Can be pre-builts be fully upgraded?

Chaotic_Forces

I'm talking about getting a new processor, a new graphics card and perhaps more RAM.

I was thinking the processor is tied to the motherboard so that would be a no go and the graphics card would depend only if it's intergrated or not, right?

Monotype

Processor - it depends. Some have fiddly heatsinks. Most have some upgrade options. Sometimes the motherboard will limit the upgradability.

Graphics - Usually possible. The difficulty comes in that the prebuilts come with a close limit exactly what is needed in the power supply. Therefore, you can end up buying a new PSU as well. The possiblity of adding a GPU also depends on the motherboard having a PCI-E slot. Which is usually present in most recent computers.

RAM - Easily upgraded. Can be restricted by motherboard being fussy, limited slots, motherboard limitations.

You could post up your computer and we could give it a look. Also include the budget you'd have in mind.

Chaotic_Forces

Monotype wrote: »

Processor - it depends. Some have fiddly heatsinks. Most have some upgrade options. Sometimes the motherboard will limit the upgradability.

Graphics - Usually possible. The difficulty comes in that the prebuilts come with a close limit exactly what is needed in the power supply. Therefore, you can end up buying a new PSU as well. The possiblity of adding a GPU also depends on the motherboard having a PCI-E slot. Which is usually present in most recent computers.

RAM - Easily upgraded. Can be restricted by motherboard being fussy, limited slots, motherboard limitations.

You could post up your computer and we could give it a look. Also include the budget you'd have in mind.

Well you see, I have a 415 euro credit note (for lack of a better term) and have it for PCWorld Ireland. Now I wanted one of two options: goodish laptop (that can play games on low settings or so) or a medium rate PC that I can upgrade to play good games.

With the money I have, I can make it up to about 600 euro. So I was kind of hoping someone can tell me what kind of things I should ask instore to find out if I can upgrade the pc or not. I've got till... about 14/15th of this month to decide.

Hey, I could get a new Power Supply Unit too? That is a big relief, I thought the motherboard was only compatible with certain types and ithe pre-built needs little power I wouldn't be able to do serious gaming on it if I upgrade it. :rolleyes:

Monotype

You're not going to get a laptop that would run games with that much money, especially not in PC World.

Pixmania is owned by the PC World group... I wonder could you exchange your vouchers.

The power supply is usually upgradable, except in some older machines or irregular sizes.

Chaotic_Forces

Monotype wrote: »

You're not going to get a laptop that would run games with that much money, especially not in PC World.

Pixmania is owned by the PC World group... I wonder could you exchange your vouchers.

The power supply is usually upgradable, except in some older machines or irregular sizes.

It's not vouchers. Basically the manager said he'd do an exchange (laptop for a laptop) but said he'd let me put money towards a pc or a laptop if I liked. Would Pixmania make much of a difference?

Monotype

It should be a bit cheaper. A good bit cheaper. At least last time I saw pcworld prices. You would also have more of an opportunity to pick your own components.

So you are thinking of getting a new PC for something like €415 and upgrading with €185? Have you got things like monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard?

Chaotic_Forces

Monotype wrote: »

It should be a bit cheaper. A good bit cheaper. At least last time I saw pcworld prices. You would also have more of an opportunity to pick your own components.

So you are thinking of getting a new PC for something like €415 and upgrading with €185? Have you got things like monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard?

Well no, my plan is since I do have a cover plan that will be put on the new pc/laptop with the option of having pcworld upgrade it if I buy the parts till it ends in 12/12/12 (or there abouts), I would be able to be pool together 600 now for a pc/laptop and (assuming we're talking about pcs only now) upgrade it over time. I do have a keyboard, mouse, speakers and monitor. The monitor looks best at 1024 x 768:o, so for the time being I wouldn't need some kind of amazingly powerful graphics card.

Solitaire

I saw an i3-based machine for €500 there recently, no monitor but probably the closest you'd get to any kind of value from the feckers

Hint - regular-sized cases are better for graphics card and PSU upgrades but need the latter less as stock PSUs tend to be better.

