Help with making an adequate gaming machine..

And see the official PC building thread... again.
How do I manage it?

 

Ooooh, things got a bit touchy there.

 

I just don't get it. Suddenly my objective is to mislead people and set them into buying the wrong components, apparently. If I get another comment back about my recent post then balls to them, if they don't want my help, they won't have it.

 

Alright, well I appreciate any post about the topic. BUT, after realizing how much money I owe, especially to the community college I was attending, I found out that I can't register for classes for summer semester until I pay off what I owe. So the question is I figure I'd just buy 2x 512 RAM, because I don't think I can have anymore with the PC I have now. Also possibly just buy a new video card.

I realize that with having a Dell Dimension 4300, that my options are limited on vid card. But would anyone be able to tell me the best video card I could buy that would work with the mobo that comes with it? I've tried looking online about what kind of mobo I have, but haven't had much luck.

Thanks again for any ideas!

Ok, I did a little more searching on the motherboard and found this.



So, in the last part he says that the computer could handle even a 256MB vid card. Does that mean that I wouldn't be able to upgrade to like a 512 card? Thanks again for all the help!

 

If I'm honest, I wouldn't bother upgrading the Dell right now. I'd leave it until you can afford to make a proper PC< even if it's slightly scaled down from the one spec'ed earlier in the thread. If you upgrade the graphics in the dell it'll probably need a new power supply and case, which means the total cost will be high - certainly for having upgraded old tech.

 

I recently bought a cooler master CM690 case from micro center for 20 dollars after rebates, and a cooler master real power Pro 650W power supply for 50 dollars after rebates... I'm sure if you have patience these deals will come around again, and make building a new computer more affordable. My most recent build:

CASE and PSU listed above.
MOBO: Gigabyte P35-DS3L: newegg price 89.99 free shipping
CPU: C2D E8400: newegg price 219.99 free shipping
RAM: Corsair XMS2 2Gb, (2 sticks): newegg price 32.99 free shipping
GPU: HD3850 diamond viper 512MB: newegg price 174.99 after rebate
free shipping
Sony 20X DVD burner: 27.99 @ the egg
seagate barracuda 500GB SATA HDD: newegg price 119.99 free shipping

keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers recycled from previous computer.

Grand total is WELL under the 1000 dollar budget, and this system is crazy fast compared to my Pentium 4...

Do yourself a favor, listen to the other advice provided, and BUILD A NEW SYSTEM! DO NOT UPGRADE!

worst case scenario, you can even make the cost go lower, by purchasing a cheaper processor (E2160 is less then a hundred dollars, and is supposed to hit 3Ghz Overclocked from what I was told earlier)

 

That's an impressive build redzone, especially for the price. good stuff!

 

Hmm I see what you guys are saying, and will prolly stick with the new build a little further down the road, but just for the time being I might pick up some more ram.

And that build is a really great price, I guess I'll just have to wait and find some deals like that.

Thanks everyone for giving them opinion and helping out, really appreciate it.

 

RAM is fine, but I wouldn't get anything else until you upgrade both the PSU and the case.