Best Thing for My Desktop?

[yunori2011]

I have a HP Conpaq dc7600 Convertible Minitower, with the default motherboard, a pentium 4 clocked at 3.40 ghz (by default, not overclocked), BIOS version 1.07, and a PCIe Slot. I have 2 gb of ram (no need for more as its 32 bit) and a AMD Radeon HD 5400, 19 inch DVI ViewSonic panel that has a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1080. The page for this computer is here: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/e...2884-12132884-12221730-12221990-50435301.html

I recently won a Nvidia GeForce GTX 580, and my computer doesn't have the correct power adapter to support the card. To add the correct adapter to my motherboard is somewhere around $100. I also found a deal on a decent nvidia card for $60ish bucks. I don't know what the 580 scores on 3dmark05, but the nvidia 9800 GT, the one I found, get 14000 as its score. And my current card gets 4868.

So my question is this: I want to know which would be better for my desktop, buying the new power source and using the 580, or buying the 9800 GT and using that, which does support my current power supply, and use that.

I can't decide what to do, especially since money is a little, and $100 would be all my spending cash. I leave it up to you guys to give a suggestion. If any more info I didn't specify is needed, please tell.

 

[wolfeking]

the 580 is the top performing single core desktop GPU on the market (only out performed by the 6990 and 590, both dual processing core cards).
However, a Pentium 4 on a compaq computer will at the least bottleneck a 580. You will need a dual core Core 2 or Phenom II to make full use of it, as well as a good quality 650 Watt PSU.

a 9800GT is a good card for a Pentium 4. The GTX580 is a mega card if you could build to suit it. It would be a shame to downgrade to a 9800 Gt when you have a GTX 580.

 

[ixiboneheadixi]

the 580 is pretty much the very best card you can get and its really expensive so spending 100 bucks to get it to work is worth it but i would highly recomend just spending a couple hundred getting a basic build together and stick that in a new build

 

[johnb35]

All depends on the games your going to be playing. If BF3/MW3 then you would get the 580 and a new power supply.

 

[wolfeking]

and a quad core CPU, iirc. Its a 2 way street.

 

[jonnyp11]

yeah, at this time with only 100 to spend there is no real use for the 580, putting a 5 to 600 dollar card into a old and crappy machine is wastefull, it would probably be best for you to sell it and than you could build a better system or something.

 

[StrangleHold]

Have you looked inside the case? I really dont believe a 580 would even fit.

 

[yunori2011]

Thanks

the 580 is the top performing single core desktop GPU on the market (only out performed by the 6990 and 590, both dual processing core cards).
However, a Pentium 4 on a compaq computer will at the least bottleneck a 580. You will need a dual core Core 2 or Phenom II to make full use of it, as well as a good quality 650 Watt PSU.

a 9800GT is a good card for a Pentium 4. The GTX580 is a mega card if you could build to suit it. It would be a shame to downgrade to a 9800 Gt when you have a GTX 580.

Thanks for the advice, I will be springing for the new supply, although I misread the label, its a 480, not 580. Also I think my pentium won't bottleneck it too much, its the last model of the pentium 4, the one at 3.40 ghz, and dual core. It is overclockable to 4.20 stable, and 4.60 unstable, but all the guides I found for doing it are for dell bios computers not hp bios. Tried just following them, but most of the settings weren't there. And I don't know why its called a compaq, its a HUGE desktop, and has way too much space inside.

Have you looked inside the case? I really dont believe a 580 would even fit.

Yeah, I did plug it in, the day I got it, and noticed the power slots, and couldn't place anything in them. Tried booting anyway and got nothing in the display, and had to put in my tried and true Radeon HD 5400. It runs decent in games once it loads, but load times are murder. I keep timing out on a online game on borderlands with my friend. I know its not my connection cause I get 40+ mbs both ways on my setup, and he gets 20+ mbs both ways, and he has a i7, 8 gb ram, and Radeon HD 6600.

I always laugh at him, I've looked up the pricing of my and his computer. He spent so much on his computer (I think in the $2000-$3000 price range), and mine costs like $1200ish dollar for the lower end spec version, and I got mine as a deal from my friend's company ($100) lol

 

[jonnyp11]

the pentium 4, no matter the version, just plain sucks, they will bottleneck the crap out of even the 480. and btw the 480 is a power hungry flame throwing monster, as in it will be pulling tons of watts and will be hot as hell too. but for the cpu, i think you mean it is threaded as two cores, not 2 true cores, although it may appear to the computer as 2. but this is what you are talking about right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116418

notice the price, there is a reason for that, it is trash to todays cpu's.

