PC Upgrading help..

[TIMELESS]

Hey guys, the following sentence is a computer geeks worst nightmare.

 

I have a Dell Dimension 3000. I'm planning to upgrade a few (well a lot probably) things so I can play games such as TDU and some others.

 

I was hoping that someone could basically help me out, as I'm not sure what I can get..

 

I want to get the following:

- Motherboard (current one is the standard dimension 3000 with PCI slots.. :rolleyes:)

- Graphics card (nothing too amazing, a 8500GT or 9600GT maybe)

- Ram (which will be for the new motherboard)

- CPU (Mellors gave me a few links*)

- PSU (If it's necessary, my current one is 450W)

 

 

*Links:

- http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-Athlon-II-X2-245-Regor-Core-S-AM3-290GHz-2MB-Cache-HT-3600MHz-65W-Retail

- http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128510

 

 

Thanks loads for any help you can give me :)

[me™]

I have a Dell

 

/thread

 

 

Seriously, the only solution is a sledgehammer I'm afraid.

[TIMELESS]

You'd think. With a new mobo I can actually get new ram! Cheaply! And a new GFX card.

 

Just not gonna be cheap to get to that point.. :/

[EW]

You'd think. With a new mobo I can actually get new ram! Cheaply! And a new GFX card.

 

Just not gonna be cheap to get to that point.. :/

 

My advice, start over.

if you look at component prices these days for like 100 quid extra you could start a whole new ground up build

[Judasneon]

Ok Mr Softie, Here is a very very good shop ok it is 1 that I used many times when I lived on the south coast....

I moved up to leeds and guess what mate? I ordered my bits for my current system and they came the next day. I sware by Novatech.

They do Mobo bundles and PSU's to match if you would like more ram call them they have a customer service line.

They are very helpful and they will not stitch you up with extra prices.

Just make sure that you have free delivery if you spend more than £50

 

Motherboard Bundles:

 

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/bundles.html

 

Graphics Cards:

1st one is the OEM version Geforce GTX260 made for novatech

 

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Components/Graphics-Nvidia/NvidiaGTX260Series/Novatech/GTX260SONIC55NM216Core.html

 

This second card is the ATI 4870 a little cheaper than the Geforce but more mem on-board:

 

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Components/Graphics-ATI/ATIHD4870Series/Novatech/48701GB.html

 

I have the Asus Geforce GTX260 OC runs at around 1gig? or just under.

£120 for the card is really good and the graphics are awesome.

I would post a pic of my system screen but the res is too high for me to post?

I run full screen 1680x1024 60MHZ refresh with 8xAA with all the settings in-game set to full on COD4 and 5 as well as my race games and its soooo sweet.

 

Ok so we set for Mobo bundle and graphics, you will get away these days with the on board sound as its AC97, that is basically the first series Audidgy sound card on-board.

You will have enough USB ports and HDMI port if you want to link to ya Plasma screen lol.

My next goal that in my comp room 42" Plasma for my gaming system...

 

OK any probs I have a couple more sites that I use OK....

 

In all you are looking at about £250 for the Mobo bundle and decent graphics card thats if you want a Geforce but you may need a PSU that runs @ 550watts that is the recomended for the GTX260 but My PSU is only a 520Watt and runs great.

[ShadowGT]

I gotta agree with "ME" & "WOODY" For a slightly bit more monies you can start all over & build a PC 10x better.

[TIMELESS]

As much as I understand your opinion, it's not what I was asking. I'd rather upgrade than build. Cheers for the thoughts anyway.

 

Thanks a ton Judas, I knew you'd have some good links for me :)

[Camel]

For starters, you need to tell us what your budget is. And secondly you need to tell us what you want to be able to do after the upgrades.

[TDU 505]

From what i heard its terribly hard to upgrade a Dell as they use interfaces that only they use. Unless you're planning to only reuse the case and possibly the PSU

[TIMELESS]

@ Mellors, well my budget was between £120 and £200. From my current choices it totals at £172, so I'm quite happy.

 

@ TDU 505, you're right.. but the amount of things I'm changing should mean that I won't have any problems.

 

For other Dell Dimension 3000 users, if you want a good new graphics card, you'll have to get a new motherboard as the standard only accepts crappy PCI! Hence how I ended up getting the amount I'm getting now. I wanted ram and graphics card, now I'm getting that plus motherboard, psu and cpu! Upgrading a Dell is not cheap nor easy!

[macd79]

you will need a new case as the dell motherboards are different (read WRONG) Size and shape, therefore a standard atx or m-atx will not fit

[TIMELESS]

Yeah I started thinking about that lol... How do I know what size I need? (And clearly by your computer specs you're a PC modder/upgrader :p)

[Camel]

Just about any tower case will be fine. Just make sure it has the mounts for a Micro ATX/m-ATX motherboard. Just about all cases that can hold a full size ATX board will hold a m-ATX board.

[Judasneon]

For Mr Softie, saw this and thought of you?

hope it helps mate.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Budget-1010-PC-Case-Piano-Black-Facia-Cheap-Midi-Tower_W0QQitemZ220450376348QQcmdZViewItem

[kalniel]

You will need a new case, PSU, motherboard, graphics card, RAM, CPU and operating system (dell use OEM ones tied to the motherboard). Most people consider this a new computer. If you want to think of it as just an upgrade then that's cool - the computer doesn't mind what you call it either way (unless you call it Mac, they tend to take offense at that). :)

 

To get all of that under £200 is impossible with a new build (the operating system alone is about £60-70), but you should be able to get a second hand computer that can play TDU fine for that price.

