Upgrade Advice Sought

Prestonian · 19 Jul 2012 at 20:17

Hi there,

I have in my possession a pretty old PC that was decent in its day as a gaming rig, and I'd like to upgrade it.

Let me tell you some things about it and what needs replacing.

It's housed in a huge tower.
Intel P4 2.4ghz processor
It has a 350watt PSU
It has an Abit A17 motherboard (Abit went bust)
Two DVD drives already in there.
Radeon Prophet 3D 9600XT graphics card which I think only has 128MB mem
1/2 gig of RAM (ouch)

Stuff It Needs
It defo requires a new hard drive, that I do know as it was my wife's father's PC and he died recently so the HD stayed with the family for retrieval of photos etc.
Its fans are noisy so definitely requires new ones.
It sure does need new or more RAM
Probably, leaning toward definitely needs new graphics.

Stuff Unsure About
Processor
Power supply as it's only 350w??????????
Motherboard??????? (new vidcards maybe not be compatible with it)

Now I forgot to say, we're only aiming for this upgrade to be able to play BF2 and the BF2 mod Project Reality. If higher spec games are achievable for a little more money, then please include.

Budget?? Well, I'd say £150 to £200 at a push.

If it's not worth upgrading, please say so and I'll hoy it in the bin.

Much thanks.

tamzzy · 19 Jul 2012 at 20:41

i think the sign says: fleabay that way ------------------->
lol
its not worth upgrading. any part you buy would probably be worth more than i'd be willing to pay for that rig ;p

Prestonian · 19 Jul 2012 at 20:50

tamzzy said:
i think the sign says: fleabay that way ------------------->
lol
its not worth upgrading. any part you buy would probably be worth more than i'd be willing to pay for that rig ;p

I feared as much, but to buy a complete system that runs those games would surely be more expensive, would it not?

Lol, was hoping a bit of ram, a HD and a new vid card would've been enough, but thanks anyway.

tamzzy · 19 Jul 2012 at 20:56

buying 2nd hand might be the way forward tbh,
just pop in on fleabay and see how much an extra 1/2gb of 400mhz ddr1 ram would cost
and an agp video card (not pci-e)
and a cheap sata hdd
those wont be sold here new anyway. i think the sockets that these fit into last went out of date 2005/6ish?

Prestonian · 19 Jul 2012 at 21:00

tamzzy said:
buying 2nd hand might be the way forward tbh,
just pop in on fleabay and see how much an extra 1/2gb of 400mhz ddr1 ram would cost
and an agp video card (not pci-e)
and a cheap sata hdd
those wont be sold here new anyway. i think the sockets that these fit into last went out of date 2005/6ish?

AGP card? I assume AGP fits this MBoard, where a PCi-E will not?

never heard of Fleabay, but I'll have a butchers. Prefer buying new though, if those old cards and ram sticks are still stocked.

Thanks again.

SouthEastBlue · 19 Jul 2012 at 21:01

Yeah that machine will be ancient and definitely not worth bothering with.

For £200 you could probably pick up something like a Q6600 system with an 8800GT and 4GB ram if you had a look around, or VERY selectively buy separate parts 2nd hand to build a system. The big auction site would be your very best bet as above!

RJC · 19 Jul 2012 at 21:02

AGP is the older version of PCI-E, some older card like ATI 9800 come in AGP & PCI-E, but all now are PCI-E.

Fleebay = that Auction site

tamzzy · 19 Jul 2012 at 21:08

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £52.99
1 x Sapphire HD 6570 HM 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11191-01-20G) £49.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x Intel Pentium G620 2.60GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £43.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £34.99
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £32.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/4GX) £23.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.98
Total : £314.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).

300 quid for a rig that would totally destroy your current one (and its not totally bargain basement yet!)
the only problem is to get an os from, which would tack on another 80 quid, which interestingly is the most expensive part of the rig! lol
unless you can scrounge one up from somewhere
or use windows 8 preview for now until you have the funds to buy an os
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download/

Prestonian · 19 Jul 2012 at 21:10

I suppose, just like her owner, it's time for her to rest. Her power-up light will shine no more.

tamzzy · 19 Jul 2012 at 21:13

if it holds no sentimental value, you can always sell it to fund part of a new rig? =x
just a suggestion

Prestonian · 19 Jul 2012 at 21:19

tamzzy said:
if it holds no sentimental value, you can always sell it to fund part of a new rig? =x
just a suggestion

Thanks for taking the time out to do that build for me. I don't think the old girl has any sell on value at all, especially as it's not actually currently operational.

Thanks again.

tamzzy · 19 Jul 2012 at 21:32

on fleabay (ebay) you could probably sell it
just go on fleabay and have a look at what comparable rigs are selling for