Upgrade or buy new?

BoomShaker · September 13th, 2006, 02:31 PM

Hey Folks,

Been reading for a while but finally decided to jump in and ask a question.

I have a Dell pc about three years old, I can still for the most part play any game on it. But I see most of the newer games are probably gonna require a faster or bigger this and that in your pc in order to run it.

My question is when your gonna upgrade your pc a little bit what are the key things to make sure you buy and whats useless to buy?

Meaning should I upgrade the Ram, Processor, vid card, Mb's, speed, what?

I was thinking of giving Dell a call but I am sure I can find these things that you list for me cheaper on the net somewhere correct. (any links?)

thanks, have been reading for a while and you guys certainly know your stuff

SoloCamo · September 13th, 2006, 02:43 PM

Welcome to TechIMO!

What are the specs?

RamonGTP · September 13th, 2006, 02:48 PM

If it is 3 years old and you want to be able to play the newest games I wouldn't bother with upgrades regardless of what your specs are.

You'll be stuck with AGP and today's GOOD AGP cards are few and far between in addition to being more expensive and slightly less powerfull than their equivilent PCIe counterparts.

The socket on your board is likely and older one and so upgrading the CPU would be limited as well and may be even furhter limited by the type of board/chipset you're using.

I say go for a new machine.

BoomShaker · September 13th, 2006, 02:49 PM

SoloC,

SO I dont miss anything and give you all the info, where is the easiest place on my pc to look and get all the specs? (sorry i work in a hospital and am totally brain dead today) haha

SeanC · September 13th, 2006, 02:50 PM

In general, Processor and Video are what people upgrade. Depending on the amount of RAM you have, adding to it can help as well.

We can give you more detailed suggestions once we have the specs of the system you're talking about.

And Welcome.

BoomShaker · September 13th, 2006, 02:58 PM

Thanks for the welcomes and replies folks, soon as I get home I'll post the specs. I have always played games on my pc. Never did get into the whole playstation and xbox junk.

osprey4 · September 13th, 2006, 03:13 PM

It would help if you posted the model. I'm guessing a Dimension 4550 or 4600?

qx9r7man · September 13th, 2006, 03:32 PM

A bit of advice, If the computer is doing what you want it to do, then keep it. Only buy upgrades that can be reused. When it doesn't serve its purpose, strip out anything useable, and buy the best you can afford.

||Console|| · September 13th, 2006, 04:52 PM

and as far as games go in todays games VId cards are the king not so much cpu . But with the deals going on right now I would say upgrade
there are lots of cheep combos right now on Conroes and cheep mbs if you dont oc the cheep mb wont hurt you . I seen a deal for a e6400 and a Mb for 199usd

that would be a nice upgrade for sure

RamonGTP · September 13th, 2006, 05:56 PM

I guess it would depend on what you consider upgrading versus buying new, versus building your own.

If you go for a nice combo package (motherboard and CPU) you may need different RAM. If you wnat to play games, you'll almost definatly need a new video card. Chances are that the CPU/board will not fit in the dell case so you'd need a new case too. I see that as less of an upgrade and closer to building your own new PC.