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P4 3.0GHz with 8600GT

Ah, sorry. I wasn't being clear. Pretty much gaming, such as FEAR, Oblivion, and of the like. I hope to take out my current CPU out of my Dell, my RAM, and everything else I guess, and stick it in a new case with the new mobo and new PSU.

Don't think I'll be watching HD on PC much; PS3's for that, as well as console gaming.
 
Your CPU might be a bottleneck, but it shouldn't be too severe; My Athlon 64 3200+ was bottlenecking my 7900gt a bit while I was running it at stock, and your CPU performs slightly worse and that video card will be more CPU intensive since it's a bit more powerful. I'd recommend replacing the CPU with a Core 2 Duo as soon as you get the chance. You'll have to get new RAM too, if what's in the Dell now is DDR, since most current Intel boards won't support it.
 
Originally posted by: pkrush
Your CPU might be a bottleneck, but it shouldn't be too severe; My Athlon 64 3200+ was bottlenecking my 7900gt a bit while I was running it at stock, and your CPU performs slightly worse and that video card will be more CPU intensive since it's a bit more powerful. I'd recommend replacing the CPU with a Core 2 Duo as soon as you get the chance. You'll have to get new RAM too, if what's in the Dell now is DDR, since most current Intel boards won't support it.
Click to expand...

The thing is, 8600 is not reputed as an excellent GAMING card, but for OP's CPU will suffice.

I never had this cpu or seen benches, but if you buy c2d and new ram and mobo, it would make sense to buy 8800gts then.
 
Hmm, 8600GT might turn out to be a bit too rich for my blood anyway. Would a 7600GT suffice for those kinds of games maxed at 1024x768 (native resolution is 1280x1024) with a P4 3GHz? I don't have much to dump on a new computer, so this seems to be the easiest solution. Seeing as I'm still running with a Radeon 9250 and playing *some* modern games at lowest settings, this kind of system should hold me over for a while.

Core 2 Duo and AM2'll be for another day. The day I get a well-paying job. 😛

This is the motherboard I'm looking at.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157106

Looking to pair it up with a Fortron 450W, and a Cooler Master Centurion, 1.25 gigs of RAM, etc.

Also, seeing as the mobo is being replaced, but the same hard drives are being used, would XP on this computer still work on the other computer without verification hassles?
 
Oh, sorry, I thought you were going to be reusing a Socket 775 processor instead. Disregard the part about upgrading this to C2D later. The 8600gt is overpriced for how well it performs. I'd look for a used 7800gt or 7900gt or possibly get a new Radeon X1900GT instead of the 7600gt, though, since they'll be much better performers around 1280x1024. Also consider that that motherboard only runs the PCIe slot at 4x instead of 16x, so you'll lose more performance there. Of course, no matter what you do get, it'll be a massive increase over the Radeon 9250.
 
Originally posted by: pkrush
Oh, sorry, I thought you were going to be reusing a Socket 775 processor instead. Disregard the part about upgrading this to C2D later. The 8600gt is overpriced for how well it performs. I'd look for a used 7800gt or 7900gt or possibly get a new Radeon X1900GT instead of the 7600gt, though, since they'll be much better performers around 1280x1024. Also consider that that motherboard only runs the PCIe slot at 4x instead of 16x, so you'll lose more performance there. Of course, no matter what you do get, it'll be a massive increase over the Radeon 9250.
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Yes, increase over Radeon 9250 is going to be really, really massive. And at 1024, you don't need a MMMMMMONSTER card, since you might be bottlenecked by CPU. What is your video card budget? I guess 7600gt will do fine but for not much more you can get a faster card (7900/7900).
 
op - for the most part, resolutions under 1280x1024 show a cpus weakness. with oblivion, if you look at the benches you will see you need a decent card to play it even @ 1280x1024, like at the very least a 7900gt or a x1950xt. the 8600gt is basically a dx10 version of the 7600gt - it is a joke.

oblivion is one of the hardest games for the pc currently, even keeping high end c2d systems running low fps, so be ware. regardless of this, i think you would be better off getting a x1950xt over the 7900gt as it performs better, more in line and above the 7900gtx for the most part. the 256MB version of the x1950xt can be had for ~$200 now i believe.

pkrush - where do you see that the pci-e 16x slot only runs @ 4x?
 
I've used a 3GHZ Pentium 4 with an 8800GTS(640MB) and it gamed really well. I think that performance was slightly higher on my 2.4GHZ X2 though, but not too much at really high resolution of 1080i or more.
 
Ive used p4 3ghz with 8800 gts also, it ran great but i had to go for a core 2 duo 😀. Supreme Commander really benefited from it.
 
