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The $600 question...
Adimax
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I wish I had pulled my specs at home before heading to work. I'll update this poste after I get home at midnight (EST) if needed. Anyway...
I currently have a Dell Dimension XPS 600 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 with 512 of RDRAM (I'm sure on the memory amount and processer speed), with some shitty GeForce 2 or 3 128 MB video card (think 4 years old). The 80G hard drive, onboard sound, and CD/RW and DVD drives and monitor all suit me just fine. I simply want to upgrade the RAM and the video card.
My goal (benchmark) is to make World of Warcraft look better. A lot better. And run a lot smoother.
So going $200/400 or $300/300 or some other combo, what can I get? RDRAM prices seem extremely high and I'm not finding a lot of sticks over 512 (Pricewatch and TigerDirect) within my budget.
As far as the video card goes, anything at this point would be an upgrade. I'm thinking about a 256 MB GeForce, 1-2 years old. I have a 4x AGP slot, if I remember correctly. But whatever $200-300 will get me, it will destroy what I run now (hell, I might even have a 64 MB card).
So, I seek your advice. I'm not that warm to the idea of getting a new motherboard to go SDRAM or some other cheap but good RAM route, but I suppose I could do it. Just didnt want to hassle with the swapping over of the components, specifically the processor. Drives and video cards and RAM I'm pretty comfortable doing.
Work your magic, G&T. And thank you.
I currently have a Dell Dimension XPS 600 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 with 512 of RDRAM (I'm sure on the memory amount and processer speed), with some shitty GeForce 2 or 3 128 MB video card (think 4 years old). The 80G hard drive, onboard sound, and CD/RW and DVD drives and monitor all suit me just fine. I simply want to upgrade the RAM and the video card.
My goal (benchmark) is to make World of Warcraft look better. A lot better. And run a lot smoother.
So going $200/400 or $300/300 or some other combo, what can I get? RDRAM prices seem extremely high and I'm not finding a lot of sticks over 512 (Pricewatch and TigerDirect) within my budget.
As far as the video card goes, anything at this point would be an upgrade. I'm thinking about a 256 MB GeForce, 1-2 years old. I have a 4x AGP slot, if I remember correctly. But whatever $200-300 will get me, it will destroy what I run now (hell, I might even have a 64 MB card).
So, I seek your advice. I'm not that warm to the idea of getting a new motherboard to go SDRAM or some other cheap but good RAM route, but I suppose I could do it. Just didnt want to hassle with the swapping over of the components, specifically the processor. Drives and video cards and RAM I'm pretty comfortable doing.
Work your magic, G&T. And thank you.
Adimax on
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or just new vid card
As for the RAM: I know you said you don't wanna bother upgrading to SDRAM but wow.
2.8GHz P4
2gig ram (the second gig probably isn't even used)
Geforce 7800GS
I can run a 40 man raid at basically max settings if I drop the resolution to 1680x1050 and the game still looks beautiful. Note, however, that this was before BC came out. I haven't played since AQ was released :P
While I appreciate the cheap video cards link 043, I think I'm going to upgrade to this (and just throw it into a new system whenever I put one together):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143046
Thats under my $200 price mark for a video card, and appears to be a beast. Also, its 4x AGP which is what my current mb has.
When you put in the video card, did you need a new power supply Mace (thanks for that Tzen, forgot I might need one... looks like newegg will send one with the card as well)? Or rather, what power supply do you have now?
Again, thanks to everyone for the input. Relatives dying = sad. Relatives tossing you cash when they die = sweet upgradery.
I dont even think youll need to upgrade your video card, and if you only have a 4x agp and you only care about running WoW, you definately do not need to spend 300 dollars. Get a radeon 9500 or 9700 used or something, and another 512 megs of ram... total spent, probably somewhere between 200 and 300 dollars. The RDRam is the killer, if you can find some at an electronics outlet, where theyd get offlease computers or something, you can probably pick up a 512 meg stick for around 70-130 dollars which would bring your budget down to a reasonable level.
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No, no you won't. That's an AGP card, and nowadays, new motherboards come with PCI Express, instead.
As for AGP cards, I hear the 7600GT is about as good for less money, but it's your call. Just remember that you most likely won't be able to use it in your next computer.
Also, one glance at RDRAM prices = holy shitting fuck. Don't bother upgrading with that overpriced crap. Either just get a whole new mobo/proc/graphics card/ram combo or grab a cheap AGP card for now and save up for the former.
Yeah, the pairing of RAM might fuck me. I think I have 4 slots and have 2x256 right now. We'll see when I get home.
RDRAM 256 sticks look to range from $30 to 70, so not to bad if I can get the 30 ones, depending on what I have in my machine now.
So AGP is really dead, eh? Meh.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Really, the XPS probably came with a pretty decent case and power supply. (XPS was Dell's "doesn't suck" line, right?) If I were you, I'd cut your losses now and buy a new mobo/proc/RAM/graphics combo.
A decent budget P965 mobo will be $100, a Core 2 Duo E6300 will be $200, two gigs of DDR2 will be $200, and a 7950GT will be $220 after rebate. $720 in all. Yeah, it's a bit over budget, but you'd get a lot of computer for it.
Or go with a cheaper AMD combo. A decent socket AM2 motherboard will probably be in the $70-ish range, and you could get a single-core A64 3800+ for $100 or so. Get maybe a gig of DDR2 RAM ($100-ish or so) and a 7900GS ($170). $440, and it'll probably be easier on your power supply, and you can upgrade to a better processor once AMD releases its next wave (sometime later this year).
Hell, you planned to spend $600 anyway, right?
At any rate, yeah, The Warlock has your number.