help with upgrading

[ninja]

good news and bad news. the good news is i found a cool place to get hardware for the comp rly cleap.

bad news....i am a noob idk what i have to how to find out...and also what i need to get and how to install it...


help the ninjaman


u just might get a cookie.

[Vash]

Just give me your budget and I'll help you out with some suggestions.

[ninja]

Just give me your budget and I'll help you out with some suggestions.

i forgot the website name but budget ain't a prob i just need the general idea of what a good graphic card or RAM or what ever is and how to which 'em

[Ironhide]

And say what hardware you need, graphic card, sound card and so on...

[ninja]

And say what hardware you need, graphic card, sound card and so on...

idk what i have so idk what i need

what i need rly is a good enough RAM and graphic card to play some of the newest games PC games on the market (without lagging)

[Ridley]

OK i can help you with that, internal hardware is just my thing

Graphics
Ok, a big descision you have to make is choosing the manufactor. ATI or Nvidia. Doesn't realy matter since both of them are pretty tie at the moment, but i have a little suggestion: ATI card are cheaper, but deliver the same or sometimes better performance as a comparable Nvidia Card, so you could buy a realy awesome ATi card with the money it would take you to buy a not as good Nvidia Card.

If you gonna buy a Nvida card: Everything from 9600 and upwards is gonna be alright. If you have alot of money to spend you can go for the ultra high end models from the GTX 200 Series ( i.e. GTX 280/260/295)

If you gonna buy an ATI card: Everything upwards from 4850 will work out just awesome.

Procesors
Again, you have to choose a manufactor: AMD or Intel
I suggest to buy an Intel chip. They have better performance, and are much more compatable with other hradware and applications than AMD chips, so try to go for Intel.

If you're gonna buy an AMD chip: AMD Athlon X2 5500 or higher or any AMD Phenom X4

If you gonna buy an Intel Chip: Any Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad will do fine. If you have alot of money shuved up your ass you might even consider a Core 2 Extreme or Core i7 chip.

Motherboard
After you have chosen your Graphics card and Processor, it's time to choose a motherboard. Which one you'll buy depends on your prior descisions. The board needs to have the matching Procesor Socket your Processor needs (AM2 for AMD,775 for Intel), 1 or 2 PCI Express slots (1 if you choose 1-, 2 if you choose 2 Graphics cards) and a good chipset. A Intel chipet will work with every specs, Nvidia chipsets are optimied for Nvidia Cards, AMD chipsets are optimized for ATI Cards.

RAM
Here it's alot easier.
I suggest 4 Gigabytes of DDR2, or DDR3 RAM, and 8 if you have a 64 Bit Operating system. The Manufactor doesn't realy matter, just pay attention that the RAM's frequenzy is 800 Megaherz or even higher.

Soundcards
Those are completely optional, and most of today's motherboards already have a great 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound chip onboard. If you atill want an additional card, go for Creative.

[ninja]

ok i found some info on what i have

AMD Sempron(tm) 2500+
1,76 GHz, 512 MB RAM

i have NO idea if this is good enough or not......ya i know i suck

lets say i want to be able to play, empire earth 3, battlefield 2142 and call of duty 4 and have the all installed and play (one at a time) without lagging

[Ironhide]

Since you got a single core processor, I think you need a new motherborad, a new power supply if you want a new graphics card (I think you need, because you probably have an old AGP x8 card).
As Ridley said, 4 GB DDRII would be nice, I dont like DDRIII, it is too expensive and the difference is not as high as it is between DDR and DDRII.

For the games you said, you dont really need a Nvidiea 9XXX, The 8800GTX is very nice for that.
But as Ridley said, ATI is cheap and they have almost the same level, belongs to the generation which manufacturer is better.
But I think, the GTX//GTS/GT 2XX series is overdone for your games.

If you dont have much money, I would prefer an AMD processor, they are pretty good, but not as expensive as Intel.
I have the AMD x2 6000+, two cores à 3,1 GHz, everythings perfect with that, and it's about 60 $/€
So its cheap.

As motherboard, I prefer Asus,Gigabyte is nice, but too expensive...
Just look at the socket and graphics socket, and how many RAM slots you have.

As power supply (you need for a new one I think. your processor is much better I think, if its a good one, mainboard [since they mostly have 24 pins, and not 20 anymore], and your graphics card needs more power than before) I prefer Enermax, they just pwn, dont take "be quiet", they are nice, great power, but if they crash, they destroy the hardware very often -.-

[Ridley]

OK, The Sempron is a chip designed for office PCs. Meaning low budget, slow performance and not suited for gaming AT ALL. Snice u got one of the older modells i also think you have an old motherpoard with AGP, not PCie.
So, looks like you need the whole package.
New Motherboard
New Processor
New Graphics card
New RAm
New Power Supply, cause the new cards require alot of power

[ninja]

ok thx guys i'll look around when i have time and inform u guys it i have probs or done

[Vash]

You actually didn't answer my question, Ninja. Tell me how much money you're going to waste and I'll give it a shot.

[ninja]

less than 500€ i guess

[Ironhide]

Well for that money, i would buy:
(just what I would do of course )

Powersupply: Coba IceCube 550Watt 65$
Graphicscard: NVidia 8800 GTS 100$
RAM: 2x2GB DDRII ~40-50§
Motherboard: ASUS M3N-H/HDMI S. AM2 80$
Processor: AMD x2 6000+ ~70$
CPU Fan/freezer: Zalman CNPS 9500 AM2 60$
Soundcard: Integrated in the mainboard, I think.
Hard disk drive: I think you can use your old one. Or upgrade later.
DVD drive: I think you can use your old one. Or upgrade later.
Case: I think you can use your old one. Or upgrade later.

~425$ some free space for things you may not have, or need new, as case, HDD, Rom Drive.

Of course the price will change, that is just what I saw =)

[ToXic]

There's no point in buying new hardware and try to get it into an old computer. If you don't know how to build computers, the best solution would be to buy a new computer with a preinstalled dos-os (best vista 64bit or at least xp 64bit if you want to run 4gb).

But Irons configuration is not the best. Processor and Mainboard are not compatible, Ram costs more (~100€), and maybe the Fan won't fit in the old case, and you don't know what 8800 GTS (I mean from what manufacturer C3D/Gigabyte/MSI or w/e)^^

You won't get a "cool Ultra pro gaming system" for less then 1000€. Altough these Systems are scrap after 3 or 4 months. But you also don't get the best PC for 500€. Here are some ideas to buy (As far as i know you live in Germany?):
That's my proposal
http://www.one.de/shop/product_info.php ... a953d34f78
These grafiphicscards are enough to play new games on high or mid. If you want a good pc you need more money.
This one is very good for 670€
http://www.one.de/shop/product_info.php ... a953d34f78

[Ironhide]

But Irons configuration is not the best. Processor and Mainboard are not compatible, Ram costs more (~100€), and maybe the Fan won't fit in the old case, and you don't know what 8800 GTS (I mean from what manufacturer C3D/Gigabyte/MSI or w/e)^^

Who cares about the manufacturer? Price wont change hard.
Well the price belongs to the shop, I could get 4 GB DDRII for about 50$...
Mainboard is comaptible with the processor <.< AM2 Socket fits to AM2 Socket...
Anyway, I don't know his case, so I said which fan I would use, because it fits in my case =O