Are you looking to build you're pc or to buy a already made one? If you're looking to build one then i suggest buying you're parts of internet on newegg where you can get things good and cheap.
Newegg: Athlon64 (X2 if you can afford it) 1GB dual channel RAM (2 if you can afford it) Samsung or WD hard disks Graphics - well, how much is your budget? Above all, decent PSU and case.
Unfortunately; I'm in the financial position of "Broke". And am looking to scrounge up about $400. I love building systems, but buying them piece by piece is just not cost efficient; compared to buying a system that is built w/ or w/o a operating system.
I would probably be much more inclined to trust you about pricing, if I hadn't been using computers extensively and building them for literally ten years now. Please don't get me wrong, building a computer is much more *Rewarding*. I agree wholeheartedly, there's nothing like putting all the parts together, and testing out your nice new rig. I do it for friends, free of charge, it's a cool hobby. However, the bottom line cost is in no way shape or form 'cheaper'. To say that purchasing the parts seperately and putting them together yourself is cheaper defies the very meaning of the word. IMO; it *should* be that way, however, it isn't. A lot of shops sell built computers at a discounted price, compared to the parts by themselves, because they'd rather make a garaunteed $150 profit from a whole system, than a $10 profit on a part, when you find the rest elsewhere. It means that while they *marginally* make less money, it moves their product quicker at a lower % yield, but a higher gross income. This is common with lots of shops; at least anywhere in San Diego. Maybe it's more sensible than that elsewhere.... Would be really nice. I've looked at a lot of prebuilt systems in the area, and then the same parts individually using a few sites (I particularly love using newegg and tigerdirect for parts, they're usually the best) and the cost usually comes up about 150-200 more when purchased individually. If you can point me to some better sites to build a decent system in the neighborhood of $400; I would be more appreciative than I can ascribe here. If you feel that I should keep any of the parts in my old system, for the new one, let me know: My current system: Intel p4@2.53Ghz 1024mb DDR 333mhz GeForce FX5700le w/256mb Sound Blaster Audigy 2(Standard model) 200gb IDE HDD 7200rpm w/8mb buffer 120gb IDE HDD 7200rpm w/8mb buffer Sony DVD+/-R 16x max Now, I'm planning on keeping the drives, and pondering the other parts; but I don't want to create a bottleneck. I understand that SATA may increase performance significantly; but I just want to get the other components set first. The video card is only a few months old; so I hate to replace it, but worry about how long it will remain useful(Morrowind was a nightmare for me). I would *assume* the sound card can just be kept, because I don't even use 6.1 sound anymore, I moved and went down to stereo, because it met my needs. I personally don't feel that any of these parts are *old* or *decrepyt* by any means, I think it is still a very nice system. But I'm running into games that simply don't run for squat. And it appears as though it is becoming a trend. I don't have endless riches to spend fixing this problem; and want to play these games at good settings again; as in, without applying numerous official and unnoficial patches that cause them to look horrible, beyond what they were meant to do out of the package. *Cough*, oldlivion *cough* I am growing more and more concerned about this problem; particularly with the coming of UT2k7. I NEED to be able to play this at launch. Their is a sudden void of information regarding a release for my 360; so I need a system to run it. I don't care to shell out another 500-600 on another console this year, I want my PC to be keeping up, at least somewhat. So, after this huge long post; I ask, can anyone suggest a fix for this that is within my budget of about $400, that will take care of the problem for more than six months. If I do a fix that only keeps it up to date for six to twelve months, it would be a waste of money, IMO. So; any suggestions greatly appreciated, sorry if the beginning came out harsh or insulting, it absolutely was not meant to.
