Where can I get the best performance boost from my PC, bearing in mind I don't have ££££ to replace the whole lot.

AMD Phenom 8600B 2.3Ghz
4Gb Ram (DDR2)
2x 500GB SATAII HDDs
ATI Radeon 4850 512MB

I would say the CPU but depends what you do most , no idea what would be a good replacement as i don't know what CPU's your mobo supports.
A SSD for the OS would make the system feel much faster but they are not cheap.

It's AM2+/AM3 on the motherboard.

I've got another system sat in my bedroom I'm planning on using as a Mac, but that's Intel E5200 based.

I don't actually do much on the PC, but I've just started getting into RFactor, and some Racing games.

You able to go from two 2GB to two 4GB?
Better graphics card?
Get a solid state drive and make that your boot drive?

Fresh re-install to be all clean and dandy with that.

That should see a boos in performance?

I could go to 8gb, but I don't think the app's I'm using it would benefit. Same for an SSD.  I'm not bothered about how fast stuff loads, just how it runs when it does load.

The main things I'm thinking are a possible CPU and Graphics upgrade maybe, or just buy a C2Q for the other, shift the memory across and boost the GFX.

I would say your CPU is the weak link, how about a 3gig+ Phenom x4? I wouldn't bother with a x6 tbh, they are not to bad price wise if your mobo will support it.

I would have had a i5 750 going spare but it looks like i might never get round to upgrading

Quote from: Shaun on March 29, 2011, 23:49:01 PM
I would say your CPU is the weak link, how about a 3gig+ Phenom x4? I wouldn't bother with a x6 tbh, they are not to bad price wise if your mobo will support it.

I'll look into that,

My motherboard is this POS.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=K10N78M%20Pro