Upgrading Help

[TahoE]

Hey Everyone,


I have decided today that I am going to upgrade my computer's Graphics Card, Motherboard, and Power Supply. Here is my issue. I would like to get all three under the price of $600, you can go over a little, but try and keep it somewhat close to this (not including shipping if you get me a link to a website). Work your magic guys and let me know what the best deal I can get for the best parts.

Also, on a side note, my friend told me that AGP (i think thats right) graphics cards are better, any truth to this?


Thanks again,

Addison "TahoE" O'Dell

 

[Ph?bus]

No, AGP is not better.
So your budget is $350.
Do you know what your other specs are?

 

[Lehsyrus]

Yeah what are the specs of your computer right now? I can't see much coming from 350$, maybe you want to save a bit more first to get the bang from your buck.

 

[TahoE]

Ok let's raise the price to $600. What other specs do you need? My computer is a Dell XPS Gen 4. It's pretty much stock except I added more RAM.

 

[Ph?bus]

Hm.. What games do you play?
What resolution is your monitor?
I think you'd need a new case. Do you want a new case with these upgrades?
Do you plan on overclocking?

 

[TahoE]

What games do you play? CS:S, MW:2, APB (reason for upgrading)
What resolution is your monitor? I don't have the exact numbers (not at my house, at work) but I do usually play with the highest or close to highest resolution.
Do you want a case with this? No I have 2 extra full sized towers if I need to use them.
Do you plan on overclocking? Lol if I had any idea how to do this then maybe, but a of right now I am ok without it.

 

[Ph?bus]

Okay, well how big is your monitor?

 

[TahoE]

20" widescreen LCD. (Might even be 22") I got it from a friend and never measured or paid Amy attention to it's size.

 

[mattM_-]

Ok first off, AGP was the best graphics before the PCI-E slot was created (which we use today). So you want a PCI-E 2.0 x16 based GPU. This is only if you have a motherboard which has PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot to handle.

Your looking for more bang for your buck, and not just shear power for your GPU so your probably going to want to get an ATI 5xxx card.

As for motherboard, you want one that is going to be able to work with your CPU. So on that note, what CPU do you have and what socket type is it?

And for PSU, I am not too sure on whats the "best". Other forum readers can give you a better perspective than I can. All I can say is that I have an NXZT PP800 PSU (the price, well I don't remember it was a year ago when I bought it) and it works fine.

 

[Ph?bus]

Ok first off, AGP was the best graphics before the PCI-E slot was created (which we use today). So you want a PCI-E 2.0 x16 based GPU. This is only if you have a motherboard which has PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot to handle.

Your looking for more bang for your buck, and not just shear power for your GPU so your probably going to want to get an ATI 5xxx card.

As for motherboard, you want one that is going to be able to work with your CPU. So on that note, what CPU do you have and what socket type is it?

And for PSU, I am not too sure on whats the "best". Other forum readers can give you a better perspective than I can. All I can say is that I have an NXZT PP800 PSU (the price, well I don't remember it was a year ago when I bought it) and it works fine.

His budget is $600, so I figured he could just swap the whole motherboard/cpu/ram, get an HD 5770 with a CFX compatible motherboard and a 650W that could handle CFX in the future if he so wishes.

 

[Orange_Kun!!!]

Not sure if this is the right comp or not. This is what came up when searching for Dell XPS Gen 4.

http://www4.dealtime.com/xPF-Dell-Dimension-XPS-Gen-4-Desktop-Computer-P4-3-40GHz-512MB-80GB

So assuming this is the correct PC, he would need to just go ahead and do a core upgrade (CPU/MB/MEM, along w/ PCI-E 2.0/1 Card) b/c at best that motherboard prob supports either AGP or PCI-E 1.0. It would work w/ CS:S but MW:2 and APB will desire a slightly different beast.

PSU: $89.99 ($69.99 w/ 20$ MIR) - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

CPU: $159.99 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674

M/B: $89.99 ($79.99 w/ 10$ MIR) -MSI 870A-G54 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130275

MEM: $99.99 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (DDR3 1600 Kit is 5$ extra =\)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231275

Video Card: $169.99 ($159.99 w/ 10$ MIR) - SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858

Total: $609.95 B4 Rebate, $569.95 after Rebate

It could be easily tweaked here and there to better fit any desired numbers but it's a pretty good build for around 600$ and the PSU will be enough tah support CFX.

 

[TahoE]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions... this is really helping me out! Keep them coming, I love the input and links so far. Also, thanks Orange_Kun for all the links and pricing breakdown, really helpful!