TBH Video card is the first thing I'd replace. The CPU still goes well in todays environment, still beating many low end CPUs, but the 5700LE can be beaten by most budget cards now, since it's very old. In reality, S-ATA doesn't offer huge performance increases unless you use expensive Raptor drives, you're better off keeping those IDE ones for now. If they had 2MB buffers I might say different but with 8 the difference isn't great enough to warrant it. RAM is OK if you keep the CPU and MB but if you change any of that then PC3200 is far better. The "games that don't run for squat" is a VPU problem. The other components are ample for dealing with the prob, but don't forget a bigger GPU also means a PSU upgrade, and since you've a 5700LE, you're AGP presumably, so that limits things somewhat. If you want to get a lot more powerful GPU, now might be the time to move to PCI express. Trouble is there aren't many for socket 478 and you know what that means. If you want to get in with better games I'd suggest something of the order of: Athlon64 3200+ Asus A8N-E motherboard ATi Radeon X850XT PCI express Antec 500W PSU. That may set you back a chunk, but as long as you have some cash flow you can flog the old stuff on ebay for a fair amount. I make those to come to $483 with shipping. You'd also be looking at a replacement cooler for the 3200 though if you're serious so allow for another $40 or so for that.
What sam says lol you can still get a 7800 nvidia for agp this card will run everything thats out now check the requirements of your new game perhaps you'll have to save up
or for the same price a 7900GT for PCI express that's twice as powerful. I tend to avoid recommending high end AGP cards, they cost an absolute fortune for what they are. The X850XT's the only bearable price high end AGP card.
or for the same price a 7900GT for PCI express that's twice as powerful. I tend to avoid recommending high end AGP cards, they cost an absolute fortune for what they are. The X850XT's the only bearable price high end AGP card.
Yes but on the face of it you can afford to buy a new board for free with the cost saving of moving to PCI express, so it's a toss-up.
new motherboard new cpu new ram gonna cost more than a Graphics card lol no good buying a board without a processor
i'm feeling sick now you mean theresa a 478 board with pci-express graphics ? i could upgrade the work one and give dave the old board for his work one (he blew his up) never even looked to see if there was one never even thought to look but i'm gonna now http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?ASU-P4V8DX darn i wish you'd come up with that sooner and only £38 my board cost £150
I'm really bothered by the fact that the 5700le has so many good reviews hailing it as one of the better buys on the market for budget gaming, yet it turns out to be of so little use. I guess I'm going to have to do the mobo/video card upgrade. I believe I should be able to use my DDR memory in the new system, since I've invested in a gig; and I'd rather not add more immediate cost. I found a $75 GeForce 7 series card (Can't recall which, I know it makes a huge difference); I've never been a big ATI fan, and as a general rule, it seems that many people agree that intel tends to work best with nvidia, and ati with amd. Perhaps that is just old speculation, from long ago. (Anybody remember that spiffy new 32mb ati radeon that would soon beat out the VooDoo2?) As for mobos, I really wished I could find one that supported both video form factors, but realisitically, it wouldn't be worth the time and effort to do so. So I guess I'm going to have to break down and cough for the mobo, cpu, and new video. So now the hunt is on for those. I suppose the best question to ask at this point, is what is the best combo deal someone can find on these? I'd really like to get a 64 bit processor; because it seems like it would be foolish to 'upgrade' to any processor that is only 32 bit; since many new games will probably utilize the more powerful 64 bit in the coming years. I want to be sure that I'm not outdated too soon; which happened in only a few months after getting my new video card. Grr.. So yeah, it sounds like those three things are what i need; if someone can suggest a good, cheap combo deal, etc; I would be so appreciative!
Value yes, but powerful no. The 5700 was a mid range model, two generations ago, you figure it out. $75 7xxx? 7300LE, that's not actually much faster than your 5700. Go for an X1600XT, 7600GT or X800XL minimum, the 7300 won't cut it. Athlon64 3200+, 3500+ or X2 3800+ CPU. Abit KN8 ultra, Asus A8N-E or Asus A8N-SLi Premium mobo. Graphics as mentioned. All boards mentioned support DDR1.
While I do appreciate the assistance; it seems from the suggestions, that my budget has slipped out of the picture, simply looking up the first video card that you mentioned; I'm already looking at $200 out of pocket when shipping and/or taxes are accounted for. Not to mention the processor and motherboard. These are great parts, and they aren't the ridiculously high end models; but I am limited; I need to keep the upgrade under $400 to be able to do this.
You mentioned NEEDing to play UT2007 at launch? We're not throwing top end dual graphics stuff at you, but an X850XT is the sort of thing you'll be looking at for 07. An A64 3200+, Asus A8N-E and X850XT come to $397 inc. shipping.
is it possible to upgrade my laptop's usb ports from 1.1 to 2.0 or are they built into the motherboard?
