Okay, so I had a deal via my job at UPS for a Dell PC and instantly hopped all over it. 260 for a new basic Inspiron 531. I've decided to get it and rebuild it's innards by myself since it seemed very customizable once I get money, and now that my taxes are coming back, I can afford to "pimp my ride".... to the internet of course. I plan on purchasing a new Graphics Card, Microprocessor, and RAM. Now, for the Graphics Card, i'm looking for a card that's a mediocre value that can play things such as Crysis, and support a resolution that can fit my 26" TV. My question for a Graphics Card is that there are so many different types, and some even sound the exact same, but what is it I'm really looking for in a card? There's all this information in the names of these cards that I don't know what I'm looking at! These 2 are what I'm looking at as of right now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318 Any other reccomendations, and if not needed, which of these two do you think I should go with? --- Now, as for my RAM, I'm thinking of going with this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145176 I'm getting 4GB instead of 2 because I heard that x32 OS's only read about 75% of the actual total, and i don't want to fill all 4 slots up because I heard it isn't reccomended. Why? I don't know actually lol. Either way, it's within my range, and seems like it's a good buy. Do you agree? Again, any reccomendations, or is this fine? --- Now, for my microprocessor, I'm really in the dark. Since my Motherboard isn't OC capable and locks me out of my FSB options, I figured instead of starting with a new board and another new proccessor, I'd just get one crazy processor with a lot of GHz, since that's what mostly matters, right? I'm not sure really. so anyway, I heard AMD is nearly as good as Intel, and much cheaper, so I'm planning to replace my AMD 64 X2 4000 with this AMD 64 X2 6000 which can be found here> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103773 So, is this any good? Is there one more powerful and only a little more expensive? to be realistic, I'm also considering the AMD 64 X2 6400 which can be found here> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103191 It's not much of a difference in price, but what would you reccomend, and what's the difference? Generally, what am I looking for in a processor besides the amount of GHz? What should i do? --- In the end, i'm just simply looking for speed without lag in my PC. Don't even care for playing games that much, but also want to flawlessly play h.264 coded movies, and want an easy transfer with a beautiful quality from 22" PC to my 26" TV, though I do plan on playing my Gamecube backups on my PC, which needs a lot more power than what I have. I want a crisp, beautiful screen, and want to be able to use multiple programs such as iTunes, Photoshop, and AOL/AIM without bursts of freezing every few minutes. I want to be able to download massive amounts of music and movie while still being able to use my tablet pad without the damn cursor lagging and skewing my art to crap. I want to handle video in the highest resolution made without it shutting down my PC. I want to run downloads while playing some MUGEN or MAME, especially MAME online while playing against real people through servers without massive lag spikes and freezes! I want to be able to transfer massive amounts of files from my External to my Internal and not have to twiddle my thumbs staring at the screen for 20 minutes! Also, with new power, I plan on getting started on playing some PC Games. Is what I am aiming for gonna accomplish these things? Is this what I want? Am I rebuilding my Inspiron 531 with nice power? What is it you suggest, and will my computer seem badass when I'm through? Thanks for any and all help you give. My GeForce 6200, AMD 4000, and 1GB RAM just IS NOT cutting it. In the future, I plan on also getting a new sound card, something I'm completely in the dark with. I don't even know where the hell it is or looks like in my PC! Any help on that? Lol. I'm not even sure of the name of my current one, but I think it's Realtek. This i can DEFINITELY use a reccomendation for. Again, THANKS!
I hate to rain on your parade, but the Power supply in that Dell will have to be replaced, and the cooling its case offers may prove problematic for any upgrades you make. Even with that offer, you would be better off building your own system. The good news is that the resolution of a 26" TV is so low that you don't need a mega powerful graphics card to play games like Crysis well.
Really? Why would I need a new power supply? 300 watts isn't enough? What is it that I want that would cause this? I've read it handled quite a bit of power in the reviews of this machine which turned me on to it in the first place. And to be honest, I'm not worried about heat with 3 fans, open ventilation, and a moderate room temperature that's usually cold.
300w is what's included in prebuilts; can only handle what came in the system, maybe a few more hard drives and case fans, max. also, they are cheap; something you DON'T want from a psu. the only cards that can use 300w are pci cards; it's still not recommended to use prebuilt psu. agp and pci-e require more power.
The standard 300W units in PCs like that aren't exactly high grade units. Even though most gaming PCs don't use as much as 300W in full load, due to the way the PSUs are designed they could still cause problems. I recommend getting a better unit like a Corsair VX.
Ugh. I feel so stupid. I'm new with PC hardware upgrades and such, and only recently started getting the basic idea of what does what and where it goes. I've no prior experience in opening up my PC except for one time a few years ago when my RAM died on me and had to replace it, but recently, I decided after many years of using computers, that I just desperately need what's right for me, you know? My expertise only lies in software mods. I looked up what the power supply actually IS, and I know what it is now, and where it goes. I'm not sure how hard it may be to replace the one I have though, but am i gonna get myself in to a large issue here, or is it easily replaced? I mean, simply by looking on newegg, I found a 500W by apevia for 35 bucks. not sure if it's any good. Also, are there certain power supplies I need to fit my specific PC? Like how Graphic Cards have PCI and PCI Express, and RAM has DDR3 and DDR2 and such... should i be looking for a certain type of Power Supply? From the prices that have been shown to me, it doesn't seem THAT expensive generally, so I may be able to fit in a new one. The website from Dell that gave me my system specs is... gone? Weird. So i'm unsure what I'm aiming for. Scratch that, I looked up the installation instructions, and it seems I have to disconnect cables to the board and drives, unscrew the power supply, and then replace it, and screw it/connect it together again. Seems simple, but would these things I'm disconnecting cause a lot of trouble, or is that fairly easy? Can't find any good picture manuals. Wow, after doing more searching, I finally found the power supply you suggested. I see it at buy.com for only 70 bucks. That can probably be in my budget, and it has 450W, which is good, right? Here's the one I found on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148027 How is that one? I'd buy it right now if it's worth it and not worry about having to take it out on my Tax Returns later. By the way, thanks for even stopping by and helping. I appreciate it.
Don't, we all have to start somewhere. One bit of advice I do have to add though is to shrink your signature, text-only signatures should be a maximum of 5 lines of text, yours is 22! Do NOT buy an Apevia unit, they're deathtraps, it's important to get a decent quality unit, so you have to spend significant money. I typically recommend the Corsair VX 450W as its one of the cheapest PSUs that won't go up in smoke.
Just want to say, thanks to you, it may of saved me a lot of trouble. My new parts are in, and my PC runs and looks better than any PC i've ever owned or physically saw. The PSU hooked up fairly easy... though it was very annoying to get my proccessor in with my fat fingers lol. I can't imagine the overheating that may of occured without a new PSU, though now, with the new card and PSU, I've got two extra fans in my case, making it 5. My PC normally clocks the temp at around 38-40 max. That's not too bad, right? I do have a very random off-topic question though. Something i always wondered was what actually happens when your PC overheats? Does it burn out the hardware, burst into flames... what? Lol.
Temps sound good. As for the overheating question, many years ago that could happen. Nowadays everything has thermal overload protection so if it gets a bit toasty in there, the PC shuts down.
