Whats a better upgrade?

E

etzelr1990

Member
So I am looking at upgrading my POS computer because I am on a very tight budget I understand the gains may be minimal at best.

Specs:
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630
• 3.0 GHz, Standard L2 2MB, 800 MHz front side bus
Intel® 945G chipset
3gb ddr2 memory
Radeon X800
Alienware Black Case
250gb seagate barracuda 7200rpm hdd

What I was thinking was either:

Corsair cx 430 case with a used 4870

or

Dell Opltiplex 320
pentium dual core 2.8ghz
x800
3gb ddr2
Atx motherboard supports dual core says its ATI xpress 1100 but i know thats wrong and it has pci express slot and uses ddr2. Basically I would swap out the motherboard and processor and put it in my alienware case and use all the rest of the items listed in the specs.

Please help me out here I am not sure what to do and I know its hard on the budget I am putting you guys on.
 
The P4 may bottleneck the 4870, so I'd be cautious about going down that route.

The Optiplex has a dual-core processor so that'd be better with the 4870. Would you pair an X800 with the dual-core CPU?
 
spirit said:
The P4 may bottleneck the 4870, so I'd be cautious about going down that route.

The Optiplex has a dual-core processor so that'd be better with the 4870. Would you pair an X800 with the dual-core CPU?
Click to expand...

yes I would the only thing is I have done this before and bottlenecked a 9800gt and still resulted with 60fps in the game I played so I was actually quite impressed I am just thinking if I do match the 800xt with the dual core I am not going to see the gains I want. However my brothers laptop with an i3 does not lag at all during gaming and has onboard graphics so if you could help explain to me whats happening here?
 
Your brother has a much better processor and the onboard graphics on an i3 are pretty good actually, probably about the same as an X800. He's also likely playing on a lower resolution screen and lower settings on a laptop than you are on a deskstop.

Hmmm... it's a tough decision. P4 + 4870 or PDC + X800. You could try a 4870 but they're not great cards and the processor is low-end.
 
spirit said:
Your brother has a much better processor and the onboard graphics on an i3 are pretty good actually, probably about the same as an X800. He's also likely playing on a lower resolution screen and lower settings on a laptop than you are on a deskstop.

Hmmm... it's a tough decision. P4 + 4870 or PDC + X800. You could try a 4870 but they're not great cards and the processor is low-end.
Click to expand...

or i could go with this which i think might be a bit better.

 
jonnyp11 said:
you'd need at least 4 gigs which is like 20, i'd get this, good processor and good graphics built in and 4gigs for 125, but you'll have to call microsoft and say your old board died so you need a new key for the replacement otherwise it's 100 for a new windows license.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1076963

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231253

or if you live near a microcenter there is another option so check.
Click to expand...

Should all be ok. :) I'd say that is what the OP should probably do.
 
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