I've seriously got to upgrade. Tell me the least that I need.

[silentjubjub]

Hey guys,

I've wanted to upgrade my comp for a while now but have gotten turned off by how insanely expensive parts can be.

I can't even run Crysis on low without it giving me a storm of lag.

I can't afford to build a completely new computer, nor can I move this one into a new case to upgrade it without restriction seeing as though Dell made the MOBO a weird size...

So I'm wondering if you guys could tell me what I need to add to my comp that enables me to at least run Final Fantasy 14 on medium. Nothing too fancy, just an alright setup that way I can actually play games that were released within the past 2 years without it lagging me up on it's lowest settings.

Specs as of now:

Case: Inspiron 530s ('Nuff said)
MOBO: Foxconn G33m02 mATX
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 2400
RAM: 2gb (Can't remember the DDR, no higher than DDR2)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ 2.10 GHz
PSU: Dell Inspiron 530s PSU 250w (DEAR GOD, what are you ever going to do with me?)
Hard Drive: 250Gb. (I don't know what brand HDD it is or anything)

I don't think anything else matters.

If you want to suggest a GPU it must be low profile. (I have an Inspiron 530s, AKA worst computer choice I ever made in my life.)
Maximum height is about 3.75 inches. Could go up a smidge, but just to be safe.

I just need something that can run games decently. (read: medium. or higher if not too lavish)

Again, can't move into new case and can't afford to build a brand new computer.

Also, tell me some good deals! :buddy:

[Nexus435]

Add 2GB RAM
Get a 9800GT
Get a better dual core
Get a 500W Corsair PSU

[silentjubjub]

[QUOTE=Nexus435;23721162]Add 2GB RAM
Get a 9800GT
Get a better dual core
Get a 500W Corsair PSU[/QUOTE]

Answers! :buddy:

Yeah, I had ordered a 9800 GT[b]X[/b] from newegg last winter and it didn't fit. Do they have a low profile version?

Everything else sounds nice and reasonable though. :v:

[editline]10:34PM[/editline]

Also, how's this for "a better dual core"?
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846&cm_re=Phenom-_-19-103-846-_-Product[/url]

[editline]10:38PM[/editline]

Oh yup, found a low profile 9800GT...
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187061&Tpk=9800gt%20low%20profile[/url]
I'm trying to find the dimensions though.

[editline]10:40PM[/editline]

Har, it'll fit in the case.

[editline]10:41PM[/editline]

Now to find the dimensions of the PSU...

[editline]10:43PM[/editline]

Or will it fit regardless? (< Noob)

[editline]10:45PM[/editline]

All together about $395 for the upgrade. Better than flat out building a new one I guess. :buddy:

[editline]10:45PM[/editline]

And that includes shipping.

[Nexus435]

Yeah the dual core is good, and the PSU should fit if dell doesn't do fucked up dimensions for the psu area so you can't modify it, which is possible, but it's unlikely.

[editline]03:55AM[/editline]

if it's no trouble to get a pic of your psu in the case post it here

[silentjubjub]

[QUOTE=Nexus435;23721619]Yeah the dual core is good, and the PSU should fit if dell doesn't do fucked up dimensions for the psu area so you can't modify it, which is possible, but it's unlikely.

[editline]03:55AM[/editline]

if it's no trouble to get a pic of your psu in the case post it here[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'll try to get a pic.

[alphaspida]

This will not be a simple upgrade. Unless you are willing to put up with a less-than middle ranged graphics card.

Need to start with a new case so everything fits, and then the motherboard to have all of the up to date stuff. Find a nice little CPU, (AMD boards + CPUs are cheaper than intel) and a decent graphics card. I recommend ATI graphics for gaming. An ATI 5770 would be more than enough for a decent price. 500W or more PSU would be recommended to power a graphics card like that.

Then you can reuse your drives and whatever else you may have

[Reapaninja]

OP save yourself the trouble and just get a new build, you're not going to be doing much with that

especially if sparkle is your only choice

[silentjubjub]

Ok, got a pic. (It's on my phone because the camera needs a new SD card.)
But I think it turned out all right.

