Upgrade: Ancient -> Modern

[jraddatz]

Hi, I am currently upgrading my ancient college PC. It was just an Emachine and served its purpose. Now I want to upgrade to play any games that are out and will be coming out. I would also like this upgrade to work well when I get Windows Vista. I want to spend about $400 (less if possible). I want a new motherboard (w/ built in sound [and video if possible]), ram, and video card. I can use the rest from my current PC (case, keyboard, monitor, etc. [ I have a 450watt P/S so that isn't a problem.)

- I would like a PCI-E video card (unless there is an onboard one out there that could play WoW, FEAR, BF2 etc.

-512MB ram to start, unless the 1GB upgrade isn?t too much of a price jump (I can upgrade this later)

-and a 64bit processor.

I am at all of your mercy. Please help me.

I don't need the "best" anything. Just a "good" overall.

 

[krotchy]

First off, If you are doing 64 bit, you are doing vista I assume. I would not touch Vista without 1 Gig of ram minimum. Really 2 Gigs are needed to make Vista comfortable. Do not attempt Vista 64 with 512 Ram.

For 400 dollars I would say you are probably better off going with a Dell or other Canned computer if you can find a good coupon. Building yourself doesn't really become too beneficial till prices start to go up.

 

[jraddatz]

so it's cheaper to get a better PC (video card, motherboard, memory, CPU) from Dell for $400 than to just buy a CPU, motherboard, memory, video card and put it in a machine that has everything else? Vista is not required, as this Pc wioll mainly be used for gaming and Vista is gaming friendly yet. maybe I should have stated that more heavily. I want a system than "can" handle Vista when I upgrade the memory, but I'm not getting Vista for at least a year.

 

[daniel3168]

hhhmm for $400 bucks thats a bit tight to build a pc to play games that will becoming out since most games these that days that come out require a lot of resources to run them. A decent video card might start at $120 (that number off the top of my head) Plus you want to run vista so any one that knows computers will tell you to run 1gig of ram at least and that might run you a little over $100. I think Vista basic doesn't require that much but i might be wrong. A 64 bit CPU and you will need a mother board for it too. If u keep adding things up u might want to save some more money. like i say u get what u paid for so if you cheap stuff don't expect it to perform miracles

 

[jraddatz]

Socket 939
Foxconn MB $55 after rebate (integrated sound)
Athlon 64 3400+ $50
Socket 939 heatsink...anywhere from under $10 and up according to your needs
1GB Corsair $75
7600GT $100 after rebate
>> I stole the above setup from another post. How would this system handle Games, Vista, etc.?

 

[piasabird]

For 64 Bit using Vista you need like 2 gigs of ram.

For a Vista Ready PC you need a minimum of 1 gig of Ram according to Microsoft. If this is what Microsoft says is the minimum you probably need more.

Need 15 gigs of free space to install Vista. It does not really take up this much space it is just for installing.

Here is the probem new computers are built with DDR2 which is probably incompatible with what you have. The new setups are recommending Core 2 Duo which is fairly expensive, say around $180.00 at the low end. These prices might drop a little if the 4 core processors become available and Intel drops prices. They have been criticized lately with prices too high and may drop them a little. So you need new Ram, New Motherboard, New processor, and new video card. I would estimate that at around $600.00, once you throw in shipping and handling with no operating system or new case. Might need an SATA Hard drive if you dont have one.

 

[jraddatz]

Let's just take Vista out of the equation. I don't want everyone to hand on that factor. I want to play all the current games out there....
AMD X2 3600+ & ECS R485M-M $128

Alpine64 Heatsink/Fan $10

1GB DDR2 667 RAM $61

Radeon X1900GT $130
---------------------------> Would this do that better than the 1st one i posted?

 

[ManBearPig]

dont worry about an extra heatsink, the stock one should be fine. that system still wouldnt play the very latest games very well (as in, max settings)...to play the games that are coming out in the near future and later future, the graphics card alone will probably cost 400-500 bucks.

but that system would be good for most everything else, and a lot of current games.

 

[jraddatz]

thank you Heen05. That is exactly the answer I was looking for. My other Pc can play BF2 and it is sporting a 9500pro AGP. So, as you can tell. i dont care about bleeding/cutting edge. As long as I can play it on some setting.

 

[thecrecarc]

my 2 cents, shipping not factored:

2gb Super talent ram. 112$ http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=T6UX2G...1d373b23a76e3f97c8c2be2ce76a7430d7c27d
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ and ECS RS485M-M $122 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103036

for video card, 2 choices, and open box X1950XT $170, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102067R
or a X1950PRO for $145 after rebates http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102061

 

[jraddatz]

even better thecrecarc! thanks!

 

[thecrecarc]

Originally posted by: jraddatz
even better thecrecarc! thanks!

NP, glad to help

 

[sbaksh]

you are better buying a dell entry level, i think dell are poorly build, looks nice though. You will not get much for $400, well maybe a video card and change for a coffee. I would stay away from VISTA, IT'S CRAP!. I tested it when it first can out and yea it looks good but what is that going for performance, your pc will have to allocate alot more resources to manage the operating system. i think XP is better.

* I use a Dell, I know. We have over 24 Dell @ work.