highlanderfil
Golden Member
I've got my biennial upgrade itch again, but have been a bit out of the hardware loop, so maybe you guys could steer me in the right direction. Of discussion there comes method for this madness and so on.
I currently have the following:
Dell XPS 410
Intel Quad 6600
4GB RAM (sadly, that's the ceiling)
GeForce 8800 GTX (768MB)
500 GB 7200 RPM hard drive
DVD and DVD+-RW drives
ATI 650 HDTV tuner which I will be looking to get rid of fairly shortly
X-Fi Gamer sound card (no breakout box)
multi-card reader
Logitech Z-5500 5.1 THX speakers
The upgrade is mostly brought about by a new TV that I bought and am now using as a monitor - a Sharp Aquos LC-40E77U. I play mostly sports and racing games, so I guess keep that in mind as well - no Crysis or anything like that.
I am not working with a huge budget, but would like to future-proof the system somewhat. It still runs games like PES2009 nicely, but hiccups in 3DMark (really low scores for the specs). Definite requirement - HDMI-out in my video card, preferably built-in as opposed to an adapter. Blu-Ray capabilities would also be nice.
Ideas/options? Here are my options as I see them:
1). Selling the PC as is right now, seeing how much money it would bring in (I couldn't imagine it going for more than $700) and building something new outright, working with a budget of no more than $500 over what I can get for my current system.
2). Upgrading the video card - currently looking at the 1 GB Radeon HD4870 as a better but not power-hungrier solution than the 8800 GTX. I know the prices on the line should come down in July, too, so I've got wiggle room in terms of time frame. Or I could get a new PSU (really don't want to mess with the wiring, though, but I do know how to do that if I have to) and a better VC (say under $250, what would that be, keeping in mind the requirement for built-in HDMI, which the 4890, say, does not seem to have).
3). Selling the PC as is and buying another, better Dell at the outlet. A quick check gives me something like this:
XPS 625
(System Identifier: F50M0T65)
* XPS 625 Desktop
* Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
System Price : $1,019.00
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
Memory 6 GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (4DIMMs)
Hard Disk Drive 750 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Video 1024MB ATI Radeon HD 4870
Processor: AMD Phenom X4 9850+ Black Edition (2.5GHz/125W)
USB Optical two button mouse
XPS Standard System Cooling
USB Multimedia Keyboard
125V Power Cord
Certified Refurbished
Base XPS 625 Desktop
Media Bay 16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
Software Upgrade
Windows Live
64BIT Operating System DVD
Microsoft Works 9.0
64BIT Operating System CD
System Color Red
Not bad, but still would need a Blu-Ray drive...a Quad 9400 with 4GB of RAM can be had for $30 less.
Thoughts?
I currently have the following:
Dell XPS 410
Intel Quad 6600
4GB RAM (sadly, that's the ceiling)
GeForce 8800 GTX (768MB)
500 GB 7200 RPM hard drive
DVD and DVD+-RW drives
ATI 650 HDTV tuner which I will be looking to get rid of fairly shortly
X-Fi Gamer sound card (no breakout box)
multi-card reader
Logitech Z-5500 5.1 THX speakers
The upgrade is mostly brought about by a new TV that I bought and am now using as a monitor - a Sharp Aquos LC-40E77U. I play mostly sports and racing games, so I guess keep that in mind as well - no Crysis or anything like that.
I am not working with a huge budget, but would like to future-proof the system somewhat. It still runs games like PES2009 nicely, but hiccups in 3DMark (really low scores for the specs). Definite requirement - HDMI-out in my video card, preferably built-in as opposed to an adapter. Blu-Ray capabilities would also be nice.
Ideas/options? Here are my options as I see them:
1). Selling the PC as is right now, seeing how much money it would bring in (I couldn't imagine it going for more than $700) and building something new outright, working with a budget of no more than $500 over what I can get for my current system.
2). Upgrading the video card - currently looking at the 1 GB Radeon HD4870 as a better but not power-hungrier solution than the 8800 GTX. I know the prices on the line should come down in July, too, so I've got wiggle room in terms of time frame. Or I could get a new PSU (really don't want to mess with the wiring, though, but I do know how to do that if I have to) and a better VC (say under $250, what would that be, keeping in mind the requirement for built-in HDMI, which the 4890, say, does not seem to have).
3). Selling the PC as is and buying another, better Dell at the outlet. A quick check gives me something like this:
XPS 625
(System Identifier: F50M0T65)
* XPS 625 Desktop
* Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
System Price : $1,019.00
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
Memory 6 GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (4DIMMs)
Hard Disk Drive 750 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Video 1024MB ATI Radeon HD 4870
Processor: AMD Phenom X4 9850+ Black Edition (2.5GHz/125W)
USB Optical two button mouse
XPS Standard System Cooling
USB Multimedia Keyboard
125V Power Cord
Certified Refurbished
Base XPS 625 Desktop
Media Bay 16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
Software Upgrade
Windows Live
64BIT Operating System DVD
Microsoft Works 9.0
64BIT Operating System CD
System Color Red
Not bad, but still would need a Blu-Ray drive...a Quad 9400 with 4GB of RAM can be had for $30 less.
Thoughts?
