Will I need to buy a new computer??

Ardent

Hi all.

I really need some advice - I want to upgrade my PC (for Doom 3 etc) but rather than buying a new one I'd like to know if it can be boosted in certain areas first.

I bought it a few years ago and AFAIK it's got the following specs:

PIII 800 Mhz
256 RAM
16 MB onbard Graphics Card

What I need to know, from those who might know, is:

1) Can I change my processor and, if so, what's the fastest processor I can get for my system?
2) If I got one of them new super duper graphics cards (and if I upgraded the processor somewhat) will I be able to enjoy the latest games that are out?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Big Nelly

Wat system board u got? this will tell you what the max you can upgrade to.....first thing is Graphics card will have to go and memory up to 256MB as well!!

Creamy Goodness

the highest p3's went were up to 1.4ghz (i think) so if you were to buy an new graphics card like the 9800pro (only 220 euros odd) then the cpu would bottleneck the card and also the card may only run in 2x AGP mode i'd suggest building a new pc there are plenty of people here who can specify good machine for you

Ardent

I don't know what system board I have - I stupidly threw the manual away a few weeks ago. (I was contemplating shelling out for a laptop and didn't think I'd have the PC for much longer.) How do I find out what motherboard I have, short of taking the lid off the PC case?

As for the RAM, do you mean add another 256 MBs? I already have 256.

Ardent

Cr3m0,

You might be right.

As I was saying to Neil, I was thinking about buy a laptop originally. Are they viable for gaming do you think?

Big Nelly

Not really! have a T22 myself but use it for work....graphics card that are inbuilt are not really up to the correct standard.....have desktop running Athlone XP2000, 512MB and a Creative Geforce FX5600 Ultra vid card for gaming.....runs most games no prob...e.g Far Cry....will have to upgrade the vid card soon thou

Creamy Goodness

laptops are only begining to become on par with desktops atm so the best card i think you can get in a laptop is a radeon 9700pro with 128mb but to get a laptop with this your talking serious money and not to mention the battery life of playing graphicly instense games

K!LL!@N

You need a new machine to get any kind of enjoyment out of the games you're likely to want to play.
I wouldn't bother trying to upgrade that machine.
Keep it as a fileserver or sell it on buy and sell, or something.

€1000 would get you a great system.
Obviously you could spend less and still have a much better system than your current one.

Killian

Champ

Hmm; probably better off getting a new system. The FSB and AGP would definetly handicap the system if it were to get upgraded. Not to say any upgrades wouldn't be effective in playing the majority of titles out right now.. but if your talking about the likes of Doom3...:rolleyes:

TacT

components are very old and upgrading to newer components won't give you enough of a boost to enjoy any of the new and soon to be released games. You need to invest in a new motherboard/ram/cpu and gfx card -- possibly a psu also.

I would avoid getting a laptop as it will be extremely expensive compared to a similarly spec'd desktop counterpart.

dogz

why not upgrade the mobo and cpu first .Believe it or not you will proably get a 2.8 p4 and a lanparty pro 875 mobo for about 200 (250)with 512mb ram, if you are in dublin bring your mobo and cpu and you can get a trade in on it.

Before xmas I traded in my xp2200+ and ga7vaxp mobo and i was able to get a 3.0ghz p4 lanparty pro 875 mobo and 512mb ddr 400 ram all for 150.
I kept my hdds and dvd writer etc and i already had 1.5gb ram (ddr 400)

So with your specs u probabl could get a p4 2.8+mpbo for about 200 with trade in, id say upgrade the lot wont cost ya that much:)

Lets know if u want the name of the place where i got em.

Ardent

Dogz, that sounds like a great idea! I bought my PC off dawn computers, I might ring them and see what they say. I wouldn't mind paying up to 600 euros. Where did you trade yours in?

dogz

I did mine in pc health www.pchealth.ie but to be honest your better off ringing them and asking, u'll get a good deal ecause the guy is crap at argueing over prices he also has full systems at good prices.