 

[2048Megabytes]

Start saving your money.

You are going to need to get a new power supply, motherboard, processor, RAM and also you will likely need to purchase a new case for your machine. The Pentium 4 is a very obsolete and slow processor. If all you want to do is browse the Internet then it is fine. But for any modern games you are going to need to upgrade.

Here are some parts you can look at:

AMD Athlon II 445 Rana Triple-Core (3.1 gigahertz) 95 Watt Triple-Core Processor - $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872

GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 Socket AM3+/AM3 ATX Motherboard - $107
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128521

Super Talent 4 gigabytes (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit RAM
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=W1600UX4G9

Antec BP550 Plus 550 Watt Continuous Power Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

Antec VSK-2000 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $54
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129069

 

[yunori2011]

the pentium 4, no matter the version, just plain sucks, they will bottleneck the crap out of even the 480. and btw the 480 is a power hungry flame throwing monster, as in it will be pulling tons of watts and will be hot as hell too. but for the cpu, i think you mean it is threaded as two cores, not 2 true cores, although it may appear to the computer as 2. but this is what you are talking about right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116418

notice the price, there is a reason for that, it is trash to todays cpu's.

Its not that one. Its a enterprise level one that I think you still can't buy online. CPU-Z identifies it as Pentium 4 HTX and says it has two cores, not just dual-threaded.

Start saving your money.

You are going to need to get a new power supply, motherboard, processor, RAM and also you will likely need to purchase a new case for your machine. The Pentium 4 is a very obsolete and slow processor. If all you want to do is browse the Internet then it is fine. But for any modern games you are going to need to upgrade.

Here are some parts you can look at:

AMD Athlon II 445 Rana Triple-Core (3.1 gigahertz) 95 Watt Triple-Core Processor - $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872

GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 Socket AM3+/AM3 ATX Motherboard - $107
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128521

Super Talent 4 gigabytes (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit RAM
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=W1600UX4G9

Antec BP550 Plus 550 Watt Continuous Power Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

Antec VSK-2000 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $54
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129069

I don't have the money for that right now, and if I can currently play games like borderlands at about 28 fps with a HD 5400, I think I'll be fine for awhile. Even if the Pentium 4 does bottlecap my performance, which I'm sure it will, it will be more than I need, cause most of the modern games have my specs as the recommended specs. By modern, I mean 3 years old to 2011. The first game I saw that didn't want the consumer version of this processor and wanted a different one was Dues Ex: HR. And it also wanted direct X 11 as the default, when I had xp, direct X 9 only, so seeing that, I upgraded to 7. I was assuming when I got one of these cards, that would be necessary for my computer to support it. Also, just look at games even like tf2, the recommended specs are below my specs.

Also, my motherboard should be fine as well, I found out it isn't the one it came with, something way different, but I can't identify it. But it has 8 ram chip slots, even though I'm only using 4 to give me 2 gb, and a PCIe port, so I'm fine on that. And the power supply I chose has a 620 watt power requirement, so I should be plenty fine with that. And I have a chance for a processor upgrade soon, so I might be making a jump to a i5 or i7. But I refuse to use a AMD processor, there is nothing in particular wrong with them, but most min/recommended specs on pc games list the Intel processor and " or a AMD equivilent" and I would rather not have to look that up, and just be able to read "i3 or better required" with my i5 or i7.

Again, thanks for your help, but having switched from a modded nintendo consoles and all free games (don't flame me, it was a past life) and having to be legit to buy games at reasonable prices on steam, rather than overpay on the wii and ds for WAY toned down games, has really killed my budget. So suggestions for a processor, ram, motherboard, and case replacement (that's basically a whole computer, just a few things needed) are basically out of my $100 price range.

But I'll make sure to check back here for advice on computer building tips when I need to. You guys would be amazing for helping with that.

