console to PC Help!

[TheMason]

Alright, I already have a pretty good computer that has decent power, I mainly need help knowing if I can just upgrade my pc to a "gaming" computer with good parts, or if I have to just buy a whole knew pc or what would be cheaper?? Please help. These are my system settings, and I know it isnt much but like I said, can I upgrade or just buy a knew pc.

Manufacturer: Dell

Model: Inspiron 530

Processor: Intel Core Duo CPU E7300 @ 2.66ghz

Memory: 4gb

System type: 64 bit OS

 

[vrait]

It's not really upgradable in any areas relevant to today's tech other then the graphics card.

I'd recomend just building a new one from $800-$1000 can build a sick one for that price.
Check out: http://www.techsupportforum.com/for...evised-2011-and-updated-regularly-448272.html

Those prices are old and outdated though. So they are probably quite a bit lower by now.

Go with the intel sandybridge parts in the second post though.

 

[Aikouka]

What resolution is your monitor?

The Core 2 Duo is old, but it's not bad by any stretch. Given you didn't list the GPU, I assume it's possibly on-board? You may just want to make sure there's a free PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot available on the motherboard (I bet there is):

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_t7VLd8UyFNE/TS3mwjIyEHI/AAAAAAAAABk/tFtoJxaXQCo/s1600/pci-e.jpg

There are two examples of a PCI-E x16 slot in that picture (the red and white long ones).

 

[TheMason]

screen res is 1600x900, forgot to mention i also have a geforce 9600 gt

 

[TheMason]

What resolution is your monitor?

The Core 2 Duo is old, but it's not bad by any stretch. Given you didn't list the GPU, I assume it's possibly on-board? You may just want to make sure there's a free PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot available on the motherboard (I bet there is):

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_t7VLd8UyFNE/TS3mwjIyEHI/AAAAAAAAABk/tFtoJxaXQCo/s1600/pci-e.jpg

There are two examples of a PCI-E x16 slot in that picture (the red and white long ones).

screen res is 1600x900 and i got a geforce 9600 gt

 

[vrait]

screen res is 1600x900, forgot to mention i also have a geforce 9600 gt

Could just upgrade to a gtx 460, should give a nice huge boost to FPS. The cpu is decent, but i dont know if its enough to run recent games decently enough. Might be though.

 

[TheMason]

Could just upgrade to a gtx 460, should give a nice huge boost to FPS. The cpu is decent, but i dont know if its enough to run recent games decently enough. Might be though.

yeah im willing to upgrade the cpu and anything else, kinda wanna play games like bfbc2 and bf2

 

[-Slacker-]

300 watter no name psu.

You're boned.

You need a new one. The corsair compsu 430cx would be the best cheap psu you could get (I wouldn't recommend bothering with other crap, unless you're willing to spend more)

For a video card, the best you could put on that corsair psu would be (in order from best to worst): hd 6870, hd 5850, hd 6850, gtx 460 768mb, hd 5770, gts 450.

What's your budget ?

 

[Aikouka]

Look at it this way... you could try putting a new video card in there and if it doesn't work out, you can always use the card for a new PC build!

 

[TheMason]

300 watter no name psu.

You're boned.

You need a new one. The corsair compsu 430cx would be the best cheap psu you could get (I wouldn't recommend bothering with other crap, unless you're willing to spend more)

For a video card, the best you could put on that corsair psu would be (in order from best to worst): hd 6870, hd 5850, hd 6850, gtx 460 768mb, hd 5770, gts 450.

What's your budget ?

dont really got a budget lol, just looking to upgrade or put a new one together

 

[wuliheron]

The core 2 duo is still a decent processor, but its showing its age. If the computer itself is a few years old it might not be worthwhile to do more then throw in a new graphics card. From what I can find quickly online its got a pci-e 16x slot and a radeon 3000 series graphics card. What I couldn't find is any information on the power supply which is likely not very good. Without knowing the power supply I'd say a radeon 5670 is the best you can get without risking frying the computer or buying a new power supply.

That should allow it to play older games at modest resolutions, but its never going to be a serious gaming PC.

 

[TheMason]

300 watter no name psu.

You're boned.

You need a new one. The corsair compsu 430cx would be the best cheap psu you could get (I wouldn't recommend bothering with other crap, unless you're willing to spend more)

For a video card, the best you could put on that corsair psu would be (in order from best to worst): hd 6870, hd 5850, hd 6850, gtx 460 768mb, hd 5770, gts 450.

What's your budget ?

what bout cpu and motherboard? suggestions

 

[TheMason]

The core 2 duo is still a decent processor, but its showing its age. If the computer itself is a few years old it might not be worthwhile to do more then throw in a new graphics card. From what I can find quickly online its got a pci-e 16x slot and a radeon 3000 series graphics card. What I couldn't find is any information on the power supply which is likely not very good. Without knowing the power supply I'd say a radeon 5670 is the best you can get without risking frying the computer or buying a new power supply.

