New gaming computer and how much is my Dell worth?

[vandal31593]

Well, in the past few weeks I have been thinking about getting a new computer. A high-end gaming pc, with SLi. Here are the specs:

-2 x GeForce 7600 GT $99.99 each(2=199.98)
-1GB SLi-ready Memory $169.99
-Asus P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Duo/Pentium Extreme/Pentium D/ P4/ Celeron D 1066FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA $209.99
-700-watt power supply $104.99

Total: $684.95

First of all, i would like to ask if this is a good configuration because hopefully in the future i would add more RAM and stuff but for now I'm on a low budget (around the same price)

But, If I can get a good price for the pc i currently have, that would be awesome. Here are my current PC specs

Dell Dimension 8300
-Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
-1GB Memory
-ATI Radeon X700 Pro
-SoundMAX Digital Audio
-160GB HDD
-Samsung CDRW/DVD SM-348B(1st Drive)
-Sony DVD RW DRU-800A(2nd Drive)
-Ethernet card, and all the other inputs.

I hope this is enough information. It would be great if you just gave me feedback for what I'm buying and same for my current PC.

Thank a ton!

BTW, I DO own a Mac! This is just for my gaming PC.

And Mac's are so much more better than PC's, but when it comes to gaming, PC's over-rule.

 

[skye]

i guess im surprised that your other pc doesnt suit your gaming needs.

 

[vandal31593]

which one, my current? or should my new gaming pc be more powerful?

 

[mraya]

i guess im surprised that your other pc doesnt suit your gaming needs.

Is not about what you need, is about the power!!

Those specs are quite impressive. More RAM allways helps, the same goes for video memory. Be sure that the drivers are Vista ready, you may want DirectX 10 and it is Vista only.

 

[mathogre]

Well, in the past few weeks I have been thinking about getting a new computer. A high-end gaming pc, with SLi. Here are the specs:

-2 x GeForce 7600 GT $99.99 each(2=199.98)
-1GB SLi-ready Memory $169.99
-Asus P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Duo/Pentium Extreme/Pentium D/ P4/ Celeron D 1066FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA $209.99
-700-watt power supply $104.99

Total: $684.95

First of all, i would like to ask if this is a good configuration because hopefully in the future i would add more RAM and stuff but for now I'm on a low budget (around the same price)

But, If I can get a good price for the pc i currently have, that would be awesome. Here are my current PC specs

Dell Dimension 8300
-Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
-1GB Memory
-ATI Radeon X700 Pro
-SoundMAX Digital Audio
-160GB HDD
-Samsung CDRW/DVD SM-348B(1st Drive)
-Sony DVD RW DRU-800A(2nd Drive)
-Ethernet card, and all the other inputs.

I hope this is enough information. It would be great if you just gave me feedback for what I'm buying and same for my current PC.

Thank a ton!

BTW, I DO own a Mac! This is just for my gaming PC.

And Mac's are so much more better than PC's, but when it comes to gaming, PC's over-rule.

Here are a few observations.

Maybe I missed something. It looks like you're building it yourself, which is fine. My comments assume that's what you're discussing.

You don't have a processor chip. Yes you have a mobo that can *handle* a bunch of chip types, but that's not a chip. What are you going to put on it? Add $$$.

Two video cards implies two monitors. You already have the two monitors? Otherwise, add $$$.

Power supply. Are you trying to light Tokyo? Good lord, 700w seems a bit excessive. If you're going to have so much equipment in your box that you can justify a 700w psu, your more serious concern is cooling.

Case. You need a good case, not just one that looks kewl. Check reviews through Google. Add $$.

OS. Yes, you need an OS. Add $$$. You *can* get legitimate OEM versions of Windows for ~$130 to ~$150, especially if you're building it yourself. Still, it's a sizable chunk of money.

Finally, I'm with skye. Why are you doing it? The Dell looks pretty good by itself. If you want to upgrade some of the parts, do it. Whatever is at the bleeding edge today will be simply nice in 6 months anyway.

Hope this helps!

