Upgrading My Computer

[Liam Wilson]

Hello, I am generally new to computers and I want to know a few things about upgrading my computer:

1: How do I find parts(cpu,gpu,RAM,etc) that fit my motherboard

2: How do I find parts(cpu,gpu,RAM,etc) that are all compatible with the other components

3: How do I find the proper cooling for the components

 

Does anyone have any "upgrades" that would be good for my computer, (I don't want something that would be like 2000$ ) and I would want to know why it's a good choice for my pc.

Sorry If I sound really pushy or anything

, Thank you, Liam

 

PC : HP Pavillion 530

Specs:

CPU: AMD A10-7800 12 Computing Cores(8C + 4C) @ 3.5 GHZ

GPU: Radeon R7 + R7 240 DUAL Graphics DUO

RAM: 8G DDR3 @ ~1100 MHZ

OS: Windows 10 64 BIT

MOTHERBOARD: HP 2B35

ALL AIR COOLED

[DukeChocula]

You've pretty much maxed that computer out as far as you can unless you're willing to spend $150 without any strong gains. You likely can't overclock because of your motherboard.

 

Your best bet is honestly probably a Motherboard, PSU, and SSD.

 

Granted I'm not sure if HP uses the ATX standard, or if they're jackasses and made their own specific motherboard so you couldn't reuse the case.

 

EDIT: Upon googling, yes HP is indeed the devil

 

 

So you'll need a case too.

[19_blackie_73]

what's your budget? I have bad experience with upgrading hp pavilion sh...

[Liam Wilson]

1 minute ago, DukeChocula said:

You've pretty much maxed that computer out as far as you can unless you're willing to spend $150 without any strong gains. You likely can't overclock because of your motherboard.

 

Your best bet is honestly probably a Motherboard, PSU, and SSD.

 

Granted I'm not sure if HP uses the ATX standard, or if they're jackasses and made their own specific motherboard so you couldn't reuse the case.

What is a PSU? Sorry if Im asking these stupid questions XD, How do I consider a mother board or a SSD to be compatible for my system?

[Liam Wilson]

1 minute ago, 19_blackie_73 said:

what's your budget? I have bad experience with upgrading hp pavilion sh...

What would a Budget of 250$ get me? Not much obviously

[Liam Wilson]

5 minutes ago, DukeChocula said:

You've pretty much maxed that computer out as far as you can unless you're willing to spend $150 without any strong gains. You likely can't overclock because of your motherboard.

 

Your best bet is honestly probably a Motherboard, PSU, and SSD.

 

Granted I'm not sure if HP uses the ATX standard, or if they're jackasses and made their own specific motherboard so you couldn't reuse the case.

 

EDIT: Upon googling, yes HP is indeed the devil

 

 

So you'll need a case too.

great

[DukeChocula]

1 minute ago, Liam Wilson said:

What is a PSU? Sorry if Im asking these stupid questions XD, How do I consider a mother board or a SSD to be compatible for my system?

PSU = Power Supply Unit. The box at the top/bottom of your case depending on the case.

 

A motherboard has to match the processor

RAM matches the motherboard 

SSD doesn't matter these days, they use the SATA standard. Anyone with good reviews on Amazon will work good

PSUs are typically on a standard as well as motherboards

Cases have to match the motherboard

[19_blackie_73]

1 minute ago, Liam Wilson said:

What would a Budget of 250$ get me? Not much obviously

at least throw in an ssd; that'll help a lot. But other components such as new video card will be bottlenecked pretty fast by your cpu, and a neq cpu mobo combo will 1) most likely not fit into your case and the gpu will here screw up you fps results. I'd save a bit and get sth new

[ThatCarlosGuy]

1. The motherboard and CPU need to have the same socket name. When those are chosen, pick the RAM that the motherboard will take (it's all on the the tech specs of the motherboard).

2. Aside from the points mentioned above, these days almost everything even slightly modern will be compatable with each other.

3. Unless you're overclocking or a silence-nut, then you dont need to bother aftermarket cooling.

A new graphics card wouldnt go amiss but you need to double check your PSU wattage and amperage.

It's always a pain in the butt to upgrade pre-made systems like this

EDIT: Spelling... derp

[Liam Wilson]

4 minutes ago, 19_blackie_73 said:

at least throw in an ssd; that'll help a lot. But other components such as new video card will be bottlenecked pretty fast by your cpu, and a neq cpu mobo combo will 1) most likely not fit into your case and the gpu will here screw up you fps results. I'd save a bit and get sth new

That hurt to read , what does SSD have over  HDD?

[Liam Wilson]

5 minutes ago, ThatCarlosGuy said:

1. The motherboard and CPU need to have the same socket name. When those are chosen, pick the RAM that the motherboard will take (it's all on the the tech specs of the motherboard).

2. Aside from the points mentioned above, these days almost everything even slightly modern will be compatable with each other.

3. Unless you're overclocking or a silence-nut, then you dont need to bother aftermarket cooling.

A new graphics card wouldnt go amiss but you need to double check your PSU wattage and amperage.

