Packard bell ixtreme M3720 upgrade

Cardboard Fox

Hey guys,
Looking to upgrade the motherboard (must be mATX), processor, RAM and PSU, planning to use the rest of the parts from my old packard bell (http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/view/200019). Any help would be much appreciated.

1. What is your budget? under 500, can extend to 600 if necessary

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? gaming,games like starcraft 2, skyrim, WoW, amnesia, also elder scrolls online and ff14 when they come out.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? no

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? HDD and DVD drives, graphics card http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/ENGTX550_TiDI1GD5/#specifications

5. Do you need a monitor? no

5a. If yes, what size do you need?

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? no, 1600X900

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? no

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? maybe

8. How can you pay? credit card, debit card, bank transfer

9. When are you purchasing? as soon as possible

10. If you need help building it where are you based? should not need any help building it.

I have attempted my own build:

Item|Price
ASRock B75 Pro3-M, Sockel 1155, mATX|€59.24
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€58.33
8GB-Kit Kingston HyperX blu PC3-10667U CL9 |€62.99
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€201.87
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€401.42

As this is my first time doing this I'm not sure whether these parts will be compatible with each other or with the graphics card for that matter, was hoping you guys could help me there. If i need to i can buy a new graphics card though. I'm not looking to play any of these games on ultra settings, medium is fine for me . Do you guys think i will need to buy a new graphics card? Thanks in advance .

smileyj1987

I would say a new PSU and GPU would serve you better if you want to game . If your PSU is good enough then I would say a GPU is all you need .

uberpixie

Biggest limits to your upgrade will be:

1) your power supply, please provide details on your PSU....

2) Case: will the case take a standard PSU, how good is the air flow?

You will prob be better off upping your budget slightly and getting a good PSU and a new case (with modern layout and cable routing) and sell off the old PC as a whole unit....

Cardboard Fox

Thanks for the replies guys.
1) The old PSU was faulty so i need a new one.

2) Case: Should take a standard PSU, unless they have changed in size in the past few years? Anyways the last PSU was http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ace-A-500BR-Black-edition-computer-PSU-quiet-red-fan-RRP-15-99-/151062660798, my bro bought it without doing much research .

As for the air flow, it has vents at the side and back of the case and the mobo also had a fan. As you can see in the pictures.

I guess i will need a new GPU then, any suggestions?

uberpixie

That case doesn't look great tbh....
The power supply also looks like a death trap (I would replace it.....)

I would toss the lot and build from scratch: from experience it is less hassle all round.....
A crap case leads to a lot of noise and and very hot components, top it off with a crap power supply and you have damaged parts and random PC cut outs.
On THAT psu you have I would not go higher than a Radeon 7750 (as it does not need to pull extra power from the psu to run).

After that: buy a new power supply if you want a better gfx card.
TBH with the games you have listed: a better gfx card in your current PC would tie you over if you needed to save a little more money to increase your budget.

EDIT: what gfx card do you gave?
What monitor resolution do you game at?

Cardboard Fox

Ok so i will see if i can sell off some of the parts and build a new PC.
If i keep the HDD and Disk drive if i can, with a budget of around €600, i should be able to get a PC to run these games on medium/high settings right?
Monitor is 1600X900 resolution.

uberpixie

Cardboard Fox wrote: »

Ok so i will see if i can sell off some of the parts and build a new PC.
If i keep the HDD and Disk drive if i can, with a budget of around €600, i should be able to get a PC to run these games on medium/high settings right?
Monitor is 1600X900 resolution.

Don't bother.

Ditch the lot and sell as a complete PC. Parts on their own not worth much.
(harddrive will be old hat now and what you can get for €50 will be faster)

A better gfx card now ties your PC over nicely and can easily play any of the games you have listed on medium settings. Then when you are ready build the pc.

There is plenty of life in a core 2 quad, while not the fast chip going it is a very good minimum to be sitting on.