That should allow it to play older games at modest resolutions, but its never going to be a serious gaming PC.

from the Q's im asking you can prolly tell im not a computer tech guy, but how can I raise the ghz? new cpu or sumthing else

 

[Red Hawk]

300 watter no name psu.

You're boned.

You need a new one. The corsair compsu 430cx would be the best cheap psu you could get (I wouldn't recommend bothering with other crap, unless you're willing to spend more)

For a video card, the best you could put on that corsair psu would be (in order from best to worst): hd 6870, hd 5850, hd 6850, gtx 460 768mb, hd 5770, gts 450.

What's your budget ?

I have a 375 watt Dell PSU, probably older than his, which runs a Radeon HD 5770 and rather power-hungry Core 2 Quad Q6600 with no problems. As long as he sticks to a power-efficient graphics card like the 5770 he should be fine.

So TheMason, you could always get a new computer, but it would be much more cost-efficient to just get a new graphics card. Some decent, power-efficient graphics cards are (from best to worst)

Geforce GTX 550 Ti
Radeon HD 5770
Geforce GTS 450
Radeon HD 5750

Any of those combined with your current processor would give you a gaming system well above consoles, and thus safely able to play games that also were released on consoles. However your PC's performance also depends on the resolution you play at. Higher resolutions drain performance. So, what do you plan on playing at? 1440x900, 1600x900, 1920x1080, etc?

 

[wuliheron]

from the Q's im asking you can prolly tell im not a computer tech guy, but how can I raise the ghz? new cpu or sumthing else

That's really a disposable multimedia computer that was never designed for gaming. I have no idea how old it is, but if it is a few years old then doing more then replacing the graphics card is risky. When you start talking about doing more then replacing the graphics card its time to replace the whole thing.

If it were a better computer I'd suggest overclocking the cpu you have, but that might fry the mother board even if the power supply can take the additional load. A new cpu that will fit that socket is fairly expensive and not a really big improvement. If you want any better recommendations you'll have to remove the side panel, look inside, and read the large sticker on the power supply. We need to know at least the watts.

 

[Skott]

If you really want to play any of today's PC games and any others that may come out in the next year or two I'd suggest building a new gaming rig based around the i5 2500k or the i7 2600k cpu. Get yourself a nice new Z68 mobo for the new IB chips that will show up next year. Then with a BIOS update you can do a cpu swap next year if you want.

Go over to the General hardware section and post about a new build. There are plenty of smart people there that will help you from planning, to building a good gaming PC. There is even help for any problems you may encounter during or after a build. You'll want to come up with a budget first of course and answer the general questionnaire (link below) before posting so people can quickly give you help.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Also, don't be afraid to build your own. It's ridiculously simple to build a PC, but for some reason people think it is difficult. The hardest part is selecting compatible parts. The rest is just matching a part to the only slot it will fit in. It is possible to screw a PC build up, but you either have be terrible at following simple directions, or have part that was dead on arrival.

 

[MTDEW]

Also, don't be afraid to build your own. It's ridiculously simple to build a PC, but for some reason people think it is difficult. The hardest part is selecting compatible parts. The rest is just matching a part to the only slot it will fit in. It is possible to screw a PC build up, but you either have be terrible at following simple directions, or have part that was dead on arrival.

This.
Just build one, we can help you pick parts here and it is really really simple to do.

There is no sense in you putting money into your current rig and trying to play games with half the options disabled just to get a decent frame rate.
You just wont be happy with the results.

 

[veri745]

For 1600x900 resolution, just get a midrange GPU (e.g. Radeon 5770) and call it a day, the CPU should be fine for most games.

Yes, you won't be able to play all games, but if you just want a decent gamer, a GPU is the cheapest way to get there.

 

[Skott]

If you really want to play any of today's PC games and any others that may come out in the next year or two I'd suggest building a new gaming rig based around the i5 2500k or the i5 2600k cpu. Get yourself a nice new Z68 mobo for the new IB chips that will show up next year. Then with a BIOS update you can do a cpu swap next year if you want.

Go over to the General hardware section and post about a new build. There are plenty of smart people there that will help you from planning, to building a good gaming PC. There is even help for any problems you may encounter during or after a build. You'll want to come up with a budget first of course and answer the general questionnaire (link below) before posting so people can quickly give you help.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121

I need to make a correction to my post. I said 'i5 2600k' but should have called it a i7 2600k. Which is what it is. My bad. Sorry. All these naming conventions are getting confusing these days. <grin> Correction made to my previous post above.