Gaming PC because why not?

[Chase Howard]

Hello, and sorry for being a complete noob when it comes to hardware (I'm more of a software man). I have a Dell Inspiron 560 with a 018D1Y motherboard, and best I can tell it's pretty laughable for gaming. I try to figure out what all the models of video cards and chipsets and everything mean, but I'm just overwhelmed.
I just want to be able to play Arma II.
The specs of my motherboard are here > http:// (it's a desktop).
I have no idea what I'm looking for or reading when it comes to hardware.
I am wanting to run games like Arma II at good speeds and looking good, ad the recommended specs are

Spoiler

CPU- Intel Core 2.8 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or faster
CPU Speed- Intel Core 2.8 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or faster
RAM 2 GB (but I'd like to upgrade to more, anyway, but don't know if I can with my motherboard)
Video Card- NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT / ATI Radeon HD 4850 with Shader Model 3 and 512 MB VRAM or faster.

Any help would be very greatly appreciated. I am trying to do this as cheap as I can get away with, but will make whatever money I need in time. I'm not afraid to mess around in the computer guts, either.
Thanks.

 

[fixer762]

With those specs you should just use your current computer as a back up rig and just build your own rig, I did it for the first time a few months ago. It was very easy.

Just look around http://www.newegg.com/Computer-Hardware/Store and if you look around long enough you should be able to build your own computer.

Intel has sockets 1150 on chipset Z87, H87 (they just released), 1155 on chipset Z77 (last generation), and 2011 on chipset X79 (for very high end builds)

Amd has socket AM3+ on chipset 970, 990X or 990FX or FM2 on chipset A75 or A85 (cheaper and has the best integrated graphics at the moment).

The cards here
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT / ATI Radeon HD 4850 with Shader Model 3 and 512 MB VRAM or faster
are obsolete
try an AMD HD 7000 series or Nvidia 700 series as they are the most recent and 2 gb of video ram would likely be good enough.

Help us out more with more info and we can help you better. use Cpu-z
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
it tells you what is in your computer case.

And tell us what your potential budget is so we could suggest parts with in your budget.
Hope this helps.

 

[C12Friedman]

If considering building your own - not difficult as Fixer points out, there are even how-to vids on you tube - this site is quite handy for choosing build parts and to an extent, prevents most incompatibility issues http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

 

[Kisianik]

I don't see the reason for building new PC:

ARMA 2
Minimal Specs:
- Windows XP/Vista
- Dual-core processor
- 512 MiByte RAM
- Graphics card with 256 MiB VRAM and Shader Model 3.0

Recommended Specs:
- Windows XP/Vista
- Quad-core processor
- 1 GiByte RAM
- Graphics card with 512 MiByte VRAM and Shader Model 3.0

Or this one

Minimal PC Requirements
* CPU: Dual Core Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz / Intel Core 2.0 GHz / AMD Athlon 3200+ or faster
* RAM: 1 GB
* Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 / ATI Radeon 1800 with Shader Model 3 and 256 MB VRAM or faster
* OS: Windows XP

Optimal PC Requirements
* CPU: Intel Core 2.8 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or faster
* RAM: 2 GB
* Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT / ATI Radeon 4850 with Shader Model 3 and 512 MB VRAM or faster
* OS: Windows XP or Vista

last one is per game developer http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_2:_System_Requirements

From what I see here OP can just upgrade his PC to play this game and save money for ice cream or something.

So, would you consider upgrading and saving money, or building new PC?

 

[Chase Howard]

I was wanting to upgrade if possible. Like I said, I'm pretty hardware-illiterate, so I can't make heads or tails of any of it.
I actually have no budget right now, but will accumulate whatever I end up needing to do this as cheaply as possible. Mow some yards and what-not.

 

[Kisianik]

I was wanting to upgrade if possible. Like I said, I'm pretty hardware-illiterate, so I can't make heads or tails of any of it.
I actually have no budget right now, but will accumulate whatever I end up needing to do this as cheaply as possible. Mow some yards and what-not.

So, if upgrading is the goal, we need to know more about your PC.

Lets start with questions.
First what is form factor, look at the picture below there are 3 PCs, the larger standing one is Mini Tower and 2 smaller ones are Slim

Second. We need to know your information, so go to http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html and get CPUZ install
1. CPU tab. Processor name and package.
2. Mainboard tab. You already listed motherboard model 018D1y, now we need BIOS version and date.
3. Memory tab. General, type and size.
3. SPD tab. Select any memory slot for information. First check how many memory sticks you have by selecting slots, if you have different memory sticks, state each size, if the same state one (example 2 GBx2). Second, Max Bandwidth information, and from Timing Table what is the voltage. We done with CPUZ.

Next, what OS you have XP, Vista, Win7 or Win8, is it 32 bit or 64 bit?

Next, do you have any video card (later we can call it GPU for short), if you not aware of any, that will mean that you have embedded chip, if you have one, but don't remember, go to http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ GPUZ, list NAME as it appear, and memory size.

Get all this information listed. Also, do you reside in USA or elsewhere - can you purchase online, if yes newegg and amazon OK?
Processor upgrades will involve eBay most likely.

Waiting for your response.