Hint 2 - Bigger brands (Dell > HP > Packard Bell > Fujitsu > Acer) tend to have increasingly superior stock PSUs but fussier proprietary motherboards Avoid Acer if possible!! :eek:

Chaotic_Forces

Solitaire wrote: »

I saw an i3-based machine for €500 there recently, no monitor but probably the closest you'd get to any kind of value from the feckers

Hint - regular-sized cases are better for graphics card and PSU upgrades but need the latter less as stock PSUs tend to be better.

Hint 2 - Bigger brands (Dell > HP > Packard Bell > Fujitsu > Acer) tend to have increasingly superior stock PSUs but fussier proprietary motherboards Avoid Acer if possible!! :eek:

Yeah but at least I got some kind of satisfaction, TBH I'm planning on just getting a laptop with 3gm DDR3 ram, a dual core and a ati 4250 for 550 euro (best I can get it seems).

I understand hint 1 but what do you mean about hint 2?
Stick with Dell > HP and so on and avoid Acer as that's the worse for upgrading?

I have got about two weeks or so to decide so is there any info I can get that would help the lads here say if it can be upgraded or not?

Solitaire

What resolution is that monitor? It would probably look better at higher resolutions if you had better graphics... flat-panels in particular look best when run at their maximum possible resolution

Nothing much you can ask PCWorld about the machines that would help, they don't like people upgrading their machines It would be a case of finding what looked like a good deal and then doing a good chunk of research on it and see what's hidden inside the box (PCWorld ain't gonna let you look! ) and what others have said about possible CPU/RAM/GPU upgrades. You could at least survive on a machine with an Athlon X3 or Intel i3 CPU-wise but graphics upgrades would be an immediate priority. Its also worth bearing in mind that GPUs like the HD5570/5670/5750 draw relatively little power and could usually be upgraded before the PSU

Chaotic_Forces

Solitaire wrote: »

What resolution is that monitor? It would probably look better at higher resolutions if you had better graphics... flat-panels in particular look best when run at their maximum possible resolution

Nothing much you can ask PCWorld about the machines that would help, they don't like people upgrading their machines It would be a case of finding what looked like a good deal and then doing a good chunk of research on it and see what's hidden inside the box (PCWorld ain't gonna let you look! ) and what others have said about possible CPU/RAM/GPU upgrades. You could at least survive on a machine with an Athlon X3 or Intel i3 CPU-wise but graphics upgrades would be an immediate priority. Its also worth bearing in mind that GPUs like the HD5570/5670/5750 draw relatively little power and could usually be upgraded before the PSU

My lovely monitor comes out at a whopping 1024 x 768
I think it can go higher but it's fairly small and looks a bit awkward.

I was thinking that if I have a good or at least decent CPU then the GPU would just be the main thing to upgrade which I don't thing would be too difficult at all.

I know PCWorld aren't the cheapest but like I said above, that laptop is better than the single core with an ati 3200 hd that I have now :P

I don't really now what research I'd have to do TBH; all I can really say is the brand and make I guess... I suppose I can try to badger them to give as much as info as possible

Solitaire

The best laptop CPU-wise in PCW right now for €550 is a HP i3-based unit. Only an integrated GPU (built into the CPU, not the chipset!) but it would be stronger than any non-quad AMD or C2D-based laptop in processing grunt while still being HD-capable

If you're getting a laptop instead of a PC then when are you getting the PC??

Chaotic_Forces

Solitaire wrote: »

The best laptop CPU-wise in PCW right now for €550 is a HP i3-based unit. Only an integrated GPU (built into the CPU, not the chipset!) but it would be stronger than any non-quad AMD or C2D-based laptop in processing grunt while still being HD-capable

If you're getting a laptop instead of a PC then when are you getting the PC??

Sorry for the confusion.

