Need to upgrade

[Sploosh the ElfChimp]

Playing in ToA has thrown up serious lag problems. I was expecting it, as Im below minimum recommended spec, but......
Im running an Asus A7V-E m/board, with a 1ghz Athlon, 512 mb ram, geforce FX5600 256mb graphics.
Is it possible to upgrade the processor on this motherboard, and if so, to what? Or is it a whole new m/b, processor and ram job?
If its a new m/b etc, any recommendations or specs? bearing in mind price IS a consideration!
Thanks ppl.)

 

[plomien]

it is possible i am running the same MB with an athlon 1800 you should be able to go to a 2200 easily. looking at your setup its on the processor that needs upgrading to get more out of your pc but i would advise updating your motherboard drivers as well once you have done the change over.

 

[cHodAX]

Seems your board cannont support the newer AMD chips according to http://www.asus.com/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx Your best bet is to buy a cheap motherboard like the ASRock K7S8X Revision 3 which can be bought for £25 inc VAT, it supports CPU's upto XP3400 and has support for 400mhz DDR memory. With onboard surround sound and 10/100 network support it is a real bargain, ASRock are a sub-division of Asus and produce very reliable boards at rock bottom prices. As for CPU, well you can grab an XP2500 for £50 for which you get a great CPU that is very overclockable. Sadly you will need new memory but at £50 for 512mb of 400mhz DDR you will have a bloody fast machine for a total of £130 or so including a new HS/Fan.

If you stick with the board you have then an Athlon 1400 is the best you can hope for, finding a new one is impossible but 2nd hand are easy and cheap to obtain. Speed will improve by about 25% in real terms, not great but it is your cheapest upgrade.

 

[Roalith]

I would also recommend taking a look at your graphics card. 5600s are worse performance-wise than the old TI 4600s: I know, I have one

 

[cHodAX]

I would also recommend taking a look at your graphics card. 5600s are worse performance-wise than the old TI 4600s: I know, I have one

They are not too bad combined with a decent motherboard and cpu, ok you can't run with everything switched on but who needs all that bollocks in RvR anyway