[hawks4848]

Hi! I'm trying to upgrade my PC in order to be able to stream content without lag. I'm attempting to upgrade my CPU, and probably my motherboard since my computer is fairly old. My budget is fairly limited, anywhere from $150-$300 for a combination of both. Could anyone direct me on what I should be looking for in terms of actual parts?

 

System Model: Dell XPS420

 

Current Processor: Intel®Core™2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz

 

Current Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series

 

My graphics card and power supply were upgraded from the original computer, everything else is as it was when I purchased my PC.

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   hawks4848,

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it is not as straightforward as simply upgrading the MB and CPU, there are other considerations to be taken into account and to address both will cost you additional cash, circa $145 to $150 to more exact.

 

The three most relevant points concerned are;

 

1: Unless you have purchased a full retail version of Windows since you acquired the computer you will need to purchase a new Windows product key.

2: You will need to format the present HDD and do a fresh install of the OS.

3: Your present Ram is of no use with any other MB than the DDR2 type of board.

 

The only way of reducing the cost is by sticking with another DDR2 type of MB, this would be a waste of time and financial resources + #1 and #2 above still apply, the present licence key is tied to your existing MB and cannot be used with an upgraded MB.

 

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[phillpower2]

   hawks4848,

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it is not as straightforward as simply upgrading the MB and CPU, there are other considerations to be taken into account and to address both will cost you additional cash, circa $145 to $150 to more exact.

 

The three most relevant points concerned are;

 

1: Unless you have purchased a full retail version of Windows since you acquired the computer you will need to purchase a new Windows product key.

2: You will need to format the present HDD and do a fresh install of the OS.

3: Your present Ram is of no use with any other MB than the DDR2 type of board.

 

The only way of reducing the cost is by sticking with another DDR2 type of MB, this would be a waste of time and financial resources + #1 and #2 above still apply, the present licence key is tied to your existing MB and cannot be used with an upgraded MB.

 

Tip

To ensure that you receive notification of any reply to your thread please click on the Follow this topic tab, top right corner above your OP.

[terry1966]

just for further info, i assume your talking about online game play and not streaming (watching media/tv/videos.), your pc is more than good enough to stream online media content. if you are talking about streaming videos then the problem i'd say is most likely down to your internet connection and not your pc, unless you are multi tasking and putting your cpu under 100% load while streaming.

 

now "lag" during game play may have nothing at all to do with your current pc setup and may be totally down to your internet connection too (high latency) so even if you had the fastest pc money can buy you would still have "lag" depending on what you actual mean by lag.

 

some links with more info :-

display/input lag :-  https://en.wikipedia.../wiki/Input_lag

latency :- https://en.wikipedia...y_(engineering)

lag in general :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lag

causes of lag :- http://compnetworkin...-and-online.htm

reduce ping :- http://www.pcadvisor...atency-3609346/

 

Edited by terry1966, 20 December 2015 - 05:03 AM.

[hawks4848]

just for further info, i assume your talking about online game play and not streaming (watching media/tv/videos.), your pc is more than good enough to stream online media content. if you are talking about streaming videos then the problem i'd say is most likely down to your internet connection and not your pc, unless you are multi tasking and putting your cpu under 100% load while streaming.

 

now "lag" during game play may have nothing at all to do with your current pc setup and may be totally down to your internet connection too (high latency) so even if you had the fastest pc money can buy you would still have "lag" depending on what you actual mean by lag.

 

some links with more info :-

display/input lag :-  https://en.wikipedia.../wiki/Input_lag

latency :- https://en.wikipedia...y_(engineering)

lag in general :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lag

causes of lag :- http://compnetworkin...-and-online.htm

reduce ping :- http://www.pcadvisor...atency-3609346/

 

I highly doubt that it's my current internet speeds that are lagging my stream/comp. I have 50 down and 15 up currently. When I turn on my stream, my FPS in game drops and the video on the stream shows up very choppy. Both lagging me in game and lagging the stream is what I mean. I went through multiple forums and looked for options and fixes pertaining to my issue. I went through and changed lots of settings but the one that directly affected the framerate on my stream and game was the CPU preset option, which allowed me to downgrade the amount of time it takes for my CPU to process the image or something of that sort. It helped my FPS to a degree (but nothing that I deem a standard enough quality 60 fps and at least 480p).

Edited by hawks4848, 22 December 2015 - 03:16 AM.