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pondering to get a new PC

chronodekar

chronodekar

Senior member
My budget is low and I've not finalized on anything, but if I am getting a new desktop today, what would be a better option -

Intel integrated graphics or
an existing 8600GT 512DDR2 ?

I certainly don't have the budget to buy another card, so I'm wondering, should I keep my existing card or will the in-build intel solution work better?

-chronodekar
 
chronodekar said:
My budget is low and I've not finalized on anything, but if I am getting a new desktop today, what would be a better option -

Intel integrated graphics or
an existing 8600GT 512DDR2 ?

I certainly don't have the budget to buy another card, so I'm wondering, should I keep my existing card or will the in-build intel solution work better?

-chronodekar
Click to expand...

No other choice for graphics? If not, then go with the cheapest out-the-door price, and just buy an ATI card and install it yourself.

I had an 8600gt card in granddad's machine, and it would not support legacy games, and had to be replaced with an inexpensive ATI card that was all around better (less expensive, better performance, better support). After several NVIDIA epic fails (hardware design AND firmware support) over the past several years, I have gone back to ATI products.

OR, just buy a better system to begin with. (not more expensive, just a better system at a HOT DEALS price)
 
Just another reply saying that the 8600GT will definitely be better than the onboard intel.

It seems to me though that you are buying a complete desktop (with intel integrated graphics) instead of building it yourself. Is that correct?
 
Out of curiousity what is the intent of your build, and what is your current build.

I suspect with such a low budget you may actually be better served upgrading and keeping your current cpu for most tasks.
 
Just remember: $99 video hardware is guaranteed to limit gaming performance of a $1000 CPU. A $99 CPU may not necessarily limit the gaming performance of $1000 in video hardware.

The 8600GT is slower than some cards we've seen for $40 or less after rebate recently (4650, 4670). It was a low end card sold as midrange when introduced, and the 3+ years since then have not been kind. Any integrated Intel video is significantly slower than that.

Consider a GPU upgrade for your current machine rather than a new PC if gaming is in the cards. I'd take a $50 4670 + $100 recycled Pentium 4 machine over a new $400 box with i3 with integrated video -- the first will play more games, better. However, adding a video card to the second would be the best of both worlds.
 
v8envy said:
...snip...
Consider a GPU upgrade for your current machine rather than a new PC if gaming is in the cards. I'd take a $50 4670 + $100 recycled Pentium 4 machine over a new $400 box with i3 with integrated video -- the first will play more games, better. However, adding a video card to the second would be the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

You forgot the best BEST option, namely your first $50 upgrade option, and THEN spend that "extra" $300 to $400 on games (which would last me at least 4 to 6 years of gogamer Madness sales and Target clearance sales and Half Price Books used bargains).
 
I'm surprised with the replies I'm getting here. Thanks guys!

My current config is - 1.8 Ghz intel Dual core, 2GB DDR2, 80GB HDD and of course the 8600GT.

The system is already maxed out. It doesn't support more than 2GB RAM and both the PCI slots are full with a firewire extension and another Ethernet port.

I considered upgrading, but there's nothing left, really. At the moment, I'm either going to get a new desktop or a laptop. I'm debating on how to go about it. (I seem to move around often, these days)

-chronodekar
 
skulkingghost,

thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass. You see, it depends a lot on what the rest of my family says. Just yesterday my Mom went into a hysteria thinking about why I was wasting money buying a new PC when our current one just works.... Ah, parents!

I'm having an interesting time convincing my folks.

-chronodekar
 
chronodekar said:
I considered upgrading, but there's nothing left, really. At the moment, I'm either going to get a new desktop or a laptop. I'm debating on how to go about it. (I seem to move around often, these days)
Click to expand...

If you want to game and don't have an infinite supply of money, then get a desktop in lieu of a laptop. You can spend $1,000 on a desktop or $2,500 on a laptop and have the same gaming performance. You can also just buy a new videocard in a few years when yours gets outdated.

If you pieced together a system from the FS/FT forum, you could get a nice upgrade for a lot less than a whole new system.
 
Take it your 1.8 Ghz Intel dual core is a E2160? It has been mentioned before, you're better off upgrading the 8600GT to a HD 4670 or something than buying a new system and recycling the 8600GT. No matter how fast your new PC will be, you will still be significantly GPU bound by the 8600GT.
 
YEPP said:
Take it your 1.8 Ghz Intel dual core is a E2160? It has been mentioned before, you're better off upgrading the 8600GT to a HD 4670 or something than buying a new system and recycling the 8600GT. No matter how fast your new PC will be, you will still be significantly GPU bound by the 8600GT.
Click to expand...

First anyone has mentioned that. Will gaming performace really improve if I upgrade just my GPU? I always thought the bottle-neck was my CPU. (as its just 1.8Ghz)

Can someone else please verify/confirm this for me ?

-chronodekar
 
chronodekar said:
skulkingghost,

thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass. You see, it depends a lot on what the rest of my family says. Just yesterday my Mom went into a hysteria thinking about why I was wasting money buying a new PC when our current one just works.... Ah, parents!

I'm having an interesting time convincing my folks.

-chronodekar
Click to expand...

Get a job and pay for it yourself?
 
chronodekar said:
I'm surprised with the replies I'm getting here. Thanks guys!

My current config is - 1.8 Ghz intel Dual core, 2GB DDR2, 80GB HDD and of course the 8600GT.

The system is already maxed out. It doesn't support more than 2GB RAM and both the PCI slots are full with a firewire extension and another Ethernet port.

I considered upgrading, but there's nothing left, really. At the moment, I'm either going to get a new desktop or a laptop. I'm debating on how to go about it. (I seem to move around often, these days)

-chronodekar
Click to expand...

The CPU you have sounds fine, especially if you get a motherboard that will let you overclock it some.

Personally if I was in your position this is what I would do.

Go to the For/Sale trade forum here or another site or use ebay. Get rid of your current motherboard, heatsink, and video card. Dump all 3 pieces. You might get about $10 each and that would be fine. Might get $20 for the motherboard.

After that, take that $30 or so you made selling those parts. Find a decent, but cheap, motherboard for your current CPU for sale used. Look around. I'm not sure what dual core intel processor you are using but it should still be good enough for even modern games. Hell, I still have put together some Opteron 165 systems that I OC and run modern games just fine.

Anyhow, upgrade the motherboard, and heatsink as cheap as possible so you can overclock. Learn the limits of that CPU and give it a little juice. Whatever you are using, I'm betting you could at least hit 3 Ghz easy enough. Also make sure the motherboard has a PCIe slot. Lastly make sure the motherboard you upgrade to supports your current memory, assuming it is at least DDR1. If your current memory is DD2 that is better as it is cheaper to find more DDR2 than DDR1 right now.

Next look for a good video card upgrade. With the right deals on new or a used purchase you can get a 4650, 4670, or even a 4850 pretty damn cheap.

Done right, you could probably upgrade your entire system for about $50 to $75 and be able to play any PC game on the market. Some settings you might need to turn down, but all games would be playable and still look decent.


If you could provide more detail about what you current have I could even give you a specific list of what you need to do and how much it will end up costing to do it.
 
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