A few questions about upgrading my computer

[BreakTheWind]

My computer is more than 4 years old I believe, and it's CPU in my opinion needs an upgrade. I am getting an AMD FX-6350 and I currently have an AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 620.
The new CPU will be 6 months old (as I am buying it from a friend) and will come with it's own ventilation unit. Now my question is, will I need to get a new power supply? I've never changed a power supply before, nor do I know how much would I need. The current one says 250 total output. About the socket, I believe both CPU's use the same one (AM3). My motherboard is Asus M4A77TD Pro.

Also I want to increase my random access memory (RAM). I already have 2x2GB (SuperTalent SUPERTALENT02), and what's interesting is that I see 2 other slots aligned with them. Can I add more, using these slots? I want to buy a single 8GB Corsair Vengeance. Can I just put it in there and get a total of 12GB, is it that simple?

Why I want to change my processor and RAM? Because those are the things that my task manager says are always capped at 100% when I try to video render, play games, etc And my video card is still in the high-end charts (ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5).

I am being offered a Samsung SSD of 120GB capacity for a low price (like 60$) and I am also thinking of getting it. But will it come of any good use? My friend told me that I can install an OS on it and it would start 10 times as fast. How true is that? And is installing it as easy as I think the RAM would be (just put it in and start the computer)?

Thank you in advance!

[camerongray]

Unfortunately the AMD FX CPUs are not listed as supported on your motherboard so I can't tell if it will work or not: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/list.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=M4A77TD%20PRO&p=1

I would strongly recommend you replace that PSU with a quality unit of at least 500w - Running a video card and even your current CPU on that 250w unit is cutting it far too closely, I imagine you are regularly hitting/going past 250w when you are putting the system under high load.

As far as the RAM, you generally should have the RAM in matched sticks so you would be best to take out the existing to get 8gb in total.

Your video card is still in the "high end charts" on some benchmark sites but is in no way a high performance card by modern standards.

An SSD would be a massive benefit but your current motherboard doesn't support SATA III (Only SATA II) so you won't get the full speed of an SSD without a separate SATA III card.  That said, even on SATA II an SSD will speed the machine up massively in terms of the time for it to boot and load things.

[BreakTheWind]

I searched even more and I guess my motherboard doesn't support AM3+, which is strange, because I believe that my current one is AM3. Well thanks a lot for the information, at least I won't waste my money, since getting a new motherboard would mean reinstalling windows, and I don't have time right now to reinstall every single program right now.

[soybean]

As far as the RAM, you generally should have the RAM in matched sticks so you would be best to take out the existing to get 8gb in total.

He has two modules installed and two empty slots.  So, he already has two matched sticks. He could buy two more 2GB modules and install them, giving him a total of 8GB.  This would not violate the matching principle, right?

[camerongray]

He has two modules installed and two empty slots.  So, he already has two matched sticks. He could buy two more 2GB modules and install them, giving him a total of 8GB.  This would not violate the matching principle, right?

That could also work yeah assuming the new sticks are close enough to the existing ones.  Ideally they should be the same specs, but normally if they are close enough all the sticks will run at the same speed as the slowest ones and go into dual channel.

[BreakTheWind]

Btw, what do you mean that my card might be on top of the charts but isn't actually good? I mean if it's a top benchmark shouldn't it be pretty modern too ;d

[camerongray]

That card hardly gets a "top benchmark".  It still sits on the " high end" page of most benchmark sites but performance wise its very low compared to a modern card.

[jason2074]

I want to buy a single 8GB Corsair Vengeance. Can I just put it in there and get a total of 12GB, is it that simple?

With regards to using a single 8 GB RAM on single slot, your motherboard only supports 16 GB so the maximum stick per slot is likely 4 GB on each slot.

[eQuilibrium]

First thing to consider when upgrading is the compatibility of the component to your former device. Make sure the new one is supported by your computer's specifications.