Hellooo everyone. i decided the other day that i want to upgrade my PC to play some of the new great games like battlefield 2, and world of warcraft online, but my pc is no where near fast enough and i havn't upgraded a computer before, but in theory i know what i want to buy, but i'd like some help before i go out and spent quite a bit of money on parts that dont work together... so. in my computer now i have: System memory: memory 384MB (RDRAM) CPU type: Intel Pentium 4, 2000 MHz (20 x 100) Motherboard name: Dell Dimension 8200 Motherboard Chipset: Intel Tehama i850(E) Bios Type: Poenix (12/07/01) OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 (128 MB) --------------------------------------------------------------- upgrades i'm going to buy to replace: Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-8I915P Dual PCI Graphic Intel 775 Memory: Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2PRO TwinX (2 x 1GB) Dual Channel CPU : Intel P4 630 Socket 775 3.0GHz 2MB 800MHZ Retail Boxed Graphics card: XFX GeForce 7800GTX 256MB PCI-Express EGE --------------------------------------------------------------- Ok. so those are the part i'm going to buy, and what i needed to know was.. will i be able to take the new mother board and fit all the new parts to it and take parts from my Dell 8200 (i.e. soundcard) and fit it to the new mother board, without any trouble at all, will that work?? also do you think those parts will be compatable with each other? and will i need to upgrade any other parts to make it run .. eg. like a higher power supply, or better cooling, i have about £500 to spend, so if any one has done this already with a budget like this could you maybe tell me what you have done to your upgraded computer, which could help me decide.. i think thats everything.. i relly would appreciate any help you could give, i plan on getting the parts in 2 weeks time so any help before then would be amazing thanks chris
dell uses proprietary equipment, so for everything to work it's best, you'll not only need more cooling and at least a 400 watt psu (500 would be better), but most likely a new case, as well. if you can find the drivers for your sound card, it should work fine. everything else appears as though it will go smoothly. the parts are good; just be sure to have all your drivers and a copy of windows ready to go. oh, and remember that when you're putting all your stuff in the case, ground yourself somehow. i usually just keep an elbow on the metal frame rale of the case and am fine.
Damn, Auslander, you beat me to it! some NICE components you have there. A couple of things though... you will most probably need a new case because the dells tend to be set up for their proprietory motherboard layouts. You will need a new power supply with PCI-E connectors. The motherboard you spec is more of a "transition" board... it has PCI-E and AGP, but you're not planning on using your old videocard. it has DDR and DDR2 memory slots, but you're not reusing your RDRAM. Maybe try this Abit AA8 board? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127180 with this memory? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141199 because you are starting fresh, might as well start with newer technology so it's at least a little more "future-proof" Since you are getting a new motherboard, processor, memory, videocard, case, and power supply, this is really a new computer that you just might want to scavenge some parts for. The soundcard should transfer no problem. It's not an upgrade, it's a new build. spend a couple dollars more and get a new DVD burner and fresh clean hard drive (SATA). Sell your old computer to recoup some of your expenses
trgrpullr, where do you see agp as the specs don't show agp just pci/e slots? http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/MotherBoard/Products/Products_Spec_GA-8I915P Dual Graphic.htm
Hey!! thanks for the reply guys, you’ve put my mind to ease a little, trgrpullr.. that mother board you suggested sounds much better, I’d defiantly prefare to buy one of those over what I was going to get.. thanks. One thing I’m concerned about though is.. will I be able to take out my current hard drive and put it into the new board without loosing any data from it? …I should have asked this earlier.. I heard that there can be problems with the BIOS, or something too, when changing motherboards.. I don’t really understand the BIOS though, so I’m not sure if there could be a serious problem or not. Also will I still have to earth my self when adding the parts if there’s no power going to it? ...this sounds like a silly question but I’m new to this, I heard static can cause trouble if that’s what you mean.. Also I heard that when touching memory you have to wear an anti static band or something.. would that mean you have to wear one whenever you touch it, or at a certain time … I think that’s enough questions for now.. thanks for your reply’s there, your all great I guess I’m going to end up spending well over my budget after all to get all those extra parts, but... hopefully it will be worth it in the end. If you have any suggestions about how I can create a better gaming machine without boosting the budget (too much), that would be seriously amazing too chris
hard drive can go into new computer with no problem as long as it has proper interface connection. don't touch the gold contacts of the memory stick. as long as touching the case you are grounded. make certain the psu is switched off as some still supply power even when windows shuts down the computer.
you're going to have to reinstall windows on your hard drive, as often the re-registration (that will pop up) has errors. whenever you make a major system change, windows insists you re-register. you might get through, but a clean format/install is better; plus, you don't have all those old drivers in there to screw things up. either back up your important documents, or buy a second drive to install windows on and make the original drive a slave don't worry too much about the bios right now; it should be pretty painless. but if you have problems, just come right back and we'll find you some solutions.
ddp, I saw the AGP spec on this mobo review http://hardware.gamespot.com/Gigabyte-GA-8I915P-Duo-A-2684-S-35-35 I probably should have checked out the manufacturer's website, but I was trying to look for a more unbiased review of the board. Sorry if I was giving out incorrect info. I still think he would be better served by that Abit board, though
thanks Auslander.. that was very helpful to me.. ater all that i think i'm possibly going to go with with an AMD processor i hear there faster than intel... but.. i dont see how, a 2.2Ghz ADM cost more than a 3.8 intel cpu... what is it that makes it so much better so that i know how to compare them... i know this is probably answerd on the 'ADM Vs intel' page but theres soo much to read for such a simple answer also would it be possible to use an ADM cpu with an intel motherboard? cheers
the clock speed of the amd processor may be slow, but it's got a huge fsb and other goodies. think of it like this: two sewer lines-> one sewer line is 3 feet in diameter and crap flows through it at 38 meters per second. great eh? now, you have another sewer line. crap only flows through it at 22 meters per second; but, the pipe is, say, 8 feet in diameter. now, which line do you think will flow the most crap? the bigger one will. and that's how it is with amd and intel. amd's clock speed is lower, but it can still process more information at once. for a rough estimation of what they can be compared to, think the chip number of the amd equal to the GHz of a pentium, i.e. an Athlon 2800+ has about the same computing ability as a 2.8 GHz P4 processor. in general, you get more "hot f***in damn!" for your dollar with amd. and no, you can't mix and match boards; the pins don't line up, the bios'es would kill the chips, and odds are there would be so many incompatibilities you'd shoot yourself...no kidding happy to help. as my master says, teach and learn
haha!, that was to the coolest way to put it ever.. i get it perfectly now, i guess i'll be going for the AMD.. will have to look for a good quality motherboard to go with it too.. does anyone know of any good motherboards for an AMD cpu? chris
lol, you guys liked my little example, eh? well, now i think i'm going to use it whenever i see another of those "which is better/faster/whatever-er: AMD or INTEL?" threads. hehehehe....now i'm cracking up.
