upgrading new computer

[ATARI800XLfan]

I have recently bought a new computer from best buy, would have built one my self but my laptop recently died and that was my only computer for school. I did buy one that I know I could upgrade latter and get entry to mid performance. It is a Asus essentio series. I have thinking of upgrading the CPU, It currently has a Athlon II X2 2.8. I am looking at either a Athlon II X3 460(3.4 Ghz) or a Phenom II X2 555BE(3.3Ghz) Phenom is 10 dollars more, which one would be better for gaming? Plain on adding a 6770 GPU to the case, as that should be the largest I can add(have talked to a few guys that had a 5770 in the same case but older design that did fine heat wise). Most likely will not do any upgrades until a few months from now. What do you guys think?

EDIT: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Esse ... Id=4602619

[gtmtnbiker]

How recent did you buy the computer? It seems odd to be upgrading it so soon if it's less than a year old.

[ATARI800XLfan]

How recent did you buy the computer? It seems odd to be upgrading it so soon if it's less than a year old.

bought it a few weeks ago. Just thinking about doing it some time this year, computer was only 500 including monitor. trying to get it to the standards of my old gaming laptop. Would probably replace the CPU last though. Is a 2.8 Athlon II X2 good enough for a AMD 6770 GPU? Which one of the CPU's would be better.

[Ziggy]

A link to the exact PC you bought would be helpful, or at least the model name/number so we could Google it.

[ATARI800XLfan]

A link to the exact PC you bought would be helpful, or at least the model name/number so we could Google it.

Good point, here is a link to the Asus website about it

http://www.asus.com/Desktop/Entertainme ... io_CM1730/

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Esse ... Id=4602619

planning on adding a front fan.

might bump the GPU up to a 6790 if I fit it in without having cooling issues.

[ATARI800XLfan]

any thoughts?

[Cronozilla]

Did you find the size of video card that can actually fit? Honestly, this is a crucial thing. You need to find out the maximum allowable GPU size.

Abstractly, if you want an AMD GPU, I'd suggest the 6870. It's one of the better bang for your buck cards out there. But there's a good chance it won't fit

[ATARI800XLfan]

Did you find the size of video card that can actually fit? Honestly, this is a crucial thing. You need to find out the maximum allowable GPU size.

Abstractly, if you want an AMD GPU, I'd suggest the 6870. It's one of the better bang for your buck cards out there. But there's a good chance it won't fit

going by the specs listed the case is 16 inches deep by 16 high and about 6 wide. Will probably stick with a 6700 series card, if so would I really need to upgrade from a 2.8 GHz Athlon II X2, do not actually have any rules or tape measures at college at the moment. Right now the max size I would probably be comfortable with would be something along the size of a AMD HD6790 Most game I would play would be some RPG's like Skyrim and Mass Effect series, some racing including Grid and Dirt 3, and RTS like the new Sim City coming out and empire total war.

[Ziggy]

The first thing I would upgrade is the power supply, especially before upgrading the GPU! The power supplies that come with pre-built PCs are absolute garbage, I would upgrade for that reason alone. But more importantly in your case, I used the power supply calculator on New Egg and input all the components that make up your PC, including the 6790 GPU you wanna get. The NewEgg calculator suggests no less than 383w, while your computer comes with a 300w PSU, so that's a huge problem right there. When I get home from work, I'll make a few suggestions for power supplies.

As far as upgrading the CPU, the only thing I would be afraid of is compatibility. It's a pre-built machine, so that motherboard might not support CPUs outside of the ones it came with. They might not bother updating the BIOS to support CPUs that weren't going to be sold with the computer. But maybe I'm wrong. I would Google for examples of other people upgrading the CPU in this machine, or look for a BIOS update and see if there's anything about CPU code in the changes.

Another thing I noticed is that the PC came with a 64-bit OS and 4GB of RAM. DDR3 is pretty cheap now, I would go to 8GB just because it wouldn't cost much. The specs say that computer comes with 4GB, but I don't know how many sticks. If it's two 2GB sticks, then you'll have two open slots to add another two 2GB sticks. If it's four 1GB sticks, then you'll have to take them all out to upgrade, which will cost a little more. But remember, it's dual channel, so always install RAM in matched pairs for better performance.

[sabrage]

I seriously doubt that there's a BIOS issue with the motherboard. The manufacturer, ASUS, probably uses that exact same motherboard with dozens of other pre-built computers.

It helps to know your budget and exactly what kind of gaming you'll be doing with this.