Also, why is my PSU a rectangle instead of a square? :gonk:

[IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/PSU.jpg[/IMG]

When I saw the shape of it my heart nearly stopped.

[editline]11:22PM[/editline]

[QUOTE=alphaspida;23721919]This will not be a simple upgrade. Unless you are willing to put up with a less-than middle ranged graphics card.

Need to start with a new case so everything fits, and then the motherboard to have all of the up to date stuff. Find a nice little CPU, (AMD boards + CPUs are cheaper than intel) and a decent graphics card. I recommend ATI graphics for gaming. An ATI 5770 would be more than enough for a decent price. 500W or more PSU would be recommended to power a graphics card like that.

Then you can reuse your drives and whatever else you may have[/QUOTE]

Yeah...

You're right.

Best just get a new case and Mobo as well I guess... I'm not going anywhere with this case.

[w1ldstly3]

In my opinion, you should just head over to PC Building and have them give you some recommendations for a whole new build. You would be spending too much money upgrading this computer when you could spend a little bit more and get a whole new one.

[silentjubjub]

Best just save up for that 5770 as well. It looks like it would last me a long while.

And this price is nowhere near as much as it would be if I was building from scratch.

[editline]11:31PM[/editline]

[QUOTE=its shortie;23722062]In my opinion, you should just head over to PC Building and have them give you some recommendations for a whole new build. You would be spending too much money upgrading this computer when you could spend a little bit more and get a whole new one.[/QUOTE]

I've seen that $600 dollar gaming build thread and the guy asking for max on everything.

I think I'll just keep my HDD and optical and roll on with saving for getting brand new of everything else. New case, GPU, PSU, Processor, Mobo, and RAM.

It would be like a brand new PC in my eyes.

[Nexus435]

Yeah it looks like you need a new build.

[silentjubjub]

Ok, so here are my proposed specs:

Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower, 3 Fan, Blue LED in the front
Mobo: ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX
GPU: GIGABYTE GV-R577SO-1GD Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB DDR3
Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz Dual Core

*Pant* Why do those names have to be so long?

Please tell me if I'm getting unneeded stuff, lol.

[editline]11:49PM[/editline]

I'm just going to keep my HDD and optical.

[demonguard]

[QUOTE=silentjubjub;23722314]Ok, so here are my proposed specs:

Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower, 3 Fan, Blue LED in the front
Mobo: ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX
GPU: GIGABYTE GV-R577SO-1GD Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB DDR3
Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz Dual Core

*Pant* Why do those name shave to be so long?

Please tell me if I'm getting unneeded stuff, lol.

[editline]11:49PM[/editline]

I'm just going to keep my HDD and optical.[/QUOTE]

If you're not going to be overclocking (and if the price difference is substantial, haven't checked in a while) you could swap the processor for the non-black edition. You can even bump that one up to 3.2ghz if you really want to.

The 5770 is a great card, but if you can I would spring for a GTX 460. It's pretty much the hot shit of midrange cards right now and edges out the 5770 by a bit in benches.

The 750W PSU is definitely overkill for this build (I'm powering a nearly identical build with a decent 450,) but if you plan on iterating this into a gaming powerhouse eventually it gives you some upgrade room.

Everything else looks good to me, I have the same RAM and love it. It runs awesome and looks good doing it.

[editline]derp[/editline]
You may want to get a different motherboard. The reason being the ability to unlock extra cores on your CPU. That motherboard should ideally be able to do it, but one reviewer said he had trouble. Most motherboards with the SB710 southbridge should have the capability, but I would try to look for one that either mentions it in the description or has reviews confirming that it works.

[cecilbdemodded]

I'd read up on if FF will use more cores than dual, some games do.

If it does, I'd rather have one of those $100 AMD quads than the Phenom II dual. Yeah I know, unlock it and so on, but what if it doesn't?