I'm getting one or the other. I would love to have a laptop but only if it would last me a while (I'd love to play Oblivion and Fallout 3 on it, if at all possible, I'd just like to have view/draw distance up high, if possible :rolleyes:).
The PC is my second (more expensive choice and more annoying overall), I'd have to buy a desk, a decentish monitor (eventually) and then upgrade the feckin' thing.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-g62-a28sa-06474284-pdt.html
That the laptop you're talking about? (says 550 on the PCWorld irish site).
But that's the only one I could fine on the irish site for around 550.
If you could remember what graphic card the i3 one had that you saw for 550 that'd be great.:)

I'd love it if you could help me figure out if it can run Oblivion, Fallout 3 c(hopefully fallout new vegas too...) and dragon age.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:System_Requirements
that's the page on the oblivion wiki, fallout 3 is pretty much the same:
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_FAQ#What_are_the_PC_system_requirements.3F

dragon age: origins is a bit more demanding
CPU:Intel Core 2 Solo 1.6 GHz, (XP) or 1.8 GHz (Vista/Win 7), AMD Athlon 64 X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8 GHz, (XP) or 2.2 GHz, (Vista/Win 7) processor
GPU:TI Radeon X850 128MB or greater, NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB or greater (XP), ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater, NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater, Intel x4500HD or greater (Vista/Win 7)

Both of those are for the minium ones.

BTW what the damn Hell is the feckin' difference between an i3 and a dual core? i3 seems to be lower speed compared to a dual core (like the GHz) so I am really confused.

Solitaire

The i3 GPU is better than any previous Intel GPU. That makes it about as awesome as... everyone else's integrated graphics :o:p

Oblivion would run at medium, maybe High settings on lower resolutions and still average 30fps+

Fallout 3 would hopefully manage 30fps+ on medium settings at low-medium res

The Puppy-Kicking Game will run at highish FPS on Low settings, but it'll look like vomit. Of course, this only matches the rest of the game so DA fanbois would probably call it "atmospheric" :pac:

In either case I really wouldn't bet on a comfortable gaming experience with any sub-i3+HD5650-equipped laptop, and those just keep on rising in price, from €600 at launch to €700 and now onward past €800... :mad:

Chaotic_Forces

Solitaire wrote: »

The i3 GPU is better than any previous Intel GPU. That makes it about as awesome as... everyone else's integrated graphics :o:p

Oblivion would run at medium, maybe High settings on lower resolutions and still average 30fps+

Fallout 3 would hopefully manage 30fps+ on medium settings at low-medium res

The Puppy-Kicking Game will run at highish FPS on Low settings, but it'll look like vomit. Of course, this only matches the rest of the game so DA fanbois would probably call it "atmospheric" :pac:

In either case I really wouldn't bet on a comfortable gaming experience with any sub-i3+HD5650-equipped laptop, and those just keep on rising in price, from €600 at launch to €700 and now onward past €800... :mad:

The annoying part is I was a bit foolish when I bought this one, I had no idea that I got a single core... the nice salesman told me it's the same as an intel 2 core. And don't even get me started on the guys in the store "oh great graphics, very good graphics, nice card" about the ati 4250.

I know it fairly sucks but i'm just basically looking for a damn laptop that I can game on (I don't care about things like Civ 5 or any newer games) just things around the 2007/2008 year that would run in hopefully 1024 x 768 and if it looks like muck, do be it. If it runs and it's easy to see and play, I'm a happy man.

Do you remember the name or model number you saw with the i3 core? I think I might just get that (assuming you think it woud be good for playing certain games).
Oh any chance it would run bioshock?

And one last thing, the intel dual core I had years ago was fairly good. So if I had a dual core running at 2.8/9GHz, what would be the i3 version of it?

Solitaire

I think it was a low-end HP G62t variant. And the slower i3m's have crippled graphics so its not going to run games well. At all

I think you'll have to reconcile with the grim fact that you're not going to get anything portable that can game to any degree for under ~€850 right now - €200 more than this time last year :mad::mad:

Chaotic_Forces

Solitaire wrote: »

I think it was a low-end HP G62t variant. And the slower i3m's have crippled graphics so its not going to run games well. At all

I think you'll have to reconcile with the grim fact that you're not going to get anything portable that can game to any degree for under ~€850 right now - €200 more than this time last year :mad::mad:

Well that's not that bad of a news. I'll just get the slightly more powerful with a dual core adn the 4250. I know I'm insane but to me, it would be an improvement, I hope.