Upgrading my computer what do I need?

[Debrody]

Please do not buy pre-built, brand computer. Others explained, why.
Now 500$, or 1k? For 500 you can get a very basic one, for 1k an almost maxed out monster.
Also would be nice to know what you would like to do with your new computer. Only surfing the web, working or playing (which games)?

[Postman]

Ok Debrody will take your advice, Ebfd, I think I'll go with you suggestion. Oh and mainly a gaming computer, I have a laptop that I run my older games and surf the web with. Just gotta check the funds and if its cool with the misses

[guncrasher]

postman there's lots of choices but i suggest you go with intel 2500k is still a pretty good buy and you will get a top within your budget.


semp

[ebfd11]

If you wan to go with 2500k her is a good setup....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.770956

That is a good setup too..

[Postman]

I just want something I could use so the game dont have lag and low framerates. Eye candy for me would be a big plus, and would like to use the good texture files. Anyways thanks for the help. Oh and do these have an OS pre-installed?

[Debrody]

That setup will run AH maxed out for a couple years and has nearly the best price-performance ratio.
Possibly dont have the OS installed. You can buy the Win7 for another like 100 bucks or get a Win8 beta for free.

[Bizman]

Reuse hard drive, keyboard, monitor etc. from the old computer unless someone wants to continue using it.

I'd recommend not to reuse the hard drive. It's already old, highly possibly uses an IDE ribbon cable instead of SATA, runs at 5400 rpm instead of 7200 and statistically the countdown starts after three years. The prices of hard disks are high at the moment due to the floods in Thailand. For just AH needs a small capacity one might be a good choice at the moment. When the production normalizes adding another disk is easy.

In fact you might be able to push it even below 800 if you play only AH2 mainly. Whatever you do, do _not_ plunge to any ready made brand boxes you will find at the stores. If you're afraid of building yourself, ask a friend that has experience.

Absolutely so. Building a computer is not rocket science. If a part or cable fits to a slot, it most likely is going to work. The only exception is not to mix up USB and Firewire cables.

For your first build I'd recommend you to visit your local computer building shop rather than trying to find the parts in web stores. The prices may be a little higher there, but you'd get good advice for free, plus for possible defective components the service might be faster. For AH use you'd need a two core processor from the faster end (Intels work a little better with AH) and a decent video card, the rest is to choose fitting parts around those.

[Postman]

Bizman, If i go the build route I can pretty much do it myself and I wont reuse anything. I think there is only one computer place around here and the guy is a "Richard" to deal with. Also if I run into trouble I have a friend that went to school for I.T. stuff so he'd be able to help me out.

Debrody, I have a Win XP disk(how I rebooted this computer) that I can use so I wont need to get another OS. However I don't see the Win8 beta on the links you provided, and I have dealt with Newegg in the past with some other controllers.

Everyone, Thanks for the help.

[Debrody]

Beware, a 32 bit OS only can handle 4 gigabytes of ram (video ram included). Make sure the Windows youre installing is a 64bit edition.

[Postman]

Crap, I think its only a 32bit OS, oh well thanks for the help guys.

[TequilaChaser]

Here is another nice DIY kit for building your own computer at Newegg called the "Core i7-2600K/Z68/8GB/60GB SSD Gaming SuperCombo"

it is a lil cheaper than the i5-2500k kit mentioned above, but doesn't have a videocard with it.....

this one is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.787574   Combo cost = $ 636.99 ( then has an additional $75.00 worth of mail in rebates )

mid-tower gaming case ( this case has plenty of fans and does a good airflow/cooling job )
650 watt PSU
MSI z68 LGA 1155 intel MB
i7-2600K
8 gigs ( 2 x 4GB )  Corsair vengance Ram 1600 MHz
OCZ Vertex 3  60GB SATA III SSD


just need a Videocard ( around $124.00 to $200.00) depending on what you want or can afford,

the OS ( operating System ) going anywhere from $89 to $140  depending n what you want  , I recommend Windows 7 Pro SP164 bit,

and a DVD Burner  cost around $18.99 to $21.99


Good Luck on your new adventure into "DIY building gaming PC's"   

TC

[Drano]

Postman,
you wont be able to upgrade that computer. That was weak, even back in 2005.
Also the platform (socket 478) is way outdated.
-DDR1 ram became very rare since it isnt in production for like 5 years.
-Pentium4 CPUs are dirt cheap, but no newer cpu can fit in your motherboard.
-AGP video cards arent in production for 5 years.
-also you need a decent PSU badly
The best you can do is to buy a new one. From 700-750 you can get a very decent, upgradable machine.
<S>

Agreed with Debrody. FWIW, I had a similar rig up until recently. I did everything to max out what I had. I had a 3.4 ghz unlocked P4 on an Asus P4C800E mobo with 4GB of Mushkin PC500 ram and a 1GB AGP video card that didn't exist when the board, CPU and memory were considered the best available. That might ahve been in '05 or '06. I had everything overclocked as fast as it would go and even AH would leave it coughing and wheezing. I'd have to say don't waste any money trying to pep up an old P4 rig. I tried via EBay with a lot of the stuff. In the end it just didn't work out. Better off building your own totally new rig. TC has put you onto a good starter rig here. Build on that. Pick a quality video card as it seems to me that AH is really wanting more horsepower from that than from the CPU. And be sure and get a quality power supply that's adequate for everything you have and then some.

[Postman]

Thanks for the help guys just looking at what options i have

[Bizman]

You mentioned you have an XP installation disk (and hopefully the license, too) at hands. Although it's true it's only 32 bit which limits RAM to 4 gigs, using it for awhile wouldn't be that bad after all: XP is the most  lightweight OS which is still getting updates and is supported also by device manufacturers. And so it will be at least until April 2014. 64 bit OS can use more RAM, but that's what it also does. Look at these Windows7 system requirements by Microsoft: the 64 needs at least one gig more than the 32 bit one.

If you're planning to play games which use DirectX 10 or 11, then getting a new OS is recommended. Same goes for games and other applications of very heavy RAM usage.