 

[scooter]

mathogre summed it up pretty well. all those processors listed as compatible with the mobo are going to add some serious coin. the dual geforce cards in a SLI config means only one monitor, but i would prefer to buy one older top end card at that price and add another later than have two mid cards for gaming purposes. if you are serious about newer high end games, save the pennies for now and get a nice geforce 7800 or 7900 something. they're not the best anymore, but either will do nicely.

plus, i would kick in a least another gig of memory, possibly two. today's games have gotten rather graphics intensive but still require some cpu power. mem is always a good option.

the 700w power supply is definitely overkill unless you are planning on adding several hard drives, a hug cpu cooling fan, several cd drives and multi vid cards. a 500w should be fine.

speaking of, are you just going to reuse an older drive from the dell? a dvd burner is pretty cheap now.

 

[mathogre]

the dual geforce cards in a SLI config means only one monitor

My error! Geez I'm behind the times. ^_^

 

[vandal31593]

Wow.....mathogre and scooter, i owe you guys big time. It was my fault for not mentioning that i already had a pentium 4 processor. But the main reason I want to get this computer is because of SLi. It would be amazingly awesome if I can upgrade my Dell. I am willing to add more RAM and whatever else I need. If I can run all the up to date games like Half-Life 2 etc. I will be fine. The thing that got me into saying I need a new computer is that new game Crysis-Online. That game looks like you would need a super computer to play it with it's CrysisEngine.

As for now, I don't want to buy a new computer. You convinced me that I'm stupid for thinking of buying a new one.

If anybody could tell me what I need to upgrade this computer to make it last a couple more years, that would be awesome.

Thanks A LOT!

 

[mathogre]

Not stupid, vandal31593. Seduced, yes. Stupid, no. It's great that we have all of this equipment available, and that things constantly improve. You just have to watch out for yourself and make sure your machines are working for you, and not you for them, even for gaming machines.

Spend some time poring over Google, gamer sites, vid card sites, and chip sites. See what you might do with your Dell if anything.

Good luck!

 

[vandal31593]

haha...thank a lot.

While this thread is alive, what might you suggest to get to keep the Dell going for at least a couple more years?

Thank you

 

[GWR]

H0ly 5h!t!!!!

Don't scare me like this!!!!
I thought I'd been spammed/spy wared over to pcgamingquestions.com or something silly like that.
Isn't this a Mac forum? Like things relating to Apples not Bananas?

 

[bobtomay]

PC hardware enthusiast here. Based on recommended specs on crysis site - you could probably build a pretty good system for about 2K maybe a little less.

If this is not in budget at this time and you have any intention of upgrading to Vista for DX10, I would recommend setting aside the cash you have and saving up untill the dx10 game you want hits the market. Then build yourself a top spec system.

If you do not intend upgrading to Vista, and only then, would I recommend upgrading the Dell. 1st put 2GB of Ram in it. Then upgrade your vid card with the best one you can afford. The P4 3.0 is still a pretty good CPU if you are not doing a lot of muti-tasking and should handle any gaming you want to do for awhile.

As for lasting another 2 years, just don't know about that. Have been a computer gamer myself now for 25 years or so, and during all that time have only owned 2 systems that were not replaced within 12 months. And each of those 2 went through video card upgrades during their lifetimes. Of course, I always had to be close to the top of the pack when I was younger.

edit: Oh, by the way, if you do upgrade the video in your existing system, strongly recommend a fresh install of XP along with the new card. And if your Dell came with one of those restore CD's instead of an XP CD, first thing to do is get rid of all that junk it installs along with the OS.

 

[vandal31593]

Yeah, I knew for sure I needed some RAM. But I had Vista on the Dell, but it's in it's early stages adn nothing is finished (that's what it seems like). But every time I try to run Half-Life 2 or Photoshop it would freeze. And I couldnt run some of my programs and drivers so I'm sticking to XP Media Center until Microsoft releases a full bug free version.

Oh and, any ideas on what video card I should get? Or should I wait for a little while. I am planning only to buy another gig of ram and a new video card probably in the next 1-2 months. But I have no idea if I should wait for something good or just it because I have no idea which video card is one the best out there.

Thanks

 

[vandal31593]

Will this Gaming Case fit my motherboard, etc.

Hello everybody,

From my recent thread, I want to upgrade my computer a little. The RAM and Video card is no problm to get. The only problem is that I don'y know if the case I want to get will fit my motherboard. I have no idea how this works because I have never bought a case before. I have a Intel 875P Chipset and the case I want to get is here. Looking at the screenshot at the back, it looks completly different from my motherboard. I really don't want to put another motherboard into my budget because it's already really high. The PS/2 ports is all flipped and I don't know how it is going to work.

Thank You!!