Of course, if FF only uses dual core then the fast Phenom II is what you want.

Finally, I never build for a game BEFORE the game comes out. Until the full retail game is out you can never be sure of system requiremnts.

[silentjubjub]

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;23730634]I'd read up on if FF will use more cores than dual, some games do.

If it does, I'd rather have one of those $100 AMD quads than the Phenom II dual. Yeah I know, unlock it and so on, but what if it doesn't?

Of course, if FF only uses dual core then the fast Phenom II is what you want.

Finally, I never build for a game BEFORE the game comes out. Until the full retail game is out you can never be sure of system requiremnts.[/QUOTE]

Huh.

Yeah, I know the full game isn't out yet but It's not just for FF14. I want to be able to play every game on at least medium settings. :buddy:

I've taken a look into a Quad. I have also gone with a completely new build. (Not keeping anything from this computer besides my monitor, keyboard and mouse.)

I've taken everyone's suggestions now. It's costing $818.94 USD so far.
(Almost forgot about the sound card lol)

How is this?
[u]Case[/u]: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower, 3 Fan, Blue LED in the front
[u]Mobo[/u]: ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD
[u]Processor[/u]: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core
[u]RAM[/u]: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB DDR3
[u]PSU[/u]: XCLIO STABLEPOWER 500W 500W ATX Active PFC
[u]GPU[/u]: EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB
[u]Optical[/u]: ASUS DVD-E818A6T/BLK/B/G Black 18X SATA DVD-ROM
[u]HDD[/u]: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA

[thf]

You don't need a sound card, sound is integrated in the mobo. Also get this HDD instead:
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181[/url]

[silentjubjub]

[QUOTE=silentjubjub;23739177]Huh.

Yeah, I know the full game isn't out yet but It's not just for FF14. I want to be able to play every game on at least medium settings. :buddy:

I've taken a look into a Quad. I have also gone with a completely new build. (Not keeping anything from this computer besides my monitor, keyboard and mouse.)

I've taken everyone's suggestions now. It's costing $818.94 USD so far.
(Almost forgot about the sound card lol)

How is this?
[u]Case[/u]: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower, 3 Fan, Blue LED in the front
[u]Mobo[/u]: ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD
[u]Processor[/u]: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core
[u]RAM[/u]: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB DDR3
[u]PSU[/u]: XCLIO STABLEPOWER 500W 500W ATX Active PFC
[u]GPU[/u]: EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB
[u]Optical[/u]: ASUS DVD-E818A6T/BLK/B/G Black 18X SATA DVD-ROM
[u]HDD[/u]: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal (I don't run real big on space. Never have.)[/QUOTE]

$780.58 USD.

Is that all I need for this mid-range computer? :buddy:

[demonguard]

[QUOTE=silentjubjub;23739177]Huh.

Yeah, I know the full game isn't out yet but It's not just for FF14. I want to be able to play every game on at least medium settings. :buddy:

I've taken a look into a Quad. I have also gone with a completely new build. (Not keeping anything from this computer besides my monitor, keyboard and mouse.)

I've taken everyone's suggestions now. It's costing $818.94 USD so far.
(Almost forgot about the sound card lol)

How is this?
[u]Case[/u]: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower, 3 Fan, Blue LED in the front
[u]Mobo[/u]: ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD
[u]Processor[/u]: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core
[u]RAM[/u]: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB DDR3
[u]PSU[/u]: XCLIO STABLEPOWER 500W 500W ATX Active PFC
[u]GPU[/u]: EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB
[u]Optical[/u]: ASUS DVD-E818A6T/BLK/B/G Black 18X SATA DVD-ROM
[u]Sound[/u]: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz (Not sure about this)
[u]HDD[/u]: Western Digital AV-GP WD5000AVDS 500GB 32MB Cache SATA (I don't run real big on space. Never have.)[/QUOTE]

You honestly don't need a sound card, just use mobo integrated unless you're an audiophile. I'd still go with a Corsair PSU instead of XCLIO (they could be a good brand but I've never heard of it.) Thumbs up on the RAM/GPU still. Overall this build looks almost perfect, but why not go with a 1TB HDD considering how cheap they are? You don't know what you're missing until you have one.

