Do I need a new card or a new comp?

[Chosen]

Hey guys, I have a question about the system I am currently plyaing on. It's a DELL deminsion 4700. It runs fine and I keep it pretty clean (minimum processes running). It is getting old though. I would like to keep playing on it for AH, however I am getting some really crappy framerates at times. I've made all the in game adjustsments to help with framerates. I am hoping a new video card will help. Current specs are as follows; Pentium 4, 3Ghz, 2.5 GB ram, Raedon X1600/1650 with 512GB memory on the card.

Would this Video card help me at all? EVGA 01G-P3-N959-TR GeForce 9500 GT Video Card - 1GB DDR2, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Support. Or is it time for a new system?

Thanks for you input.
Chosen <S>

[outbreak]

P4 as in like Single Core P4? If so I would look into new MB, CPU, RAM, PSU, and Vid Card. If you budget right you can upgrade your stuff for a few hundred bucks

[Krusty]

I have not looked to see what the best you can fit on your motherboard is, but in general that Ge9500 is a stripped down budget card. It "might" through sheer luck be able to play AH, but it's not designed for games or performance. It's really a desktop model (generally speaking).

[guncrasher]

P4 as in like Single Core P4? If so I would look into new MB, CPU, RAM, PSU, and Vid Card. If you budget right you can upgrade your stuff for a few hundred bucks

cant upgrade dell's.  he'll most likely have get a new system.  not even the case is reusable.

try cleaning the case.  I played the game with an ge8400 vc didnt have most eye candy on, but it did ok.  only thing i couldnt find was your power supply.  if you have something like a 300w it will limit you a bit since the vc wont get enough power.

semp

[outbreak]

cant upgrade dell's.  he'll most likely have get a new system.  not even the case is reusable.

try cleaning the case.  I played the game with an ge8400 vc didnt have most eye candy on, but it did ok.  only thing i couldnt find was your power supply.  if you have something like a 300w it will limit you a bit since the vc wont get enough power.

semp

Still he can get a decent case, mobo, CPU, atleast 6GB ram and a good video card for about $600. Then just use his current HDD, CD Drive etcc from his dell and hes gold.

[Krusty]

Speaking from experience, you CAN upgrade a few things on them. Often you can swap out (or add) HDDs, video cards, RAM (free slots allowing) PSUs, and/or some things like that. If he looks up his motherboard model, he can find what socket it is and theoretically upgrade the CPU as well.

[SectorNine50]

Speaking from experience, you CAN upgrade a few things on them. Often you can swap out (or add) HDDs, video cards, RAM (free slots allowing) PSUs, and/or some things like that. If he looks up his motherboard model, he can find what socket it is and theoretically upgrade the CPU as well.

Dell uses proprietary PSU's, so that's out of the question, but yes, HDD's, vid cards, and RAM.  The cases are sometimes reusable, but it's on a case-by-case basis... (lol, pun.)

Sounds like you had my set-up right before I upgraded!  I had a P4 as well, and it is an incredible bottleneck.  Those processors were never really great for gaming, it turns out.  It was a bottleneck even for Counter-Strike: Source, which is an ancient game...

If it were me, you can build a more-than-adequate box using AMD.  Intel i7's are yet to be fully utilized by really any game to date.  You can get a very, very decent quadcore (or even a hexacore!) and AM3 motherboard for a very decent price in comparison to Intel's prices.

For example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

I hear you can overclock this processor to 4Ghz as well (barring motherboard limitations), and that actually puts it in competition with the i5's and the lower i7 if I recall correctly.  However, I'm willing to bet you won't have to overclock anything for some time, and this processor will be more than enough for this game.

If you decide to build your own rig, one thing I suggest: do not go cheap on the powersupply!  I've watched custom builds become unstable after a year of use because the builder skimped on the PSU.  It may be the appropriate wattage on the box, but chances are, if your using close to the max wattage on a cheap unit, your going to get voltage droop (also known as v-droop).  Stick to well known companies, like Antec or Corsair (I'm personally an Antec powersupply fanboy, but that's another story).

[Krusty]

I personally have hacked cases and mobo plugs to upgrade a mobo on a HP "proprietary" case, and have dealt with many Dell laptops and a couple Dell towers, so I know how bad Dell cases are. However, I have personally swapped out the dinky 200W PSU on a Dell optiplex tower and added in a stock ATX PSU so that I could install a PCIe video card.

They accept many upgrades. They are just picky with some. For example the heat sink on the Optiplex was a massive 8-inches tall tower (it did not look very efficient!) so swapping out the CPU would be a chore to remove this and find a better one for the replaced CPU.


The main issues are Dell's attempts to turn "standard" plugs, sockets, and layouts, into "proprietary" by changing the dimensions so that screws no longer line up, or that headers have extra unused pins in them just to screw with folks trying to upgrade motherboards and the like.

[SectorNine50]

Yup, Dell does some funny things.  At my work there are Optiplex's that combined the mobo power and CPU power headers onto one header, that way if you wanted to change out the powersupply you HAD to buy from Dell, or get a new mobo along with the powersupply... Unless of course you wanted to do some rewiring, which is never fun.

Out of personal experience, I do not buy Dell.

[Krusty]

The GX280 took a standard PSU header, for me.

[SectorNine50]

The GX280 took a standard PSU header, for me.

Interesting... What chipset?  The ones I was working on were old socket 478's running P4's.  It sounds like they might have changed their ways.

[Krusty]

No, that's about right. Socket 478 with a Pentium 4 (I think a P4 D, hyper threading enabled, if I recall?), but I was able to swap out the PSU for another off of NewEgg without problem.

EDIT: It's a personal one, though... maybe corporate orders have different components?

[jocrp6]

Dell! (EEueee) Im feeling dizzy,  he,he.  you have to find their drivers,  Dell stuff has always been in its own Idaho.
have ya'll seen the price drop on the ole core 2 duo's, for 775 socket,  like 50 bucks or less, if ya had a micro-center around, they will match anybody, even Newegg!  probly put something together real cheap!

[SectorNine50]

Dell! (EEueee) Im feeling dizzy,  he,he.  you have to find their drivers,  Dell stuff has always been in its own Idaho.
have ya'll seen the price drop on the ole core 2 duo's, for 775 socket,  like 50 bucks or less, if ya had a micro-center around, they will match anybody, even Newegg!  probly put something together real cheap!

Unfortunately, the 775 quads are still expensive...

[Coronado]

saw a current tower(only) setup at BestBuy for around $400(i think) had a slow video card but spend another $175 at Newegg and i think you'd have a pretty solid system.