It's always a pain in the butt to upgrade pre-made systems like this

EDIT: Spelling... derp

PSU is the power supply unit Im guessing? Thank you btw

[DukeChocula]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TkgkFT

This is basically what you need to upgrade to, some of the stuff is subjective. But this keeps as much of your build as you can. You can overclock this setup, making it slightly stronger. It's not as scary as it sounds, many failsafes prevent you from destroying your build. if you decided to upgrade your computer you could add a 200 dollar graphics card and be able to play games around medium/high 1080p.

[Yuiii]

1 minute ago, Liam Wilson said:

That hurt to read , what does SSD have over  HDD?

An SSD uses flash storage (like a memory stick) rather than a spinning platter like a HDD. They really speed up load times but they don't have as much space.

[ThatCarlosGuy]

2 minutes ago, Liam Wilson said:

PSU is the power supply unit Im guessing? Thank you btw

Yup! Get the PSU from a reputable brand (corsair, evga, coolermaster etc.) and with a high enough wattage for your current/future components.

 

EDIT: Sounds really cliché to plug linus' videos, but look at LTT youtube channel and their "As Fast as Possible" series. Explains SO much

[Liam Wilson]

1 minute ago, berzerk_jaffa123 said:

An SSD uses flash storage (like a memory stick) rather than a spinning platter like a HDD. They really speed up load times but they don't have as much space.

Alright  Thanks

[Yuiii]

1 minute ago, DukeChocula said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TkgkFT

This is basically what you need to upgrade to, some of the stuff is subjective. But this keeps as much of your build as you can. You can overclock this setup, making it slightly stronger. It's not as scary as it sounds, many failsafes prevent you from destroying your build. if you decided to upgrade your computer you could add a 200 dollar graphics card and be able to play games around medium/high 1080p.

Personally, I'd say that 750W is overkill. Maybe a 550w?

[Liam Wilson]

1 minute ago, ThatCarlosGuy said:

Yup! Get the PSU from a reputable brand (corsair, evga, coolermaster etc.) and with a high enough wattage for your current/future components.

Thank you  Currently I am having problems with performance, I think It is because of dust, how drastic will the performance drop due to too much dust

[DukeChocula]

Just now, berzerk_jaffa123 said:

Personally, I'd say that 750W is overkill. Maybe a 550w?

It definitely is overkill. But it's about 15 bucks more than the Corsiar 430 watt semi modular. The reason I picked it being the fact that it's a decent price and semi modular. It's so much easier to deal with building a PC for the first time if you aren't worried about which cables you need and why theres 7 extra cables laying in your case.

[ThatCarlosGuy]

Just now, Liam Wilson said:

Thank you  Currently I am having problems with performance, I think It is because of dust, how drastic will the performance drop due to too much dust

Dust is only a problem with cooling mainly. If you have enough dust to prevent air from cooling your components it will overheat and thermalthrottle (LTT's videos have explanations on that). Other than that, dust won't have much of a negative affect on performance

[Yuiii]

Just now, DukeChocula said:

It definitely is overkill. But it's about 15 bucks more than the Corsiar 430 watt semi modular. The reason I picked it being the fact that it's a decent price and semi modular. It's so much easier to deal with building a PC for the first time if you aren't worried about which cables you need and why theres 7 extra cables laying in your case.

That makes sense. I went with an XFX 550w and that is still overkill!

[19_blackie_73]

5 minutes ago, Liam Wilson said:

That hurt to read , what does SSD have over  HDD?

ssd is way faster than a hdd. SSD's have fast access times (nanoseconds compared to milliseconds by hdd) and way faster read/write speeds. This results in way better loading times and windows startup

[Liam Wilson]

1 minute ago, ThatCarlosGuy said:

Dust is only a problem with cooling mainly. If you have enough dust to prevent air from cooling your components it will overheat and thermalthrottle (LTT's videos have explanations on that). Other than that, dust won't have much of a negative affect on performance

Ill leave a link to another one of my posts which has a more detailed explanation of the situation,

 

 

[DukeChocula]

The worst part about trying to just upgrade the hard drive is that HP usually makes you buy theirs. If it doesn't have a special code built into the hard drive, it won't be recognized as a boot drive. The biggest problem with prebuilts is they're way more expensive, usually sub par quality, and they usually lock stuff down and use proprietary connectors and such.

[Liam Wilson]

2 minutes ago, 19_blackie_73 said:

ssd is way faster than a hdd. SSD's have fast access times (nanoseconds compared to milliseconds by hdd) and way faster read/write speeds. This results in way better loading times and windows startup

Thank you guys so much for all the support

[19_blackie_73]

3 minutes ago, Liam Wilson said:

Thank you  Currently I am having problems with performance, I think It is because of dust, how drastic will the performance drop due to too much dust

dust when too much results in thermal throtteling - the components get too hot and as a consequence, they will thermal throttle (cannot give their full performance)