Want some input for a gaming computer setup

[pfcperry17]

I'm not sure if this is the right section for this, but I'll ask anyway.

I wanna modify my current PC for some gaming use (nothing extreme) and had some options lined up in my head that are within my budget. I'll start with my current computer specs....

Compaq Presario CQ5700F
AMD Athlon II 170u
ATI Radeon HD 3000
Hitachi 500GB HDD
2GB Ram

I want to upgrade to at least a 2.8GHZ cpu, 4GB Ram, and MAYBE an actual ATI or NVidia Video Card.

Right now, my 17th birthday is coming up and my mom will give me an $80 visa gift card. I made a small list on TigerDirect.com....I'll post a screenshot of what I found

Is that okay for games like FSX, Test Drive Unlimited, Battlefield 2, etc?:hmm:

BTW, the cable is for my old 150GB hdd....need a power adapter...lol


Moved from PC Gaming

Anandtech Moderator
KeithTalent

 

[MustangSVT]

without knowing the detailed specs, I would say getting a decent video card would be the best value. something like ATI 5770 or gtx 260?

 

[pfcperry17]

Well...A new video card may be hard to come by for me...I only have a couple PCIe X1 slots....I might have something else for a card, but I'm not sure...I'll have to get a Torx driver set to open it up....I don't know what I can currently get in PCIe x1....Any thought?

 

[riteshshergill]

I hope you mean a PCIe X16 slot because if you don't have one of those on your motherboard you won't be able to install a GPU.. MustangSVT is right, go for the GTX 260 if you can get your hands on one..

 

[Texashiker]

Personally, I would try to get past that sempron, and get at least an Athlon II. The low cache size of the sempron is going to hurt its performance, as compared to some of the Athlon IIs.

With with three cores, 1 meg of cache is pretty low.

 

[Majic 7]

That computor isn't worth upgrading at all.http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...d=5035292&prodTypeId=12454&objectID=c02629647 With just two PCIx1 Express slots, no others, your are stuck with the onboard graphics and it will never play the games you want to.

 

[boozie]

your are stuck with the onboard graphics and it will never play the games you want to.

To be fair, the computer in its current condition should be able to play Battlefield 2. I don't know about the other 2 games.

You've got the right idea 4 GB RAM and better CPU if you decide to go that route.

 

[wuliheron]

That computor isn't worth upgrading at all.http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...d=5035292&prodTypeId=12454&objectID=c02629647 With just two PCIx1 Express slots, no others, your are stuck with the onboard graphics and it will never play the games you want to.

He's got a 250w power supply. Changing the processor alone could fry the damned thing. Its a disposable computer even by disposable computer standards.

 

[Majic 7]

To be fair, the computer in its current condition should be able to play Battlefield 2. I don't know about the other 2 games.

You've got the right idea 4 GB RAM and better CPU if you decide to go that route.

Depends on if he is talking about BF2 or BFBC2. I'm sorry but this seems like a lost cause unless the OP wants to play really old games. FSX is old but I think it would let all the magic smoke out of that rig, not even sure if it would load.

 

[MustangSVT]

Ah. to be honest, then I dont think it's worth upgrading that. I would save as much money as possible (maybe a part time job?) and get used computer from our used section or craigs. You should be able to get a decent computer to at least play those games under $200.

 

[bristow84]

Do you really think a used computer is a good idea? used Electronics are generally not reliable. Least not in my experience

 

[kalrith]

Do you really think a used computer is a good idea? used Electronics with moving parts are generally not reliable. Least not in my experience

ftfy

You take a gamble buying something like a DVD burner or hard drive used; however, buying mobo, cpu, gpu, case, etc. used can often be a great deal. Take something like a cpu that could probably run for 10 years (or more), and people often upgrade them every 2-4 years. That's like buying a car with 60,000 miles on it.

 

[rangda]

As others have stated that PC is pretty much a lost cause for upgrades. Box systems like that are usually built to a price point (and that price point is usually very cheap); so any upgrades you do on box systems tend to cascade and by the time you're done you've ended up replacing everything but the case and maybe the mobo (although in this particular case the mobo has to go as well).

Playing modern games on integrated graphics is all but impossible these days; especially with 1680x1050 & 1920x1080 monitors becoming such commodities. You really need a graphics card. (This is one of the reasons why PC gaming is in the rut it's in, most PCs out there just can't play games and can't be upgraded to play games.)

If you're comfortable assembling a PC from parts yourself you can build a budget gaming PC for $450-$550. Unfortunately I'm willing to bet that's way beyond what you wanted to (or perhaps can) spend. The one rub is that the $450 generally doesn't include an OS so if you have to buy that too that makes it a fair bit more expensive. If you're not comfortable assembling parts yourself it gets harder as you're going to have to buy a pre-built PC. Pretty much everything in someplace like Best Buy is out, and even if a company charges you $200 to assemble & test you're increasing the cost of the PC by 50%.

I just went to Dell and tried to configure a budget PC with an external card and as far as I can tell you can't even do it.

Here's a recent article on building a budget gaming PC and while I might quibble with some choices here and there by and large it's a decent guide to give you an idea of what you'd need:

http://www.hardware-revolution.com/budget-gaming-pc-june-2011/

(Note that the 5830 video card it recommends will be all but impossible to find now as they are very, very popular for bitcoin mining.)

 

[ElFenix]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883109057

that's not a promising base to work with. the processor is really a sempron, no high bandwidth expansion card slots, and the power supply is of questionable use. good for office use, not good for mid range gaming.

i'll echo what the other posters have suggested and get used parts off of FS/FT here

 

[DominionSeraph]

Mow some lawns OP.

It's under $200 after MIR.

Sell your mobo/psu (you can probably get $30 for the two); reuse the case, hard drive, RAM, and DVD-ROM. (2GB RAM will do you as long as you're not loaded down with bloatware.)

If really pinching pennies there's a used 4670 for $35 here
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2146803
That would put you into a dual-core and a budget gaming card for $160 after rebate.

 

[mfenn]

Mow some lawns OP.

It's under $200 after MIR.

Sell your mobo/psu (you can probably get $30 for the two); reuse the case, hard drive, RAM, and DVD-ROM. (2GB RAM will do you as long as you're not loaded down with bloatware.)

If really pinching pennies there's a used 4670 for $35 here
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2146803
That would put you into a dual-core and a budget gaming card for $160 after rebate.

I'd probably throw a cheap case in there as well. HP cases are not known for their receptiveness to new hardware.

 

[Morg.]

Mhhh .. third-world config contest ?

More seriously, the "interesting" configuration for a pc starts when there is enough valid lifetime on it and a good price/performance ratio for the time you buy it.

That has been quite steadily around 700 -800 bucks for a while.

You will be better off gathering more moeny before spending than spending 200 bucks on random crapware which is already outdated and will only get worse with time.