Add on or start from scratch?

[H2O Sonik]

Well right now i have a couple years old Dell XPS 400:

Operating System: Windows XP Professional
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dell DXP051
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A03
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB RAM
Page File: 598MB used, 1860MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6800
Manufacturer: NVIDIA

Description: SigmaTel Audio

Drive: C:
Free Space: 55.1 GB
Total Space: 147.8 GB
File System: NTFS
Drive: D: (My DVDr/CDr DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE FOR SOME REASON)


I basically think.. (im not a computer genius) that I need to just upgrade my ram to maybe 2+ gigs, get a better video card and a bigger hard drive.. does that sound a bit right?

I need another sound card also..

Are all those things that i want to upgrade possible for a person like me who was no computer building skills to achieve?

ps. I'm not going to take it to Geek Squad, because last time I brought my PC to them I fixed the problem.. /:


HELP! http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee256/vicioustrees/BBS%20Emoticons/grrrr.gif

I really don't want to buy a new PC, but if thats my only choice then meh..

[Nakashige H2O]

u can put off buying a new pc for about a year buy upgrading

[H2O Sonik]

Alright, I just hope that if I buy stuff that it will fit in my case.

[Nakashige H2O]

how much room is there at the bottom of the case

[seven of nine]

Honestly, theres not a whole lot of games out there that require more than a gig of ram. Now if you want to update to make it move smoother go right ahead lol. To me that sounds like it'll last ya abit, CD-R and DVD roms go out sometimes cuz the way there manufactured. You can buy one at wal-mart or get some refurbished stuff at geeks.com. Yet again graphics card is only to up your fps, if you like they way it runs than no need. Everything sounds like you'll be good for gaming and general usage. As for hard drive, you could always run a disk defragment and delete some programs you don't really use. Everything should be easy for you to upgrade just plugging things into the right slots, if it doesn't work try another slot lol.

Just my opinion lol.

[Nakashige H2O]

most games do use more than 512 mb of ram thats normal all thats left after xp is running cod4 uses around 1 gig playing on medium settings.

[H2O Sonik]

yeah i want more ram for the sake of having more.. lol.
my graphics card can't handle a lot of games the way i want to be able to now.
my friend told me to just buy another hard drive and hook it up so i have two.

[H2O FantomexX]

Pentium 4's are moderately obsolete nowadays for all the high-end games.. If you want absolute power.. go for Core 2 quad based cpu's.

EDIT: But... Core 2 quads are expensive as fudge..

[Nakashige H2O]

its not a p4 though

[H2O Omega X]

yeah i'd reccommend getting two gigs of ram, the 6800 is a decent card but is ageing fast due to the next gen games being released..upgrading your pc sounds more difficult than it really is, just a case of making sure your pc shell is big enough and taking your ram and graphics card out and replacing it by just slotting them in the correct place and connecting them

[H2O FantomexX]

its not a p4 though

My bad, I just now realized it says "Pentium D".. sorry

[H2O sobe]

Pentium 4's are moderately obsolete nowadays for all the high-end games.. If you want absolute power.. go for Core 2 quad based cpu's.

EDIT: But... Core 2 quads are expensive as fudge..


lol well, somewhat right if you want to use more than just games... For gaming, Core2Duos beat the Quads with relative ease.

And his is a Pentium D, but it states 2 cpus, so it may be a dual core Core2Duo based Pentium D, depending on the model number. If not it's an older generation, but still decent.

Why do people seem to think that if it has more cores it's automatically better, lol. Most games, but I believe 2 even take use of quad cores, the rest are only dual core optimized(Crysis as an example).

[H2O Bunnys]

Well yes just because it has more cores doesnt make it better but people have done tests (ie: http://www.digit-life.com/articles3/cpu/intel-c2d-6600-7200-c2q-6600-9300-p1.html) and it just depends on what you want to do with your computer besides just gaming, but yes right now having a Duel Core is a better investment

Imo add 1 more stick of ram, and a new graphics card, before looking into another hard drive just clean out your first one of useless crap, defrag your hard drive, do registry cleaning just try to get asmuch memory space you possibly can out of the thing and see what your left with, also if you have alot of images your saving imo just make a photobucket account and upload um. After all that if its still not enough then just get another hard drive.

But its really up to you if you want to go ahead and get a quad or get a duel processor id look around at reviews and do your own research see what people are saying for instance take in to account what people on this site are saying then look around for yourself imo you learn more about what your buying, as for space for parts that really only rotates around how big the motherboard is (if your getting a new one) if your sticking to what dell gave you then you might want to measure the width of your tower compaired to how far out the graphics card will stick out from the motherboard, But you said you have a 6800 so you should be fine on width if you upgraded to say a 8800.

Sound Card meh dont know much about um didnt really have to deal with them seeing as i use a headset, but my motherboard came with a built-in 6 speaker sound card (dont know how good it actually is like i said dont us speakers).

[H2O Sonik]

Yeah i added it up on newegg and it seems to be around a grand for what i want.
soundcards are good for well.. better sound overall.
speakers or headphones, it increases the quality of the sound.

[BECKIZZLE!]

If i were you i'd get a cheap core2duo @ around £40/$80 and oc it to about 2.8ghz, another gig of ram, and a 8800GT or something. Then it should be future proofed for another year or so.

Sound card wise..i personally think onboard is enough but you could always pick up a x-fi card for about £30 or a usb headset like the SteelSeries 5HV2 :).

[H2O Sonik]

Mind you I have never built a computer before.. I think a processor would be pushing it.

[BECKIZZLE!]

well as long as your heatsink/fan is the intel push pin system it shouldnt be hard

just take off the heatsink, take out the old cpu, put the new one in, apply new thermal paste and put the heatsink back on

theres loads of guides on the internet if you arent sure or you could always take it to a pc shop

[H2O sobe]

Not that simple... When installing a new processor you want to reinstall Windows, so that means he needs to have the install disk to install Windows for the new cpu.

And as for the get a C2D for $80... Pass on that. Grab an Core2Duo E7200 for $130 if on a budget, or an Core2Duo E8400 for about $180.

[BECKIZZLE!]

yeah true about windows, forgot about that D:

& i suggested a cheap e4300 or something because he's on a budget, and i heard they over clock quite well

[H2O sobe]

Yes actually, the E4300s overclock rather well, but only offer a 2mb cache. Thus I see a greater benefit from spending $30 more for the E7200 which can overclock WAY past the Allendales/Conroes. Offers 3Mb cache and tend to oc to around 4GHz on air rather easy like the E8400.

I will agree though if you are indeed on a heavy budget below $100, then the E4300 or E4400 will be a good choice. As they tend to oc to around 3GHz just fine.