Aid for my upgrade (Rhyme!!)

[Iselore]

Hi, I'm planning on doing some upgrades to my (roughly 3yr old) PC. I think I should warn you however that I'm very much in the dark when it comes to the hardware side of computers, I've never really touched anything within any of my PCs and am hesitant to do so. It doesn't appear to be all so difficult as I first imagined however, so hopefully with some helpful advice I can be well on my way. I primarily use my PC for gaming, and therefore the upgrades will be gaming-performance based (hopefully). I've been needing to upgrade for a while, but the final straw came last week when my copy of Oblivion arrived. My PC was completely not up to the task, which made me very sad because I have been waiting for this game for so long :(

My current PC specs are as follows:

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
CPU Type: Intel Pentium 4A, 2400 MHz (3 x 800)
Motherboard Chipset: Intel Canterwood i875P
System Memory: 512 MB (DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type: Phoenix (04/28/03)
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (128 MB)
Audio Adapter: Creative SB Live!
Disk Drive: (82 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)

For any further specs I may have missed like the case etc, my PC is some iteration of a Dell Dimension 8300.

So I've looked around umpteen websites in the past few days, and I've found out a fair bit. I'm dead set on upgrading firstly my memory and secondly my graphics card. I haven't opened up my box recently, and so I've no idea what power supply I have, but I think it's safe to assume I will need a new one with the upgrades I hope to make. I could probably do with a new HD and Motherboard, but I think I can manage with what I've got for now. Note also that afaik I don't have any cooling systems/fans beyond the ones built into my components already installed.

If I had to commit an estimate I would probably say I have in the region of £350 (~$600) to spend. Please bear in mind however that I live in England and so many of the handy sites for finding good deals on components only ship within the US, so they are unfortunately of no help to me. I did find www.TigerDirect.com ships internationally and has a fair selection, so they might be a good consideration.

I was mainly thinking since (afaik) my Motherboard is AGP, I would go with about the most decent AGP card I could find, which is probably the 7800 GS. As for memory, I have 2x256 sticks at the moment, and I think I have two open slots. I'm looking at DDR 3200, but cannot determine the exact amount I should be buying, just that I will want 2 sticks dual channelled in the open slots ( I think :confused: ). I have next to no idea about specifically what power supply I will need and would very much appreciate some help with that.

My head is spinning with all the numbers and choices etc, and I'm not even sure if my money will be enough to transform my PC into a decent gaming machine. My main goal is to extend the life of my pc and be able to run Oblivion very well! I would hope that any components I buy now will remain useful should I purchase a new pc, or further upgrade in the future.

Any help, advice or suggestions would be most appreciated, and any links to internationally shipped products would be absolutely brilliant! Thankyou in advance :)

[hockey man]

Welcome to the PcGuide. I know that we have some UK members here who could help you find places over there to purchase from. Before we go anyware else though, we need to know rating your PSU has. I have looked over at Dell.com and they say that the 8300 can have either a 250 or 305 watt PSU. Which one do you have?

[saphalline]

If it's a Dell case & PSU, I can tell you right now that a 7800 GS would be a bad idea! :eek: That vid card is way too hot and guzzles way too much power for that poor Dell to handle. Mostly it's the heat. If you could find some way of cutting a hole in the side of your case right over the AGP slot, that would help a lot.

The PSU is another sore issue. If it's not a standard ATX PSU, you won't be able to find a cheap replacement with more wattage. Any sort of hood or shrouds connected to the PSU means you're stuck with it. We'll have to find a less power-guzzling vid card for you.

The RAM is easy. All you need is a 1GB dual-channel kit of DDR400 - comes as 2 x 512MB sticks. Stick to high quality manufacturers like Corsair, Kingston, Crucial, and perhaps Patriot. These 4 are available almost anywhere. And if you find a shop that doesn't have any of these, stay clear of them!

Wow, I can't believe you tried to run Oblivion with only 512MB of RAM and an FX 5200! :eek: I've heard the best you can hope with these specs is lowest quality 640 x 480. How did yours do?

[Iselore]

After endless amounts of tweaking I managed to peak at 26 fps before submitting to the overwhelming need to upgrade.

Is it not possible for me to replace the case of my PC ? It's not sounding good so far *sigh*.

The PSU looks like it's 250W.

[saphalline]

The problem is that you've got an OEM PC. A computer that was bought from one of the big companies. These systems tend to be proprietary and offer minimal upgrade potential, especially in the area of gaming. In fact, OEM systems are the worst for gaming because of several issues that have already been brought up. The PSU is a big one, cooling is the most important in my book, and the inability to replace proprietary parts limits everything.

Be that as it may, your Dell at least looks like a decent OEM system to try for gaming, but you can't go all the way like a standard IBUILTIT. The PSU is going to limit you quite a bit, and try not to think about upgrading the case and all that. Once you start replacing key structure components of your PC, you might as well build a new one. That's the problem with these OEM systems. The PSU they give you is enough to add more RAM and maybe another drive or two - they're not meant to play the latest 3D games 3 years down the line.

There is hope, however, so don't get too distraught. You may not be able to stuff a 7800 GS in there, but there are quite a few less power-hungry AGP vid cards available that will pound an FX 5200 into the ground! A GeForce 6600 GT comes to mind first, followed by the Radeon X800 GT/GTO (which seems to fluctuate in price too much lately). Either of these at stock settings would probably work in your Dell, but you may have to make a few sacrifices. For instance, RAM does eat up an appreciable amount of power when gaming (because it gets stressed quite a bit). If you were to buy a 1GB dual-channel kit and simply remove your current RAM completely, you shouldn't have any power problems adding one of the aforementioned vid cards.

[Iselore]

Do you think it would be preferable for me to save up and try to build my own pc? Otherwise it sounds like I'm just prolonging the inevitable.

I was aware that big company package PCs aren't great for gaming and upgrading when I got it, but it wasn't originally intended for gaming. I hadn't appeciated it was quite so bad though..

[saphalline]

Do you think it would be preferable for me to save up and try to build my own pc?That's up to you. If you can suffer through low-res 26fps performance on Oblivion for the time it will take to save up the money, then go ahead. But I must warn you about falling into the "waiting game" pitfall, and the sheer cost of building a high quality gaming system (at least $800 for just the box here in the US), and the complexity and confusion of building a system if you don't have any experience.

That Dell may be a Dell, but it still has some more potential you can squeeze out of it, and you'll most likely learn a lot in the process. Like I said, a 6600 GT or X800 GT/GTO would just crush that pathetic FX 5200 in Oblivion. Either one of those vid cards would let you play at least at 800 x 600 with medium detail settings and still get 45fps+ in town. They're just that powerful!

I was aware that big company package PCs aren't great for gaming and upgrading when I got it, but it wasn't originally intended for gaming. I hadn't appeciated it was quite so bad though..Haha! Yep, everyone has that problem. Other things always come first when you've got bills to pay, and before you know it 3 years has gone by and you're still using the same ol' OEM system, except now you're playing games! Gaming is just too much fun to ignore, and no sane person who really likes playing games can ever resist the urge to play them on every electronic device they have. Heck, if I could play games on my microwave, I would! :D

[Iselore]

I'm going to see what I come up with in regards to what I'd need to build a pc, then I can decide if its worth all that or if I should hold off and go with the upgrade you suggested.

I'll post back after I've had a look. Thankyou very much for your advice and information so far, you've been very informative.

[Cavalier90]

You might want to have a look at Dabs.com here in the UK for your parts. They have a reasonably large choice and are quick to ship.