Also, seeing as I'm taking everything out of this system and sticking it into a new case with new mobo, etc, will my Windows XP installation on my carry-over hard drives be affected? Will I still be able to use them?

I know there's some kind of validation hitch where I have to call Microsoft about it.
 
Originally posted by: Shadow Conception
Also, seeing as I'm taking everything out of this system and sticking it into a new case with new mobo, etc, will my Windows XP installation on my carry-over hard drives be affected? Will I still be able to use them?

I know there's some kind of validation hitch where I have to call Microsoft about it.
Click to expand...

Don't sweat the phone call, lie, ok, tell the truth, while downloading gigs of porn on torrents you contracted a virus and will die in six months,,,,😉
well, keep the virus part and tell them when you reformmated you were directed to call. No biggie, some hindu gives you a new 112 digit key and your good to go. no prob, been there, done that.
 
Originally posted by: s1rwilliam
Ive used p4 3ghz with 8800 gts also, it ran great but i had to go for a core 2 duo 😀. Supreme Commander really benefited from it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I noticed that some games did benefit greatly. Medieval Total War benefited greatly, but I didn't like the game so it didn't matter. For the FPS that I played (FEAR,HL2,BF2,COD2). The Sims 2 also ran horribly, but again I wasn't too fond of the game to start out with, I thought that the first series was better.
 
Originally posted by: Shadow Conception
Also, seeing as I'm taking everything out of this system and sticking it into a new case with new mobo, etc, will my Windows XP installation on my carry-over hard drives be affected? Will I still be able to use them?

I know there's some kind of validation hitch where I have to call Microsoft about it.
Click to expand...

Your Dell is most likely using an Intel chipset, using a Via chipset will pretty much gurantee your old windows install will not boot up. The chipsets are far to differant. I wouldn't really recomend a via chipset, but you are limited with a socket 478 CPU.
 
Originally posted by: bamacre
What model Dell do you have?
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Dell Dimension 3000. Everything about it is r8 ****** except probably the RAM.

Originally posted by: WoodButcher
Originally posted by: Shadow Conception
Also, seeing as I'm taking everything out of this system and sticking it into a new case with new mobo, etc, will my Windows XP installation on my carry-over hard drives be affected? Will I still be able to use them?

I know there's some kind of validation hitch where I have to call Microsoft about it.
Click to expand...

Don't sweat the phone call, lie, ok, tell the truth, while downloading gigs of porn on torrents you contracted a virus and will die in six months,,,,😉
well, keep the virus part and tell them when you reformmated you were directed to call. No biggie, some hindu gives you a new 112 digit key and your good to go. no prob, been there, done that.
Click to expand...

Care to go through this a bit more in-depth? Sorry, I just don't wanna call and mess up, then all of a sudden be stuck with a computer without an OS. 😛

Does it matter if your computer is still under warranty or not? Because mine expired 2 years ago.

Edit: Oh yeah, another question (yeah, I've a lot, sorry). I have a nice little Vista Business Dell OEM CD lying here right next to me. Will this neat little trick work for me with this specific CD?
 
If you're mostly into gaming, don't load that Vista! Especially with the system you're talking about, you'll get really poor performance.

You haven't really stated your budget, but I would think 7600GT or 7900GS (PCI-e) would be what you should aim for. If you like ATi better or can find better prices, look at the X1650 XT and X1950 PRO.

I've never made an activation call on an OEM machine, but you should be just fine. Like a previous poster said, just tell them you had to reformat the hard drive.

-z
 
Yeah, but does my expired warranty matter? Will they still give me a key even though my warranty is over?

Edit: nvm, I just realized how stupid of a question that was. I'm calling Microsoft, not Dell. -_-

As for a video card, I think the card is perfect. Was looking for a card around $130-150, and the X1950GT fit perfectly.
 
Originally posted by: Shadow Conception
Yeah, but does my expired warranty matter? Will they still give me a key even though my warranty is over?

Edit: nvm, I just realized how stupid of a question that was. I'm calling Microsoft, not Dell. -_-

As for a video card, I think the card is perfect. Was looking for a card around $130-150, and the X1950GT fit perfectly.
Click to expand...

Microsoft, there you go, Tell them nothing about hardware changes, you got a virus and needed to reformat your "DELL", period. the reinstall may run fine with your key, If it fails to "validate" a window will come up telling you to call to get a new key, I did this with my gateway software and MS Works / Word as well. The bit about 112 digits was a joke but as I recall the key for MS word was about 15- 20 digits longer than the original. Worst case you'll need to grab a new copy of xp. You can get XP Home OEM cheap at the egg. Leave vista on the shelf with that rig.
 
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