[Judasneon]

Mr Softie,

 

with the case all you need is the Motherboard bundle and graphics card...

The Psu maybe something you may need depends on the 1 in the dell if it has the connections for the new MOBO? and deff you need 2 x 6 pin connectors...

 

You can strip you old computer down and take your hard drive and dvd drives and bits out, you system should boot up with the hard drive and maybe update the system config itself? depends on what Dell installed?

Maybe you have windows XP or YUKKKKK Vista... LMAO recomended (XP or Windows 7)

[kalniel]

You can strip you old computer down and take your hard drive and dvd drives and bits out, you system should boot up with the hard drive and maybe update the system config itself? depends on what Dell installed?

You'd still need a new license for Windows - it's tied to the motherboard.

[TIMELESS]

Oh donkey kong. You mean that as soon as I remove the mobo I also remove my windows? :facepalm:

 

Looks like I'll be searching for my Win XP disc.. then again, I have a Ubuntu disc on its way, can I run that without having XP installed?

 

@Mellors, cheers, I actually realised before seeing your post! Thanks for the reminder though! :p

 

@Judas, that should work. The ATX tower cases are pretty similar to the Dells, but I shall have a look before I decide, cheers mate.

 

@kanniel, believe me it is possible, considering I have added up the total of my items chosen so far and it's £172 (no case or os).

 

Thanks for the help guys, here's the list of what I've chosen so far:

 

Motherboard: Nvidia MCP61P AM2 DDR2 Motherboard - £110

CPU: AMD Dual Core Athlon II 240 @ 2.8Ghz - Included

Ram: 2GB DDR2 - Included

 

Graphics card: 9600GT 512Mb - £56

 

Power Supply: 450W ATX for AMD - £16

 

Total cost: £172, $280 (Canadian), $271 (US) :D

[Judasneon]

Oh donkey kong. You mean that as soon as I remove the mobo I also remove my windows? :facepalm:

 

Looks like I'll be searching for my Win XP disc.. then again, I have a Ubuntu disc on its way, can I run that without having XP installed?

 

@Mellors, cheers, I actually realised before seeing your post! Thanks for the reminder though! :p

 

@Judas, that should work. The ATX tower cases are pretty similar to the Dells, but I shall have a look before I decide, cheers mate.

 

@kanniel, believe me it is possible, considering I have added up the total of my items chosen so far and it's £172 (no case or os).

 

Thanks for the help guys, here's the list of what I've chosen so far:

 

Motherboard: Nvidia MCP61P AM2 DDR2 Motherboard - £110

CPU: AMD Dual Core Athlon II 240 @ 2.8Ghz - Included

Ram: 2GB DDR2 - Included

 

Graphics card: 9600GT 512Mb - £56

 

Power Supply: 450W ATX for AMD - £16

 

Total cost: £172, $280 (Canadian), $271 (US) :D

 

 

OK mate that will get you going but you wont be able to play high end game? or you would but at low res and low detail....

[TIMELESS]

I won't be playing much high graphical games. I just need a faster PC with an nVidia graphics card so it can run CG shaders. That, and TDU. :)

 

PS: Don't bother answering my question about running Ubuntu without XP, my ubuntu disc arrived today.. (:eek:) so now I know.

[kalniel]

Oh donkey kong. You mean that as soon as I remove the mobo I also remove my windows? :facepalm:

Yup :( Unless it's a retail version of windows, but being a Dell, that's very unlikely.

 

Looks like I'll be searching for my Win XP disc.. then again, I have a Ubuntu disc on its way, can I run that without having XP installed?

Sure. But you can't play TDU on ubuntu unfortunately (well, there might be a wine hack that might help, can't remember the name of the directX layer project that you need as well).

 

@kanniel, believe me it is possible, considering I have added up the total of my items chosen so far and it's £172 (no case or os).

Without OS it's certainly possible :)

[TIMELESS]

Yeah, well Ubuntu will be my temporary unless I find my XP disc. Which I also have to ask about, if I get the disc, can't I just reinstall windows?

[kalniel]

Yeah, well Ubuntu will be my temporary unless I find my XP disc. Which I also have to ask about, if I get the disc, can't I just reinstall windows?

Only if Dell gave you a retail copy of XP, which is really unlikely. Instead they probably gave you an OEM copy, which is tied to the motherboard they supplied it with (actually, tied to the whole computer, but you are allowed to change a certain number of non-motherboard components).

 

If it's OEM then it's tied both in license (IE a contract you agreed to when buying/installing your old system that you wouldn't use the XP disc with a different computer) and with Microsoft's activation servers. I think you can run XP without activation for a certain evaluation period but you get lots of annoying pop ups and you won't be able to update it to protect yourself from attacks that exploit old vulnerabilities (which will happen if you connect it to the internet - no need to even download anything or browse dodgy sites!)

 

edit: actually, I think they've changed policy for the latter, you might be able to download critical updates these days.

[TIMELESS]

Alright cheers for the info, I'll see what I can find out :)