Let me know how u get on

BTW hes open till 7.30 all nights

jesus_thats_gre

For me its a simple yes. It would be a complete pain in the ass trying to source compatible components. I would cut your losses and sell the bad boy or move it into the living room and make a media PC out of it... Then take plessure if buying fresh!

dogz

ardent just noticed this http://www.pchealth.ie/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=33_949_979&products_id=559 seems good to me, u could probably swap the monitor for more ram or a 9800pro or something

Lets know how u get on

grimloch

that link looks okay but even if you traded in the monitor for the 9800 pro the RAM only runs at 333 that may have to be upgraded

compatibility with old parts is a pain as you can buy a graphics and find out you dont have an AGP port or your RAM wont work etc. better off getting a new one as theyre somewhat easier to upgrade

Big Nelly

Why not but this kit:-)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=170659

BloodBath

Don't replace an out of date machine with anotherout of date machine. You said you wouldn't mind spending 600. You can build a decent rig for 600.

Go to www.jescomputer.de

Off the top of my head you should get a:

athlon xp2500+
nforce2 mobo of some sort
ati radeon 9800 pro lite
samsung 7200rpm 8mb cache 80 gig hard-drive
decent case + psu

for about 500

www.shop4memory.co.uk

512Mb DDR RAM, PC3200, 184 pins - AData 87 euro


I presume you have a monitor, cd/dvd drive, keyboard ect off your old pc that you can use with the new one. That's a very good setup with some great overclocking potential to boot.




BloodBath

Big Nelly

Originally posted by BloodBath
Don't replace an out of date machine with anotherout of date machine. You said you wouldn't mind spending 600. You can build a decent rig for 600.

Go to www.jescomputer.de

Off the top of my head you should get a:

athlon xp2500+
nforce2 mobo of some sort
ati radeon 9800 pro lite
samsung 7200rpm 8mb cache 80 gig hard-drive
decent case + psu

for about 500

www.shop4memory.co.uk

512Mb DDR RAM, PC3200, 184 pins - AData 87 euro


I presume you have a monitor, cd/dvd drive, keyboard ect off your old pc that you can use with the new one. That's a very good setup with some great overclocking potential to boot.




BloodBath

Out of date?? only replaced board yesterday and it was running any game available on the market no problems! all he wud need is a vid card! ur assuming he has 500-600 to buy a new machine! then if so thats great! but if he just needs a good upgrade for a decent price then not a bad deal!!! if I do say so myself:-)

Raskolnikov

Originally posted by Ardent
Hi all.

I really need some advice - I want to upgrade my PC (for Doom 3 etc) but rather than buying a new one I'd like to know if it can be boosted in certain areas first.

I bought it a few years ago and AFAIK it's got the following specs:

PIII 800 Mhz
256 RAM
16 MB onbard Graphics Card

What I need to know, from those who might know, is:

1) Can I change my processor and, if so, what's the fastest processor I can get for my system?
2) If I got one of them new super duper graphics cards (and if I upgraded the processor somewhat) will I be able to enjoy the latest games that are out?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

The chances are everything in that machine will probably be so old it needs replacing anyway, if you want a cheap temporary upgrade that'll get your machine running a few oldish games then get a Geforce 4 Ti4200 second hand for about €60 or something, that'll get you the biggest gaming performance boost for your dosh, far bigger than more RAM or better CPU and motherboard.

When Doom 3 comes out, go do what BloodBath said then :cool:

BloodBath

ut of date?? only replaced board yesterday and it was running any game available on the market no problems! all he wud need is a vid card! ur assuming he has 500-600 to buy a new machine! then if so thats great! but if he just needs a good upgrade for a decent price then not a bad deal!!! if I do say so myself:-)

He said he would spend 600 on a new rig. He might as well make an investment in something that's at least a little upgradable. Fastest processor speed of your board is 2100+, it's not nforce2, fastest ram is supports is pc2100. To me that's out of date. I have a 2000+ in another machine and it's very slow.

