Upgrading Dell Dimension 4600

[nate88]

Hey, saw this forum on google and thought I could get some help from you computer enthusiasts. I am getting a 4 year old Dell Dimension 4600 and am looking to upgrade it so it can game pretty decently. Here are the current specs:

Intel P4 2.8GHz
510 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128 MB
60GB Hard Drive

I am probably looking to upgrade the ram, video card and hard drive. Have a decent budget for it but not looking to spend like $200 on just a video card. I'm looking to play games such as Guild Wars, WoW, Flight Simulator, Gears, Halo 2 ect. Also, should I upgrade to Vista? If there are any other things I need to upgrade in order to support a higher video card please let me know.

[EXreaction]

What is your budget?

The 4600 is extremely old and you'll spend a lot more trying to upgrade it than just buying a new computer (plus, none of the parts you would buy would work in a new system).

If you can spend around $500 you can get a pretty decent gaming system (plus tax/shipping).

[nate88]

I was looking to spend no more than $300 for everything.

[EXreaction]

If you still want to upgrade your computer, you'll need to get a new video card, power supply, and memory.

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100228L Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Newegg.com - Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply 115/ 230 V UL, CUL, TUV, FCC, and CB certification - Power Supplies

What do you have for memory right now? Is it DDR 400? Do you have 4x 128MB sticks or 2x 256 MB sticks?

If you have anything other than 2x 256MB DDR400 sticks, I'd just get this and toss your old stuff:
Newegg.com - WINTEC 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Otherwise, if you do have 2x 256MB DDR400 sticks you could get this to save some money, but for the $16 more I would probably just get the 2GB set above and toss what memory you currently have:
Newegg.com - AllComponents 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

[nate88]

Would that graphics card be able to run the newer games? Also is the power supply easy to install?

[EXreaction]

That is the best graphics card you can get for the AGP bus. It should play just about any game pretty well.

A power supply is simple enough to install, just unplug it from your old stuff, unscrew it, then screw the new one in and make sure you plug everything back in.

Also, for a hard drive:
Newegg.com - HITACHI Deskstar P7K500 HDP725050GLA360 (0A35415) 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

[nate88]

Ok, sounds great. Is the hard drive easy to do too? I'm a dummy when it comes to building computers.

[EXreaction]

Well, with a new hard drive you'd need to reinstall the operating system and any applications.

Installing the drive is simple though, especially since it is a SATA drive. You *might* need SATA drivers to install XP on that drive, so make sure you don't destroy your old drive in case you need to put that back in and download drivers. For SATA drivers you may also need a floppy drive.

Since the copy of XP you have is really old (SP1), you should build a new install disk:
nLite - Deployment Tool for the bootable Unattended Windows installation

With that you can integrate SP2 and SP3 and any drivers you need. I wouldn't change anything else though, removing or changing something that shouldn't be can make the OS unstable.

[paplu007]

I was wondering if you would require a cooler with everything that is being bought. I too have a Dull Dell Dimension 4600 and can't stretch my budget too much to get new mobo and etc. The graphics card you mentioned wont be enough with the psu. Min requirements is 550w.

Firstly, would you recommend the Corsar hx 520w over the psu you have already stated? As for the graphics card I think the x1650pro would be better as its nearly half the price of the HD3850.

Would I require a cooler then for my dell? Because all the graphics card, hard drives, processor etc will heat up the mobo? If so would you please recommend one that will work with the dell dimension 4600 please?

Stats at the moment are

Intel Pentium 4 3.06Ghz
256MB Ram..I know!!
XP home edition..Vista takes up 3gb RAM?!!
MX440 with AGP8X...Ancient!
PSU standard 250W

RAM will be upgraded just looking of the cheapest in pound sterling. Also the PSU to either the Corsair I stated earlier or the one you mentioned. So will the graphics card to either the HD3850 or X1650 depends how much on second hard drive will be..leads me to my next question. I won't have to re-install my OS as I have space for a second hard drive..I can just plug it into the one of two SATA ports I have on the mobo?

Please help!!

Thanks for your time.