The Big upgrade!

[Reale]

Wo0t second post!
its that time! after two years of my dell pc not being able to run even the new games well at the time - such as morrowind (no shadders, so naff water effects) other games like online games such as Ao and ffxi and now i cant even think of trying hl2 lol or up and coming titles such as tes-oblivion ( and others).

with me coming into some money on the exact date of january 7th (my 18th b'day) I want to upgrade most things in my pc such as graphics card (wanting either a radeon x800 xt or the nvidia 6800 ultra.) but in doing so i think ( almost possitive ) that i would have to upgrade my mobo to0 and even my power suply. I have alot of money coming my way but i want to pay my way through uni so I want to get the best result on around £600 (in saying that i think that will be seperate from the graphics card as that is for chrimbo and my b'day if i want it.)

After d/ling everest program (from my first post on this forum) these are the stats of my pc now. I am not 100% sure what info is needed for you (if any of you ) decide to help me out - but i will give it a shot.

CPU type - Intel Pentium 4A
- 2.66 GHz

MoBo - <DMI> Dell dimension 4550
MoBo chip set. - Intel brookdale i845PE

Ram - ( I think..) DDR SDRRAM 256 ( <- came with the comp.)
512 ( <- bought from pc world.)
= 768

Powersuply - Cant find this one out with that program ( think it need an up-grade.)

Graphics card - Nvidia Geforce 4 mx 420 64mb

Hard drive -ST360015A (60 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra- ATA/100)

Computer case - The dell case it came in ( wanting to buy a new one - not taking that away from my over all price though, as i will get that in the future.)

I hope this helps with helping (if pos)
Half in not 80% of the stuff i have listed i dont have the first clue about either so if any one could help with a tutorial on learing. ( i buy custompc mag and that is giving me info on learning but i am guessing on many of the things lol.)

But as i said help is very welcome - and i would also like to buy all this on my birthday even if the price will come down months after ( i have waited over 1 year to get an up grade i dont want to have to wait for ever)

I will be here waiting for a responce not that I am pressurizing any one into a quieck anser lol.

 

[Reefsmoka]

You should be able to slap an Ati Radeon X800XT in straight the way without having to upgrade anything else. But im unsure about the 6800 Ultra, its a very big card, and i know how Dell like to make compact cases, i doubt i will get a 6800 Ultra in my Dell 4600 case.

The X800XT card will need more power than the one you have, so you will more than likely have to get a 400W PSU (power supply).

But to really enjoy the new games you need at least a gig of ram, it really does make all the difference. I was unsure that it would make much of a difference, till i upgraded from 512 to a gig, i was knocked back!

 

[Reale]

The X800XT card will need more power than the one you have, so you will more than likely have to get a 400W PSU (power supply).

But to really enjoy the new games you need at least a gig of ram, it really does make all the difference. I was unsure that it would make much of a difference, till i upgraded from 512 to a gig, i was knocked back!

I noticed the differnce when i went from 256 ram to 768 i was shocked at how good it was, from ut2004 and far-cry and wanting to play high end on hl2 ect.

I want a "high end" gaming rigg yet i am not sure if the amount of money i am willing to spend will be anough...
(hell i dont even know what the differnce is on mobos of today i thought they just allow better models of kit.)

and the bit about the x800xt gcard ( i didnt know if it was compatable with my mobo :S) and it said in pc-gamer ( when the x800xt was launched ) that it needed 350watts and needs to be feed through molex conectors ( from the mobo or psu?)
the 6800ultra big card i hear - lol but will it be able to work with my mobo and other componants?

(and i still havent been able to work out wich card is better i read in pc-gamer that the ati x800xt is better than the geforce 6800 - with the pe and the ultra being on the same lvl) yet in pc zone they favour the 6800 :-S)

as for ram and so on I think i will buy more but this mobo only allows me to go up to 1gig of it, i dont know if i will ever need more than this but as the future aproches ram is needed even more I will one day need to change mobos to add more ram.

Over all though, i wouldnt need to spend even near £600 if the card would work and the power supply i would be well off
I still want to get new things like hard drive ect and speakers and to mod a case but over all i hope i can apply a card such as the ati x800xt (best card opart from the pe?) in my pc that would make me a very happy boy lol.

 

[Reale]

Oh'k searching the overclockers.com (should be called overpricers.com teeheehee*)
and cheacking some things to buy, a power supply at 480watt/silent has been given awards ect and is ceap - but will all my componants need to be the eqivalent amount of the psu or will it burn or blow up if all the power isnt used?

 

[ChristopherP]

For £600 plus the Graphics, you'll get a VERY good system.

Flog your Dell and build a new one!

Go 64Bit AMD, 1Gb memory, Dual plus 10/Raptor HDD's in RAID, X800XT

Something along those lines.

Will be at least twice as fast as just upgrading your Dell...

Chris

 

[Reale]

Hmmm making a hole new pc? that sounds a little hard lol, err possibly a little to0 hard for an amature like my self.

 

[ChristopherP]

err yeah...

I replied.. so why the bump

 

[Reale]

my bad my good man, i missed your post as i was reading a review on the asus x800xt lol but any advice or tutorials on building a hole pc i would be greatful lol.

( i know i am a big amature at all this - as you can tell.)

 

[Reefsmoka]

Building a computer is relativly simple, its just like a grown up lego set. Aslong as you have the right components, and there all compatible with each other, then you wont have a problem.

