Need help

[Kingjad]

[Rusch69]

Okay thank you. Unfortunately I can't find specs of the mainboard model, so I don't know how many RAM slots it has and what it's max capacity would be. Overclocking also is no option in this case at all.



Your RAM is currently running in Single Channel mode, because the capacities (1 GB & 2 GB) of the two sticks are different. You could replace the 1 GB stick with another 2 GB one. A matching stick (clock frequency of 800 Mhz & CL 6 latency) costs about 20-25 € and would make it 4 GB in Dual Channel. Something like this.

Additionally a new graphics card would boost gaming performance a lot. No need to invest a lot here either since the CPU will be the bottleneck anyway as mentioned earlier. I don't have any information about the installed power supply (connectors & Wattage). Assuming it has no extra 6 pin PCIe power connector and has low Wattage, a GTX 750 Ti could be an option. It has a fairly low power consumption of just ~60 W max. Some designs of NVIDIA's board partners don't even require a PCIe power connector and draw it all directly from the mainboard.

Here's two models:
MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti Twin Frozr
Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti StormX OC

In total a RAM stick + graphics card would be ~150 €. It would be less if you're going with used parts of course.
That could be it, assuming the power supply will handle the graphics card. Otherwise a new power supply would increase the costs a bit.



Performance wise this is the range you'd be in. The FPS are shown in the top right corner.

[Kingjad]

I don't know how best to explain my power supply - I plug the computer in, computer turns on, magic?

If you mean my computer monitor itself and if it can handle the upgrade in graphics, then I may be able to help. Hopefully these random numbers and letters make sense to you:

Power rating: 100-240Vac50/60HZ, 1.5A

If all you recommend is improving the RAM and one of these graphics cards, then I may try to purchase them and get them installed into my current desktop.

[Rusch69]

Maybe I was just a bit unclear. The connected monitor is completely irrelevant.
By power supply I mean the interal unit that draws power from the wall and delivers it to all the PC components.

Something like this:



The sticker on it's side somewhere says how much watts it can deliver. A power supply's performance reduces with time a bit tho.

And yes, RAM + graphics card would be all.
(Additionally maybe a new internal power supply if the current one is not powerful enough to "feed" the new graphics card.)

[Kingjad]

I've consulted google and I think that I would need to get a new power supply - I think I'm currently operating with a 250w power supply as that seems to be the standard figure I've seen when I googled my PC name.

It looks like to get the extra RAM, new graphics card and an improved power supply would cost me over 200 pounds/euros altogether. I got some thinking to do.

[Rusch69]

A proper power supply for a system of this kind starts at around 30 €. 300 W will be enough to power your system already. You could try leaving it out first and see if the current one can handle it all under load. A close call, but it could work.