Gaming Hardware for upgrading my POS current computer.

acovert67

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Feb 15, 2012
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Current system info taken from my DxDiag that was created on the 4th of this month:

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.101026-1503)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Inspiron 531s
BIOS: oC)Phoenix - AwardBIOSTeDell System v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 6142MB RAM
Page File: 1565MB used, 10717MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8800 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0611&SUBSYS_23301682&REV_A2
Display Memory: 3306 MB
Dedicated Memory: 491 MB
Shared Memory: 2815 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Dell SE198WFP(Digital)
Monitor Model: DELL SE198WFP

Here is what I am looking for:

I have a budget of around $700. I can probably go $50 higher, but I doubt it very highly.

I want to be able to play, at the very least, play games with a much better FPS. Games I'm looking at playing are Witcher 2, SWTOR, Eve Online, Fallout New Vegas. I want the performance, but I want high to maximum quality graphics. I would like hardware that matches, because right now mines all over the place (in my opinion) and very old compared to most other PC's. I was told it's at least 4 years old. The 8800 gt, when I run a benchmark test on, will freeze my entire system at just 19%, so that tells me the card itself is now dying. When I shut the PC off, I have to wait at least 2 hours before I can turn it back on again. I can turn the power on, the fans will run, but the cpu will not kick on, windows will not boot up. So for some reason I have wait a good while before it'll run like a normal pc. It's not hot from what I can tell, the fans are all 120mm (this is a new case CM Series Asus case, Rosewill or whatever, has a front 120mm fan, top 120mm fan, and rear 120mm fan).

Basically I took the Micro board out of the slim case and put it into this bigger one. I will also need a new psu, because I believe the above issue may be connected with the psu, or the combination of the psu and the motherboard.

I want to keep the case, because it's a nice case, large and roomy. I would like to keep my little 200 gig hard drive, because I've had zero problems with it, and I will not be able to afford one if I need to replace the mother board, cpu, ram, vid card and psu. Oh, and the Ram seems to be a mix of speeds (lol) so yeah that'll need fixed.

TL;DR: Need to replace motherboard, cpu, psu, video card, and ram. Budget of $700 hard cash, $50 that may/may not be used. Used for Gaming.
 

acovert67

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Feb 15, 2012
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Yeah, the one I was going to buy (case included with liquid cooling) was about $745 and it's all a much much better upgrade. It's from cyberpower website where you can build your own PC. So, I suppose if I'm going to look to spend about $700 I might as well suck it up and just spend the $745 and be done with it.

With that one I built/looked at, the aspect of upgrading will be much easier as I can afford better. I guess my post was a bit moot then. Seeking validation in my choice I made I guess, lol.
 
G

Guest

Guest
P8H67 motherboard, everyone is gonna say Z68 but we are talking uber cheap!
i3 21xx processor (can't overclock so we forget about a P67 board too!)
ati 6770 video (but i myself favor gtx 550ti)
4 gigs ddr3 1333 (even pny will do)
a decent 700 watt PSU that was a good like one 25 amp 12 volt rail (for your graphics card!)
a sata III HD (because it will smoke the one you have!)

now go shopping and see how much of your $700 is left over (then think about a Z68 mobo!)
 

peoplelone

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Feb 15, 2012
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or higher fully stable
 

acovert67

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Feb 15, 2012
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Just wanted to update the thread since my last post and the decision I came upon.

So I shopped around a bit and found that to replace just the guts; mobo, cpu, vid card, ram, psu and harddrive would amount to $700. What I decided to do was go on Cyberpowerpc.com and see what I could do, and was able to get a quadcore 3.9ghz amd with the 6870 vid card from radeon, 8 gigs 1600 ddr3 ram and a 2Tb hdd, 700w psu all for 750. I was going to go with liquid cooling, but I simply do not trust water being inside an electrical device, no matter how "safe" it's built. I opted for air cooling, should have 6 total fans or something like that. That includes a separate fan just for the hdd.

I figured that buying a whole package would be better for me in the long run than to buy separate parts. So, that's the decision I went with, and I'm about right on with my budget, maybe will end up $20 total over but I can live with that.

Thanks for those that posted, I appreciate your insight.