Upgrade or New

[onemanparty]

I am at a bit of a loss and hope someone can help. :1zhelp:

I have a Dell 9150 with P4 HT 3.0Ghz Processor and 160GD Hard drive & ATI X300 Graphics card 2GB RAM. I have been looking to upgrade i.e. Hard Drive and Graphics Card I want something that will work as a Home PC Photos and Media etc as well as a good gaming PC at present mine does not seem to cut it in the gaming department

I really could do with some advise - Should I just buy a New PC or upgrade

I do not know how easy is it to install new hardware!!! :confused:

[Ben]

build your own from scratch.

really easy,
order the components off misco or microdirect and away you go.

i thought it would be hard to do, until i watched my cousin, since then i've built 2 pc's

[proff999]

I'd take a look over at www.overclockers.co.uk

Have some nice gaming systems at cracking prices. Check out the this week onlys.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-170-OK&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat=

A belter mate for £480. Overclocked with a nice graphics card that will run anything you throw at it.

[ImCammers]

I wouldn't look into Dell for a 'Gaming Machine' unless your looking at Alienware, which is owned by Dell unfortunitly :(

Run around your local computer shops, to see what you can get built, at whatever you budget maybe. Of course its not going to be anywhere near what that Over Clocked machine is. Another thing to remember, you want to get Intel based desktop since these produce better results in the low-mid range processes, however at the very top end, i really dont know if theres much difference in them.

For gaming, you'd probaly want top end Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.0GHZ) or a Intel Quad Core Q9550 (2.83ghz) remembering that most games are only designed to run through 1 core, atleast some, im definitly not saying all because im not sure.

[proff999]

Dual cores are fine for games but if you want to do media work and encoding then a quad is the way to go .

Games performance is largely unaffected by the extra 2 cores in a quad. I had a core 2 8500 overclocked to 4ghz along with 2x 285gtx's and thought my processor may well be a bottleneck for performance. Went and bought a new mobo and i7 920, Built it and overclocked again to 4ghz and performance increase has been between a miserly 3-10% in games and that's running Windows 7 Ultimate.

Encoding video on the other hand has been a revelation. I can recode 1.5gb of H.264 to DVD in around 9 mins as opposed to 20-25 mins on the core 2.

[Hassenpfeffer]

Never ever up-grade anything! Especially a Dull. :amish:

[onemanparty]

Never ever up-grade anything! Especially a Dull. :amish:

What are your reasons for this!!! or is this just a statement with no substance ;)

[onemanparty]

build your own from scratch.

really easy,
order the components off misco or microdirect and away you go.

i thought it would be hard to do, until i watched my cousin, since then i've built 2 pc's


Thanks for the advise

I have upgraded its cheaper and you get what you want

Spec
P4 HT 3.0Ghz Processor
500GB HD upgraded from 160GB which is now used as a back up
Graphics Card ATI HD4650 1GB from ATI X300
Window XP to Vista
4GB RAM from 2GB
Blue Ray drive replaces DVD

Cost £275 :D

[proff999]

IMHO the P4 is going to be your bottleneck as it old tech. I would have at least acquired a new mobo and dual core cpu (£85 the pair) to go with your video card. This would have given a massive performance increase for minimal outlay.

[Hassenpfeffer]

I am at a bit of a loss and hope someone can help. :1zhelp:I have a Dell 9150 with P4 HT 3.0Ghz Processor and 160GD Hard drive & ATI X300 Graphics card 2GB RAM. I have been looking to upgrade i.e. Hard Drive and Graphics Card I want something that will work as a Home PC Photos and Media etc as well as a good gaming PC at present mine does not seem to cut it in the gaming department I really could do with some advise - Should I just buy a New PC or upgradeI do not know how easy is it to install new hardware!!! :confused:


Buy an iMac! :aargh4::rant::Screem::nana::buttkick::bigeyes2::: :sad6:

[onzarob]

Buy an iMac! :aargh4::rant::Screem::nana::buttkick::bigeyes2::: :sad6:

Typical, I do like OSX, but the cost of Apples intel based hardware is just insane!!!

but i did do this http://www.insanelymac.com

[Hassenpfeffer]

Typical, I do like OSX, but the cost of Apples intel based hardware is just insane!!!

but i did do this http://www.insanelymac.com

I have found Mac was never about hardware, it is about inspiration, quality, interaction,
"caring about the user experience". OSX! right-on...:beerchug:

[onemanparty]

I have found Mac was never about hardware, it is about inspiration, quality, interaction,
"caring about the user experience". OSX! right-on...:beerchug:

You mean its about image over performance?!!!!!

[tlionhart]

your machine is still quite powerful oneman.

I would upgrade...new graphics, perhaps sound card, larger ram and graphics card. The hardest machines to keep on top are gaming PC's. I gave up in the end and just decided to end up with the xbox 360 then the PS3.

Windows 7 is out today, im planning on going to the shops in a min to get it. I was going to upgrade the graphics card, but then realised it still is powerful. May be some ram?

[Eshrules]

I have found Mac was never about hardware, it is about inspiration, quality, interaction,
"caring about the user experience". OSX! right-on...:beerchug:

your posts aren't relevant and are, quite honestly, irritating. Any chance you can explain your statements or are you one of those many many (many) mac fanboys?

as for upgrading vs new. if the current pc has the room and support for it, upgrade. why waste cash on new components that aren't needed? Ram & a new GPU would see your speed notch up nicely.

[MFGF]

Just be careful of upgrading if you allowed Windows Update to install Microsoft's WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) addon. I my daughter allowed this to install on her laptop, and when I upgraded her from an 80Gb to a 250Gb hard drive, WGA reported that her copy of windows was not genuine. It needed a call to Microsoft with the Windows product key before they provided instructions to unlock it again. Apparently WGA records you hardware setup, then flags a non-genuine message if it thinks it's running on a different machine...

MF.

[tlionhart]

the machine is generally registered to the home address. So if you move house or the laptop was given to you, thats why. The license only generally allows to 1 house hold/1 machine only. Unless you splash a few more £££ and get the family license which will allow more than 1 machine to be registered.