When Doom 3 comes out, go do what BloodBath said then

It's almost definately coming out in August. Half Life 2 is possible for August as well. Valve are stating a late summer release. That's only 2 months away.


BloodBath

Big Nelly

Originally posted by BloodBath
He said he would spend 600 on a new rig. He might as well make an investment in something that's at least a little upgradable. Fastest processor speed of your board is 2100+, it's not nforce2, fastest ram is supports is pc2100. To me that's out of date. I have a 2000+ in another machine and it's very slow.

BloodBath

Sorry didnt see that! yeah if spending 600 yo yo on a new system the best option is wat u recommended!! I sold system board now anyway:-)!!

Ardent

Hi guys,

I agree, I'm not going to relace an old system with something that's now spanking new.

I met up with the dude from PC Health that dogz recommended. Nice bloke. Anyway, talking to him it seems that a worthwhile option is to keep my PC case and various bits and bobs and just pop in a new motherboard, cpu and memory. Unfortunately he doesn't seem interested in taking my current motherboard etc as a trade.

He's quoting me:

* 106 EURO for a D865GLCL Motherboard 800MHz FSB
* 90 EURO for 512 MB DDR PC3200 RAM
* 220 EURO for a 2.8 GHz Intel Prescott, 1 MB Cache

I'm not sure if this is a good offer, I spotted the same processor for sale on some UK website for 170.

I thought I would easily get a 15" monitor, a kickass graphics card, a powerful CPU and a good chunk of RAM for 600 EUROs. It seems not.

Is there anywhere I can get these bits cheaper on the web or should I just buy a brand new complete system?

Thanks guys.

Big Nelly

Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Boxed PC800 Socket PGA478, 1MB cache, Prescott
Komplett #: 123708 / BX80546PG2800E
Availability: 5 stocked €190.76

Ardent

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=724246844&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=58514

Processor is £114 sterling/ 170 euros

Edit: Sorry, my mistake - that's without VAT.

Yeah, 190 seems to be what they're at...

dogz

yea ardent hell quote ya prices higher than hell take i was quoted 200 oriinally, when i went in to collect them i had a few 50s with me, when i took them out i started giving him them individually and at 150 he said that it was grand.:) so i didnt complain

BloodBath

Hi guys,

I agree, I'm not going to relace an old system with something that's now spanking new.

I met up with the dude from PC Health that dogz recommended. Nice bloke. Anyway, talking to him it seems that a worthwhile option is to keep my PC case and various bits and bobs and just pop in a new motherboard, cpu and memory. Unfortunately he doesn't seem interested in taking my current motherboard etc as a trade.

He's quoting me:

* 106 EURO for a D865GLCL Motherboard 800MHz FSB
* 90 EURO for 512 MB DDR PC3200 RAM
* 220 EURO for a 2.8 GHz Intel Prescott, 1 MB Cache

I'm not sure if this is a good offer, I spotted the same processor for sale on some UK website for 170.

I thought I would easily get a 15" monitor, a kickass graphics card, a powerful CPU and a good chunk of RAM for 600 EUROs. It seems not.

Is there anywhere I can get these bits cheaper on the web or should I just buy a brand new complete system?

Thanks guys.

In case you missed it the first time. Don't buy that off the other guy.

Go to www.jescomputer.de

Off the top of my head you should get a:

athlon xp2500+
nforce2 mobo of some sort
ati radeon 9800 pro lite
samsung 7200rpm 8mb cache 80 gig hard-drive
decent case + psu

for about 500

www.shop4memory.co.uk

512Mb DDR RAM, PC3200, 184 pins - AData 87 euro

That's a complete system for under 600 euro. Use the monitor and cd/dvd drive off your old system with it.


BloodBath