New gaming computer and how much is my Dell worth?

[scooter]

the only way to improve your dell is to keep you current mobo in there and add what you want to it. i don't think dell will allow another mobo in their cases, at least i don't think they will fit. you can have a max of 2gb of ram and 1 AGP vid card. the fasted CPU that could go in is a P4 3.4Ghz. for all that you are looking at around $450 to $500 or so. you might find cheaper or just go with one or two items instead.

 

[vandal31593]

So what if i bought a new mobo, with that new case i said and put it all together, and upgrade my RAM and video card?

I think i might enough money for that, because today was my birthday and i got a couple of hundred dollars!

 

[bobtomay]

Am pretty sure(99%, but not positive) the processor in your 8300 is a socket 478, the mobo you're looking at is LGA 775 as all mobos for new Intel's will be. so, you cannot transfer your processor to the new rig.

The memory in your 8300 is DDR which is 184 pin.
Most all of the new mobos will be DDR2 which is 240 pin.
So, once again you will not move your existing memory to the new mobo.

The only items you are going to be able to scavenge from the Dell will be any 2 of the following 3 items. The CD, DVD or the hard drive. All 3 of these in your 8300 are going to be IDE devices. The Asus board will only handle 2 IDE devices - designed for your CD/DVD drives, but you could put a hard drive on it. It has 6 SATA connectors for hard drives.

I hope you are beginning to see your dilemma. The hardware you have listed above at $700, still is no good to you without also buying a processor, a hard drive and an operating system. And then scavenge the CD/DVD drives from your Dell. And you have a pair of what, for sure in 6 months, will be mediocre video cards (the hardware enthusiast would already consider them to be mediocre).

I know you have the fever (the hardware bug bit you nasty, huh), but once again, if advice is what you're looking for I would say spend about $75 for another Gig of RAM, am assuming the 8300 owners manual online is correct in that you have 4 slots available. Here is some corsair that would fit the bill. Then check here for video cards. Stay in the $100-$150 max price range maybe with a nVidia 7600 or an ATI x1600 or 1650. This'll take care of your immediate fever.

Set aside the rest of that $700 and start saving and a year from now when those DX10 games hit, you could build yourself a killer up to date gaming rig.

 

[vandal31593]

Is the nVidia 7600 AGP? I couldn't find one with AGp, all i see is PCIe. I am really looking forward to a 7600 since it's cheap and really good.

Thank You.

 

[vandal31593]

And also, how is this Video Card?

Radeon X1650 Pro / 512MB GDDR2 / AGP 8x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

This is probably my choice from ATI. The 7600, if it was AGP, would be my preferred video card from nVidia.

And also, would the Radeon X1650 and nVidia 7600 be compatible wiht my computer?

Today I played Garry's Mod and the freezing and loading of textures and models has increased. I'm gonna upgrade my RAM and video card ASAP if somebody can verify if these video cards are compatible with my computer

 

[bobtomay]

The same card at newegg, on the page I gave you above is $115 instead of the $172 at tiger
- both after rebate - this card requires a 350 watt power supply, the dell 8300 only has a 250 watt power supply - this is probably the issue with several of the negative reviews at newegg having problems with their display

I must say, doing this little bit of research has me even more convinced I was correct to quit buying off the shelf computers in '94. I may have to retract everything I've said above about upgrading your current system. The problem is the power supply Dell shipped in the 8300. Their specs say that you have either a 250 or a 305 watt power supply. My guess with yours is probably the 305 watt, just due to the 3.0 CPU and the X700. They have put in enough power for what they installed in the system and nothing else. Any card you can buy that will be an upgrade from the x700 recommends a minimum 350 - 420 watt power supply. Even your next step up the X800 series wants a 350 watt supply.

Give me a little while and I'll see if I could put together a sub $1000 PC before I recommend buying (yuck) another off the shelf system.

 

[bobtomay]

Mind you I'm in the US, so don't know what affect you being in Canada will have on the prices
Some of the below came from a Maximum PC article

Case - Antec Nine Hundred - $119.99
Power Supply - Antec True Power Trio, 650 watt - $109.99
Mobo - ASUS P5N32-E SLI -$239.99 or maybe the EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 - $229.99
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 - $183 - very overclockable
Memory - 1 Gig - Corsair XMS DDR2 800 - $155 then you can add a 2nd gig for dual channel later on
Hard Drive - Seagate 7200.10, 320 GB - $89.99 - 5 yr warranty with Seagate drives vs 3 yr for WD and only 1 yr for all the others
Optical Drive - Pioneer 16x - $33.99, personally like Plextor and have had good success with Sony drives, either one would run you closer to $100, and I don't care for Lite-On
Video Card - You're now up to what ever you can afford - if you go cheap right now, not a big loss when you upgrade - personally even when i keep a system longer than a year, the video card has been upgraded

Total of the above is $922 or $932, plus video card
Still have option of upgrading CPU quite a bit later and not out a lot of $$
Several of the above items you could cheap out on
Case, Mobo, Ram (could get their value line instead or go slower than 800) - you could easily save $100-150 on these 3 items, but would be limiting your upgrade options later on
Would not suggest downgrading the power supply though, only upgrading
Keep in mind, this is just some suggestions, no warranty by me, but I could recommend all of this hardware with reasonable confidence to a friend on a budget.

 

[vandal31593]

To bobtomay,

Thanks alot! You don't know how much I appreciate it. With the list that you gave me, I will print it and also save it on my computer for later reference. I'm saving up for this, and it will probably take me couple of months to collect almost $1000. But thanks everybody for your help.

But just 1 last question.
Should I still buy a Video Card now? (I'm not gonna buy ram because it would be useless if i buy a new mobo)

I'm thinking of getting HIS Radeon X1650 Pro / 512MB GDDR2 / AGP 8x
for $186.99.

 

[bobtomay]

I don't think the power supply in your Dell will be enough for that video card. It may or may not work. If I were to take a bet, I would bet "not".
It also will not go into the new mobo, since they are all PCI express now.

I think your best bet until you save up for the new system, may be to just re-buy games that are compatible with the Mac for the time being. Your Macbook Pro should do fairly well on most games out right now.