There are only a few problems you may run into while building. Some CPU/Processor fans are a real (you know what) to fit. And you might have to play with the jumpers on the CD Drives, DVD Drives or hard drives you buy (which is simple if you read the instructions ).

If your looking at spending £600 and under, i'm not 100% sure you could go down the 64Bit road and keep the rest of the components at a decent standard. But for £600 you could get a nice AMD XP 3200 system with 160gb hd, cd rw, 9800pro graphics card and a gig of ram and still have some coin left .

Try online shops like www.ebuyer.coim , www.overclcokers.co.uk , www.komplett.co.uk , www.aria.co.uk and www.savastore.com and see what you can come up with.

When buy a motherboard here are a few guide lines:

Socket A = AMD XP Processors , Socket 940 and 939 = AMD 64 processors , Socket 478 = Pentium 4 and Socket 775 = New Pentium 4s (with DDR 2 and PCI Express). There are some more sockets out there the the 754 which is for some AMD 64 bit chips. If youe building a 64 Bit comp, then the 939 is the most obvious choice, as it has the wider variesty of speeds to choose for in your processor selection.

 

[Reale]

So really bumping up all my componants in my dell pc is a possibility, but a better idea is to build a hole new computer?

slightly baffels me, for one wouldnt it be better to get the newer things like a newer g-card like the x800xt and a newer pentium hard-drive ram and mobo, than buying all those componants and building building from scratch?! wich with me braking a self asembaly kit from ikea (following the instructions) doesnt sound like a good idea

 

[ChristopherP]

Ok - Reefy - he said that £600 was NOT including the graphics, as he can get that for Christmas and Birthday. He can also sell his Dell, as it won't upgraded, but replaced.

Ok so...

I would say...

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail £211.44
Abit AX8 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard £78.72
GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 £111.57
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6B160MO SATA 8MB Cache - OEM £58.69
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6B160MO SATA 8MB Cache - OEM £58.69
**NOTE TWO HARD DRIVES FOR RAID 0 ARRAY**
NEC ND3500 16x DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) £45.47
OcUK Value Floppy Drive - Black £7.64
CoolerMaster Centurion 2 - Silver (No PSU) £39.29
Tagan TG420-U01 420W Silent PSU £57.28
Akasa AK-170BL4S Crystal 4x Blue LED Fan £4.70
Akasa AK-170BL4S Crystal 4x Blue LED Fan £4.70
And...
Connect3D ATI Radeon X800 XT PE 256MB DDR3 VIVO TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £370.13

Ok. Thats a kick ass system, everything you need right there.

£1048.32​

Your budget was £600 + £370.13 + Old Computer.

You can easily afford that. Easily. With change, you can get a fair amount for your Dell.

That system i specced right there will absolutely kick ass (pardon my french)

Regards

Chris

Edit: If you can't keep your old copy of windows XP then a new copy will only set you back about £55 inc VAT.

You can probably find the majority of parts cheaper elsewhere, but i used OCUK for convenience, you can't really go wrong ordering from them.

 

[Reefsmoka]

Ok - Reefy - he said that £600 was NOT including the graphics,

Its still hard to build a decent 64 bit computer with out a graphics, and without sacrificing quality.

 

[ChristopherP]

See my quote - excellent spec, and it's within budget.

Tell me that computer won't kick ass.

 

[Reefsmoka]

Ahh that is a kick ass computer, but it would probably be over £700 inc delivery.

But still worth it, gj .

 

[ChristopherP]

True, But the Dell system would be sold for at least £200, so theres change from the £600

 

[Reale]

lol ok, what i am going to do is look at all that you listed chris and cheack it out (get a picture in my head) then i will thinks about getting it! but you are right that would be a kick ass system lol.

--Just noticed though no sound cards lol.-- I also wonder if i buy all that stock they can send it built lol, well i can dream.

 

[ChristopherP]

The motherboard has built in 6 channel sound, so no need for a sound card

It IS a dream come true

 

[Reale]

The motherboard has built in 6 channel sound, so no need for a sound card

It IS a dream come true

co0l, but in saying about the price lol - I was thinking as I am such a nice son, that i would give my pappy my dell pc. :S

in doing that that puts my money up to £800+ hopfully i still get my g-card lol ( better not fall through.)

I also hope that this computer will last longer than two years before needing a "big" upgrade like this... (or another idea will to be - get a job and build as i go... but in saying that with the hole uni coming up, i dont think i can be arsed lol.)

 

[ChristopherP]

If you get that X800XT PE, and also follow the list i made component by component, you should be set for a long time. I'm serious, thats one mean machine.

Don't forget, if you want to spend more money on it, you could go for the next CPU up OR if you want to do it over time, save for another gig of RAM to bring it to 2Gig, if GeIL sell a 1Gig stick of that stuff.

 

[Reale]

So with out the gcard it comes to £678.19 thats with out p&p (would they put all of it togther as one order? or charge for each - overclockers.co.uk i mean?)
also i dont know how or what wires i will need but i will try to find out.

But just talking to the parents and they decided they will get me that greaphics card wich is cool lol, also looking over some of those specs - those 160gig hard drives are going to take a while to fill up lol. Only damn problam now, i have to wait till after christmas and my birthday to get it all

- also will i be able to cram all of this into a Coolermaster Cavalier 1 - Silver/black? i think it should do but i really know nothing LOL.