Should I upgrade or get a new PC?

Mai-Kero

So, right now I have a Dell 4600 that is a few years old.

Processor: 2.4 p4
Video Card: GeForce FX 5200
A really, really low power supply. I think it's 150 watt or something. In any event, that prevents me from upgrading the video card.
The default 80gb HD and a 200gb HD.
1GB of ram

I'm at work right now, so I can't post all the specs, so I'm not sure about what video cards it's compatible with, but my main question is, should I try upgrading the power supply and video card, or would it be more worth my time to just create a brand new computer?

Ruckus

Depends on your plans. If you want to keep playing the latest and greatest games at good resolutions and frame rate:

You're video is more than likely AGP, and while there are a few good 8x AGP video cards still around, PCI x16 cards have pretty much dominated the market.

Couple that with the dual core processors and DDR2 RAM now available, and I'd say it makes more sense to tough it out, save up, and start building anew.

redimpulse

Your current unit isn't too awful old, and still has the capability of running some newer stuff.

First thing I'd do is get rid of that flaky Dell PSU. Check out Newegg, they have good deals on 450+W PSUs that will get you what you need. Obviously with a new PSU, you can upgrade your video card. As the FX 5200 was (at inception) a low-end card, upgrading this will definitely help your capabilities.

Also, your current mobo will support up to 4 Gb of DDR400. So you still have a lot of upgrading to go from there. As far as Video, I'm sure it's probably an AGP 8x slot, so you should look for a video card in that arena.

All in all, your system is still serviceable and upgradeable. I'd keep it around for a while; it'll suit your needs with just a few upgrades instead of building something new.

This is all figuring that your Dell 4600 is a Dell Dimension 4600.

robaal

With a new rig you would have to buy a new PSU (and most likely also case) so get one that you can use in your future build (450W+).

AGP is pretty much dead, but you can still get a big performance improvement with the older (9800Pro, 6600GT, 6800, 6800GT) or slower cards (X1600Pro, 7600GS - both roughly equivalent to a vanilla 6800).

Although there is at least one fairly powerful AGP card (X1950Pro) it costs much more than the PCI-E version - you could get comparably-performing PCI-E card and a PCI-E motherboard for the same price.

Also: DDR400 RAM hasn't lost too much value - you could probably sell it and jump to DDR2-667 RAM relatively cheaply.

Mai-Kero

The one concearn I have with upgrading is that my computer is making a lot of noise now, I think it might be the fan or something. If I press firmly on the front of the computer, it goes away, but will come back later.

Also: Both of my disc drives are ridiculously loud, and the DvD drive doesn't always open or close when I press the button. Does this mean I need to replace them, or are they just not secured tightly enough?

robaal

Mai-Kero wrote:

The one concearn I have with upgrading is that my computer is making a lot of noise now, I think it might be the fan or something. If I press firmly on the front of the computer, it goes away, but will come back later.

That's probably the front fan - you can try oiling it or replace it with a new one.

Also: Both of my disc drives are ridiculously loud, and the DvD drive doesn't always open or close when I press the button. Does this mean I need to replace them, or are they just not secured tightly enough?

You mean the optical or hard drives?
Anyway, neither should become louder with age, but you can get quieter HDDs (Seagate, newer Western Digitals and Samsung - I don't know about Hitachis, but Maxtors tend to be a bit loud) and some optical drives are also quieter (I know LGs are, and Lite-Ons tend to be loud).

I know that my CD burner didn't want to open sometimes when using CDburner XP Pro, so maybe it's caused by software in your case also.

Still, DVD burners are inexpensive now - even the faster ones, supporting all DVD formats, cost <$35.

Mai-Kero

robaal wrote:

Mai-Kero wrote:

The one concearn I have with upgrading is that my computer is making a lot of noise now, I think it might be the fan or something. If I press firmly on the front of the computer, it goes away, but will come back later.

That's probably the front fan - you can try oiling it or replace it with a new one.

Also: Both of my disc drives are ridiculously loud, and the DvD drive doesn't always open or close when I press the button. Does this mean I need to replace them, or are they just not secured tightly enough?

You mean the optical or hard drives?
Anyway, neither should become louder with age, but you can get quieter HDDs (Seagate, newer Western Digitals and Samsung - I don't know about Hitachis, but Maxtors tend to be a bit loud) and some optical drives are also quieter (I know LGs are, and Lite-Ons tend to be loud).

I know that my CD burner didn't want to open sometimes when using CDburner XP Pro, so maybe it's caused by software in your case also.

Still, DVD burners are inexpensive now - even the faster ones, supporting all DVD formats, cost <$35.

They're a DVD and a CD drive.

I think I must not have screwed them back in all the way or something when I added my extra harddrive(and for some reason felt the need to remove my disc drives for a minute because there were wires everywhere and the dell case is kinda small.

Another software problem I think I have is my optical drives never update with what they have inside them in Windows anymore, and autorun doesn't work. I guess I'll reformat soon if I end up buying a new power supply and video-card, but I do not eagerly await reinstalling WoW and my steam games.