

I'm gonna buy another 2GB stick of RAM (try and find the same as the one that's already in there for dual-channel) because 4GB is kinda the minimum nowadays

 

Edit: oops, fixed the title!

[Ryan Leech]

I would personally buy an ssd before I buy an fx cpu.

 

What is she using the pc for?

[Guest andyysplash]

'Light' gaming, drawing/art stuff, homework etc. The most demanding thing she'll probably ever run is either a slightly modded Skyrim or, say Dishonored. Nothing anywhere near Crysis 3

 

And SSD sounds like a good idea because she can also transfer it to a new build if she gets the money together, so yeah that sound a good idea!

 

In terms of a cpu upgrade I was thinking of finding a Phenom X4 for cheap and sticking that in there.....

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

true ,since she doesn't need that much storage capacity ,get a 180GB SSD for super fast performance ,through in  that gtx 750Ti (i think talking about the New Maxwell one) ,and get to 4GB Ram with matched Dims to make it completely Refreshed ,the SSD will coast you you though