Upgrading my rig

rendochai

rendochai

CAG Veteran
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I have an acer aspire m3100 and I'm looking to upgrade a few parts. I definitely need a new power supply, and I'd like to get a graphics card that can run UT3 alright. I'm on a bit of a budget so I don't need the overall greatest thing out there.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks

Edit : Don't know much about the hardware that runs a pc.. but here are the specs. (I have been trying to educate myself..its just a slow process)

AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4400+ (1MB L2 cache, 2.2GHz)
2GB (1/1/0/0) DDR2 SDRAM
ATI Radeon™ X1250 graphics
 
No offense, but I'm not going to go to the effort of looking up what is in an Acer Aspire M3100. You should post the machines specs so that we can tell what will actually be an upgrade for you :p
 
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4400+ (1MB L2 cache, 2.2GHz)
2GB (1/1/0/0) DDR2 SDRAM
ATI Radeon™ X1250 graphics

not sure if there is anything else you need to know.. I'm not the most versed on computer hardware, and I've been trying to read up on different things but its a slow process. From what I've read on these forums, certain power supplies are incompatible with certain pc's for whatever reason, and I know that I need to get a powerful enough power supply to support the graphics card, but I haven't been able to really understand very much about what else I need to consider when purchasing one.

In terms of graphics cards, I've never actually bought one, or tinkered with one other than to put it in, or take one out. I've heard others on CAG talk about bottlenecking if your processer isn't fast enough, or cards being too large for a tower... the naming process ati and nvidia are using is also nonsense to me. Sorry for not really putting much of anything in the opening post.. I'll change that a bit. I guess this aspect of gaming makes me feel pretty stupid, so I've been putting off asking about it. Other than those specs right there, I'm not sure if there is anything else that would be helpful. I appreciate any and all assistance as I really am just too new to making these kinds of purchases without any advice.

Thanks again.
 
Well it sounds like you currently have an integrated video card. A couple of other specs might be useful. If you can figure out what motherboard you have (or at least what PCI/AGP slot you have) it would be easier to recommend a video card and a power supply. Most likely you will get tons of recommendations for an 8800 GT (like at http://www.ncixus.com/products/26780/PVT88PYDF4/XFX/ which is having a really good sale on the 8800 gt right now), since it is really the best price/performance you can get right now. You do need a PCI Express x16 slot for it, which you most likely have. As for power supplies the only compatibility problem I've really heard of is that some motherboards require a 20 pin connector and some require 24. Just get a power supply with enough watts (about 600) with a 20+4 pin connector and you should be fine.

EDIT: One more thing you have to keep in mind is what type of case you have. You should either have an ATX or Mini ATX, so just make sure whatever power supply you get supports that form factor.
 
I have a pci express x16 slot. I'm not sure however what type of motherboard I have as when I run aida, it lists it as unknown. I also checked the specs on the acer website and that wasn't much help either. I'll have to check how many pins my power supply has, but I'll make sure to get one with enough watts. Not quite sure how to find out if I have an ATX or a mini ATX, I think I'll just call acer to find out more info.

Also, thanks tehweezner for the link. I browsed around a bit, and it seems like it will be a great resource. I'll definitely bookmark it.
 
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