Upgrading PC. Need help.

[The Penguin]

Two things, maybe three I'm looking to Upgrade. I have about 400-500 dollars to work with roughly.

1.) Upgrade my 9500 GT Galaxy Video Card. (Top Priority)
2.) OS- (for Playing Warcraft). Assuming Windows 8 64 bit. (I have a AMD Quadcore PC )
3.) ???? Ram? Do I need this?

Assume for the purpose of my questions I am computer illiterate and would be having Best Buy's Geek Squad do the installation.

System Info is:

OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer HP-Pavilion
System Type x64-based PC
Processor AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor, 2200 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 5.08, 2/3/2009
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 6.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.52 GB
Total Virtual Memory 12.2 GB
Available Virtual Memory 8.55 GB

[chazus]

Moving this to the build/upgrade subforum.

Then I'll look a bit deeper and see what can be done.

Also, do you know what it costs to get Geek Squad to do this? can you do the upgrades yourself (or have a friend do it?)

EDIT: I'd start here... new CPU, new GPU, new RAM and Board to support them. Maybe a new PSU depending on what you currently have.. will leave more than enough for someone to put it together, or save if someone can do it for you.

PCPartPicker part list
CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($119.99 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Avexir Core Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 1GB Video Card ($130.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $353.95

[tielknight]

Don't bother with Geek Squad, they'll likely eat up 1/4 of your budget just throwing stuff together half-assed and wanting you to buy 5 different protection plans for a extra $19.99! Ok, maybe not 5, but they prey on people that don't know any better and it's best to avoid them at all costs unless you can haggle your way into having them put it together for like $30-40 and make sure it boots before you walk out of there.
Putting it together yourself is still the best option and it feels damn good when you get it working too. It's a simple matter of plugging in wires and hooking things up and screwing things in, with the most daunting task being gently putting the CPU into it's socket.

When it comes to WoW, the video card isn't actually the top priority, as it heavily relies on the processor.
Your looking at a Intel build if your playing WoW, something like this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($119.99 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG Gaming Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 1GB Video Card ($130.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($21.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $405.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-27 05:35 EST-0500)

At the bottom edge of your budget and should be able to handle playing WoW just fine, though there's room enough for some more upgrades as well.

[Cyrops]

Don't bother with Geek Squad, they'll likely eat up 1/4 of your budget just throwing stuff together half-assed and wanting you to buy 5 different protection plans for a extra $19.99! Ok, maybe not 5, but they prey on people that don't know any better and it's best to avoid them at all costs unless you can haggle your way into having them put it together for like $30-40 and make sure it boots before you walk out of there.
Putting it together yourself is still the best option and it feels damn good when you get it working too. It's a simple matter of plugging in wires and hooking things up and screwing things in, with the most daunting task being gently putting the CPU into it's socket.

When it comes to WoW, the video card isn't actually the top priority, as it heavily relies on the processor.
Your looking at a Intel build if your playing WoW, something like this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($119.99 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG Gaming Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 1GB Video Card ($130.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($21.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $405.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-27 05:35 EST-0500)

At the bottom edge of your budget and should be able to handle playing WoW just fine, though there's room enough for some more upgrades as well.

That's nice build for that budget, but I think he only wanted to upgrade his graphics card?
In any case, for the OP:
It seems you have a prebuilt HP system.
In order to suggest you a VGA upgrade, we need to know either the prebuilt system exact model or the motherboard model.
6GB of RAM should be enough for a few more years.
Yea I would highly recommend ditching Vista. I work in IT and Vista in my language means "chicken" we make a lot of jokes concerning that ^^

[The Penguin]

I have one other question. I may or may not depending on how I like WoD try out FFXIV. Will the above build work well for FFXIV also Chaz? Thanks for all the information so far I really appreciate it. :-) Also forgive my inept knowledge of things, but why a dual core CPU? Do I not have a Quad Core CPU right now? Some clarification would help.

[Evil Inside]

That's nice build for that budget, but I think he only wanted to upgrade his graphics card?
In any case, for the OP:
It seems you have a prebuilt HP system.
In order to suggest you a VGA upgrade, we need to know either the prebuilt system exact model or the motherboard model.
6GB of RAM should be enough for a few more years.
Yea I would highly recommend ditching Vista. I work in IT and Vista in my language means "chicken" we make a lot of jokes concerning that ^^

Yes he wanted to upgrade graphics, but in his case he would benefit greatly with a cpu upgrade as well since he's looking to play warcraft(assuming WoW).

[Cyrops]

I have one other question. I may or may not depending on how I like WoD try out FFXIV. Will the above build work well for FFXIV also Chaz? Thanks for all the information so far I really appreciate it. :-) A;sp why a dual core CPU? Do I not have a Quad Core CPU right now? Some clarification would help.

Number of cores doesn't matter as your CPU is very old. The i3 is almost twice better despite having half the cores.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?...9550+Quad-Core
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?...30+%40+3.40GHz
Oh and i3 has hyperthreating, so it has 4 logical cores

FFXIV: ARR Minimum System Requirements:
Operating System: Windows® Vista 32/64bit, Windows® 7 32/64 bit
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo
Graphics: NVIDIA® Geforce® 8800 Series, ATI Radeon™ HD 4770
Memory: 2GB (4GB recommended for 64bit OS)
Disk Space: 20GB.
So yea, you should be able to play it.

Thought with Evil Inside suggestion you would need to purchase OS separately.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes he wanted to upgrade graphics, but in his case he would benefit greatly with a cpu upgrade as well since he's looking to play warcraft(assuming WoW).

I understand that.