[odellus]

[QUOTE=silentjubjub;23739177]Huh.

Yeah, I know the full game isn't out yet but It's not just for FF14. I want to be able to play every game on at least medium settings. :buddy:

I've taken a look into a Quad. I have also gone with a completely new build. (Not keeping anything from this computer besides my monitor, keyboard and mouse.)

I've taken everyone's suggestions now. It's costing $818.94 USD so far.
(Almost forgot about the sound card lol)

How is this?
[u]Case[/u]: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower, 3 Fan, Blue LED in the front
[u]Mobo[/u]: ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD
[u]Processor[/u]: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core
[u]RAM[/u]: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB DDR3
[u]PSU[/u]: XCLIO STABLEPOWER 500W 500W ATX Active PFC
[u]GPU[/u]: EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB
[u]Optical[/u]: ASUS DVD-E818A6T/BLK/B/G Black 18X SATA DVD-ROM
[u]Sound[/u]: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz (Not sure about this)
[u]HDD[/u]: Western Digital AV-GP WD5000AVDS 500GB 32MB Cache SATA (I don't run real big on space. Never have.)[/QUOTE]

that power supply is a piece of shit

[silentjubjub]

[QUOTE=Odellus;23744229]that power supply is a piece of shit[/QUOTE]

5 stars, 61 reviews. :colbert:

[odellus]

[QUOTE=silentjubjub;23744994]5 stars, 61 reviews. :colbert:[/QUOTE]

which don't matter

at all

[editline]06:01PM[/editline]

345W under full load.

[silentjubjub]

[QUOTE=Odellus;23745075]which don't matter

at all[/QUOTE]

yeah consumer reviews don't matter

at all

Anyways, upgraded my HDD to 1Tb.

I think I'm pretty much done. It came out to be $800.58. :buddy:

[TheOneFree-Man]

The mantra with PSUs is "Buy cheap; pay twice"

[silentjubjub]

[QUOTE=Odellus;23745075]which don't matter

at all

[editline]06:01PM[/editline]

345W under full load.[/QUOTE]

I don't care. This isn't a powerhouse.

[odellus]

yeah, exactly, consumer reviews don't matter at all, especially when they're completely ignorant as to what "good" is

[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035[/url]

[silentjubjub]

[QUOTE=one free man;23745160]The mantra with PSUs is "Buy cheap; pay twice"[/QUOTE]

D:

What's wrong with it?

[odellus]

what hard drive did you choose

[silentjubjub]

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA

[editline]05:45PM[/editline]

It's essentially the same thing I had before, just upgraded to 1tb.

[editline]05:49PM[/editline]

[u]Case[/u]: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower, 3 Fan, Blue LED in the front
[u]Mobo[/u]: ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD
[u]Processor[/u]: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core
[u]RAM[/u]: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB DDR3
[u]PSU[/u]: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
[u]GPU[/u]: EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB
[u]Optical[/u]: ASUS DVD-E818A6T/BLK/B/G Black 18X SATA DVD-ROM
[u]HDD[/u]: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA

- $831.12

Updated specs. (Yeah, replaced PSU.)

[odellus]

save a few dollars and just get a stock GTX 460, you won't notice the framerate difference (it's less than 3)

[editline]06:57PM[/editline]

otherwise it's fine, and yeah $250 for that GPU is really bad

[silentjubjub]

[QUOTE=Odellus;23746102]save a few dollars and just get a stock GTX 460, you won't notice the framerate difference (it's less than 3)

[editline]06:57PM[/editline]

otherwise it's fine, and yeah $250 for that GPU is really bad[/QUOTE]

Alright.

Are you saying that there isn't much of a difference between the 1Gb and 768Mb versions?

If so, [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121387[/url]?