APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Next Week
BUDGET RANGE: $300-600
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Watching Movies, Surfing Internet
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg
PARTS PREFERENCES: I tend to lean towards AMD and Radeon, but am up to suggestions
OVERCLOCKING: Yes if it's a good bang-for-buck. She doesn't like heat/noise, though.
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900 I'm pretty sure.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: My GF is looking to renew her WoW addiction with prospects of the new expansion, and as a part of that upgrade her system to handle it better while streaming music in the background, being able to alt+tab easily without long delays. Her current system is a Core 2 Duo E6300 at 1.86Ghz, 1GB Ram, Radeon x1050, No-name MB, 300watt PS. (It's a Gateway GT5238E Media center with a video card slapped in).
On the very cheap route we can slap in another 1-2GB of ram for 15-30 bucks. That doesn't do much for the video card or processor. We can swap out the x1050 for something better, get a bigger PS, upgrade the CPU, etc., but at this point it seems like it might be better/less aggravating to upgrade the whole system vs. running into bottlenecks.
I'd love to find a way to creatively upgrade her current system to save money, but yeah, it has some limitations.
Something I threw together based on some other threads is
AMD Phenom II X2 545 Callisto 3.0GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDX545WFGIBOX - Retail
and
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Combo for $139.98
OCZ NVIDIA SLI-Ready Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2N800SRC44GK - Retail for 46.99
Antec earthwatts EA430 430W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail for 49.99
SAPPHIRE 100277L Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail 109.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM 69.99
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail 49.99
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model GH22LS30 LightScribe Support - OEM 29.99
Totals 496.92 before tax and shipping which raise it to 557.92
I don't think I missed anything critical in the build. Any ideas and feedback on it? I'd love to chop it down to the $300 range. I'm just not sure on how much processor and video card she'll really need for what she wants to do.
Thanks
BUDGET RANGE: $300-600
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Watching Movies, Surfing Internet
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg
PARTS PREFERENCES: I tend to lean towards AMD and Radeon, but am up to suggestions
OVERCLOCKING: Yes if it's a good bang-for-buck. She doesn't like heat/noise, though.
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900 I'm pretty sure.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: My GF is looking to renew her WoW addiction with prospects of the new expansion, and as a part of that upgrade her system to handle it better while streaming music in the background, being able to alt+tab easily without long delays. Her current system is a Core 2 Duo E6300 at 1.86Ghz, 1GB Ram, Radeon x1050, No-name MB, 300watt PS. (It's a Gateway GT5238E Media center with a video card slapped in).
On the very cheap route we can slap in another 1-2GB of ram for 15-30 bucks. That doesn't do much for the video card or processor. We can swap out the x1050 for something better, get a bigger PS, upgrade the CPU, etc., but at this point it seems like it might be better/less aggravating to upgrade the whole system vs. running into bottlenecks.
I'd love to find a way to creatively upgrade her current system to save money, but yeah, it has some limitations.
Something I threw together based on some other threads is
AMD Phenom II X2 545 Callisto 3.0GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDX545WFGIBOX - Retail
and
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Combo for $139.98
OCZ NVIDIA SLI-Ready Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2N800SRC44GK - Retail for 46.99
Antec earthwatts EA430 430W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail for 49.99
SAPPHIRE 100277L Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail 109.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM 69.99
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail 49.99
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model GH22LS30 LightScribe Support - OEM 29.99
Totals 496.92 before tax and shipping which raise it to 557.92
I don't think I missed anything critical in the build. Any ideas and feedback on it? I'd love to chop it down to the $300 range. I'm just not sure on how much processor and video card she'll really need for what she wants to do.
Thanks