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Can anyone help me upgrade this pc?
sgt rob
Pure Rock FuryRegistered User regular
Pure Rock FuryRegistered User regular
I wanted to know if anyone could help me scope out some cheaper items that would be an upgrade to my current pc, but I'm only looking to spend around $350. Then with any parts that I upgrade, I'd pass along the old part to a pc I'd like to help put together for my brother; So it'll hopefully be cheaper for him. He doesn't need beast of a pc but something similar to what I already have. I already have 2x1gig sticks of ram sitting aside for him.
Mostly gaming I'll be doing on this. So if there's a good video card upgrade or cpu upgrade I'll get whatever is the most effective.
This is my current pc. I'm going to upgrade to win7 soon I think.
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: P35-DS3L
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 3582MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512.0 MB
Budget: ~$350 for the upgrades. My bro will buy whatevers left that he needs for a pc after he gets my hand-me-downs.
Any ideas? I'm still new to building pc's and I had an old friend help me put together this one but I lost contact with him.
Mostly gaming I'll be doing on this. So if there's a good video card upgrade or cpu upgrade I'll get whatever is the most effective.
This is my current pc. I'm going to upgrade to win7 soon I think.
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: P35-DS3L
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 3582MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512.0 MB
Budget: ~$350 for the upgrades. My bro will buy whatevers left that he needs for a pc after he gets my hand-me-downs.
Any ideas? I'm still new to building pc's and I had an old friend help me put together this one but I lost contact with him.
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sgt rob on
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It's a bit easier if we know what sort of things you will be doing with your PC. i.e. if you want to play games mostly, and what level of performance you are hoping for.
I'll be gaming mostly on it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010340343%2050001157%201051707842&name=LGA%20775
Vidcard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150351
With $50ish leftover, after everything is said and done....you could goto 4GB of ram, probably would not see too much difference in actual performance though. If you have a not huge display then you could pop down to a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150369
I dont know much about nVidia's offerings, i quite like ATI stuff, always been solid for me.
You can also consider something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141419 Just for OS and your most played game/apps. Add some pop to your system.
Even then, i dont think you would see a massive increase in performance...you could pop in a $250 vidcard and blow most games away with the system you have.....hell the system you have will probably only stumble on games like crysis.
If you want to go cheap you could drop a quad core in there and maybe upgrade your graphics card. The problem is that if your mobo doesn't support PCI Express 2.0 whatever new video card you drop in will be slightly underpowered.
Also, get the x64 bit version of Win7.
EDIT:
This is the CPU you want to upgrade to: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core
Before we start recommending Video cards, what kind of power supply do you have?
Features PCI Express x16
does that answer your question?
http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2629
Personally i would save that $350 And consider some upgrades next year. Your computer is reasonably fast, I really doubt there is a game on the market that it won't run. For the money you would spend now, the increase in performance would be underwhelming. However, if you can keep that $350, maybe tack on another $300, next year it's likely you could build something that would blow your current PC out of the water.
Source games & Wow for example are CPU intensive. On top of that while most current games only use 2 cores the OS still needs CPU cycles. So triple+ cores are good for gaming because it sets at least 1 core aside for the OS which improves overall performance.
A 2.66 ghz dual core, like the one he has, will eat those games for lunch. <-period. I run a AMD 7750BE with a 4850 @1650x1050 and average FPS in Source games is above 90, WoW is above 60 at max settings.
Hes got enough ram, 4 GB would be nice, but not a huge upgrade there. Vidcard is a little old, and would be the greatest source of improvement but is no slouch, by any means.
VVVV Opinion! VVVV
You're gonna run 99% of the games out there quite well, with some exceptions, and whatever is coming out. You'll have to make do with Med settings on some things, but your computer is more powerful than, say, the one Gas Powered Games is using to test bed Sup Com 2. IF you are looking to head into bleeding edge stuff, well you need to do a full build. Within the constraints of your Mobo/power supply, the most mileage you can get out of your system would be a vidcard.
Also, most games just plain dont make use of extra cores....Sup Com does...There are a few others, but the list is short.
Great.
Ok, question right now. Does your bother need a Power Supply for is PC? If the answer is yes then you'll want this Combo. It comes with $30 in mail-in rebates and has a 10% off Promo code, Febc10, that expires Feb 14.
The 5770 is comparable to the 4850 in performance but it uses less power and supports DX11 while the 4850 is only DX10.1.
Both items in the Combo & the CPU I listed earlier all have free shipping. After the promo code is slightly over your budget but it will save you a bit of money in the long run if you choose to do it.
So is my mobo capable of PCI express 2.0? it only says PCI express x16 in dxdiag.
I understand my system is still pretty good but since my brother needs a pc I figure'd I'd just upgrade what I got a bit so he can get the leftovers.
Also, I do have 2 sticks of 2gig ram in my system but in dxdiag it only shows 3582mb, why does it do that?
I'm getting that combo deal (Power Supply and Vid Card) and also getting the Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core.
That means my brother will have....
2 sticks of 1gig ram
8800gt vid card
Power Supply
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz
All he needs now is a case, Hard drive, and a mobo. Anyone know of any good deals? I started looking on newegg and get overwhelmed with all the information I'm looking at mainly because I don't understand half of the terms lol or what exactly I'm looking for. I can pickup a medium size case for him at Tiger Direct near my house, unless theres a really good deal online.
Secondly, this system is a waste with XP on it, drop the $100 and get a Win7 license.
I am agreement with the suggestion above to just wait. Either that or offer to sell your current system, in whole, to your brother and use that money along with yours to just build a new system for yourself. Maybe pull the 2x2 memory and put the 2x1 in it for him. Price out a decent new system and ask him to chip in the difference from $350. The build thread has a number of systems to start with.
Just dig around newegg, in the combos/deals sections.. Or get yourself a nice new case. :P quite honestly you could almost build a kickass rig just from the user ratings....Read through them a bit and cross check whatever blows your skirt up with one of the better reviews sites...or all of them. And hit the RAM manufacturer's website to check for mobo compatibility.
You're probably running a 32bit OS. x86 (32bit) copies of windows can only read a total of 4gigs of ram, that's both system & video combined.
Tip: When ordering cases online try to get free shipping. Shipping prices can be as high as the price of the case.
Cases:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121071
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156237
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119161
x64 can read more than 4gigs of ram and it's faster with x64 apps. If you have the choice go ahead and get the x64 version.