 

[scooter]

are you talking about the mobo that is in your dell or the one you want to buy? the new one will fit in there just fine. the older dell one is a different story, since they use a proprietary OEM design, and i don't know how it would fit. also, is your x700 card AGP or PCIe? the specs say it is AGP in the 8300 series.i think the x1950Pro would be fine in the $230 price range. (try using this page from Toms Hardware as a resource on vcards http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html?modelx=33&model1=529&model2=589&chart=196)

 

[iRye]

It's all so confusing! LOL

 

[vandal31593]

well, i wanna buy a new case. not a new mobo. I want to keep my dell mobo but it looks liek it doesnt fit. but now that i look at can that plate which fits over the ports, be taken off? but if i really have to buy a new mobo that would suck because my current one is still pretty good.

oh and btw, can you take the processor from a mobo and put it onto another mobo?

Thank you

edit: my x700 is AGP. im gonna take a look at the x1950. Is it DX10? and is there anywhere i can get it for cheap in canada. Im looking at tigerdirect.ca right now.

 

[vandal31593]

I also found this. It's specs are
HIS Radeon X1950 Pro IceQ3 Turbo / 512MB GDDR3 / AGP 8x / DL Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card

what is the IceQ3? is it just a cooling addon?


edit: there are a bunch of differnet types of x1950 pro's. Which one to choose? Here is the list i found about 6 i think


Also which one is better? AGP or PCI? It seems PCI Express is cheaper, so is there a big difference? also how do i know if i have PCI Express. I know i have pci but i dont know about the express

 

[bobtomay]

Use to work as Dell tech support. Unless Dell has changed their ways, you will not put Dells mobo into another case. The mobos are proprietary and do not fit into standard cases unless they have changed their ways which is highly unlikely, this is one of the ways they keep their costs down).

Regarding your video, your current mobo is AGP. You will not be able to put the newer PCIe card in it. PCI and PCIe are 2 different connection types.

PCI is the old standard bus type. AGP came about around '98 - '00 (guessing here, don't really remember for sure and ain't gonna look it up), PCIe is the new standard for video cards which gives you higher bus speeds.

Do not believe you will find any video card for AGP that will be DX10. This is why I was hesitant in my earlier post to suggest upgrading the Dell you would be satisfied with it for 2 years if you are a hardcore gamer. The ATI x1950 is a very good card, but you will pay more for the AGP version, because there just are not as many sold as the newer PCIe. Very few hardware enthusiasts would buy such a card without also upgrading their mobo to a PCIe version for the higher bus speeds.

Here is a link to newegg that shows you the available AGP cards with 512MB memory. If you want to upgrade the Dell, don't think I could recommend a $200+ video card in good conscience. Think I would stick to something in the $100 to $150 price range as a maximum. As a long time gamer, I just can't see being happy with your current CPU and the x1950 a year from now, once there are a half dozen DX10 games out.

If you are trying to get by on not enough cash, I would recommend one of 2 options, a)upgrade your ram, get a $100 price range video card and start setting your $$ aside for building a rig or b) start building your rig by investing in a good case, mobo, power supply (do not scrimp on the power supply if you have any intention of putting high end graphics (sli or crossfire) in your machine, and I don't mean just power, but also brand, some are better than others - the power supply if you can't afford one from "PC Power and Cooling" would be worth the investment or time into research) and still $100-$150 video card. Start saving your money and invest in a high end card once the DX10 games are available. Both ATI and Nvidia will surely have some nice advances this year.

If you really are going to go ahead with a top end card for your Dell like the x1950, as you are looking at the list from newegg, have to recommend sticking with ATI or Diamond & Sapphire as 3rd party manufacturers. These 2 companies have been making ATI cards for many years and are well respected.

As a side note - you can compare prices between newegg and tiger direct - both are good online companies - newegg will almost always beat out tiger in the price category. I have personally been purchasing parts from newegg for about 6 years and like them a lot.

 

[vandal31593]

Thanks a lot. That gave me a ton of info. But what if i buy a new mobo and a PCIe Video card and then later on(like 2-3 months) get more ram?

All i want to do is try to spend less money and upgrade my Dell. I definitely can't afford a whole new gaming machine now that i look at it. They cost a fortune!!

And with that new mobo, is it possible to take the processor out of the Dell Mobo and put it in the new one? I really have no idea on how this is possible but it's better asking once than not asking at all.

Thank you