 

[jonnyp11]

the thing is, i googled the p4 htx, no results, only ht, hyperthreading, and even if it is an enterprise one, the pentium 4 is still trash, during boot if you can access bios it will tell you definitely what the cpu is, and even if it is a true dual core, it will bottleneck anything over a 5770 and i think that's pushing it

 

[yunori2011]

the thing is, i googled the p4 htx, no results, only ht, hyperthreading, and even if it is an enterprise one, the pentium 4 is still trash, during boot if you can access bios it will tell you definitely what the cpu is, and even if it is a true dual core, it will bottleneck anything over a 5770 and i think that's pushing it

Yeah, I never found it either, and I'm sure it will bottlecap, but even so, that's more than I'll need. If I do get that deal, I'll be upgrading to a i5 or i7, and that will be way more than I'll need. And then I'll have to go buy win 7 64-bit (wonderful )

 

[jonnyp11]

all you need for a good upgrade is a amd phenom ii 960t (125), a gigabye am3+ mobo (100), a quality 650w psu (80/90) the os (100) and the rest can be recycled from the old comp mostly, although you may as well spend 60 for a nice new case with all that stuff so basically you'd be keeping the hdd and that's it.

 

[2048Megabytes]

If you do not have money for an AMD (3.1 gigahertz) Triple-Core processor at $75, you sure will not have enough money for an Intel i3. The cheapest i3 I could find was an Intel Core i3 Dual-Core processor for about $100. The cheapest new Core i5 Quad-Core processor I could find was $175.

Intel Core i3 550 (3.2 gigahertz) Dual-Core Socket 1156 processor - $99.20
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-550-...6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1320022213&sr=1-6

There is nothing wrong with the old Nintendo games. I still like the Super Nintendo Legend of Zelda game. I use an emulator to play it on my system every now and again.

 

[yunori2011]

If you do not have money for an AMD (3.1 gigahertz) Triple-Core processor at $75, you sure will not have enough money for an Intel i3. The cheapest i3 I could find was an Intel Core i3 Dual-Core processor for about $100. The cheapest new Core i5 Quad-Core processor I could find was $175.

Intel Core i3 550 (3.2 gigahertz) Dual-Core Socket 1156 processor - $99.20
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-550-...6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1320022213&sr=1-6

There is nothing wrong with the old Nintendo games. I still like the Super Nintendo Legend of Zelda game. I use an emulator to play it on my system every now and again.

Yeah, I'm not buying it online. One of my friends has a broken computer that had a i7 in it, and is getting a i5 computer to replace it, so I may be able to get the one he doesn't use.

all you need for a good upgrade is a amd phenom ii 960t (125), a gigabye am3+ mobo (100), a quality 650w psu (80/90) the os (100) and the rest can be recycled from the old comp mostly, although you may as well spend 60 for a nice new case with all that stuff so basically you'd be keeping the hdd and that's it.

Yeah, and finally got around to installing my new hdd too, yay for another 2 TB if it wasn't taking FOREVER to format lol

 

[2048Megabytes]

Yeah, I'm not buying it online. One of my friends has a broken computer that had a i7 in it, and is getting a i5 computer to replace it, so I may be able to get the one he doesn't use.

You cannot beat free. That is awesome. Getting a Core i7 for free is like someone handing you around $200. Make sure you know if it is a Socket 1366, 1156, or 1155 before you buy the motherboard. That will be a major upgrade from a Pentium 4 processor.

 

[yunori2011]

You cannot beat free. That is awesome. Getting a Core i7 for free is like someone handing you around $200. Make sure you know if it is a Socket 1366, 1156, or 1155 before you buy the motherboard. That will be a major upgrade from a Pentium 4 processor.

Unfortunately, he sold the i5 and used his i7 in his new rig. I know where my new Christmas money is going to (amd x4 core, energy efficient edition)

Also, I have a new problem. I have just installed my new power supply, plugged in the graphics card, installed drivers, and I am currently using it. But when I tried to switch to a windows aero theme, it failed. Confused, I checked if it was using the correct graphics card (not my old integrated one), and it tells me it is using a graphics card, but can't identify any part of it. My question would be if any of you had a suggestion. I can confirm the card is fully within my PICe port, and if functioning, just not correctly. Help would be appreciated.

 

[wolfeking]

open up the device manager and see what it says under Video adapter (or whatever the GPU is listed under. I cant remember if thats right and Im on Linux at the moment so cant check)
If it says Nvidia followed by a set of numbers, then its working.
Chances are its working if you installed the drivers anyway. NCP installation checks to see if your card is there before installing. You get a "Incompatible Hardware" warning when there is no card present, or the wrong driver is downloaded (ie trying desktop driver on laptop).

 

[yunori2011]

open up the device manager and see what it says under Video adapter (or whatever the GPU is listed under. I cant remember if thats right and Im on Linux at the moment so cant check)
If it says Nvidia followed by a set of numbers, then its working.
Chances are its working if you installed the drivers anyway. NCP installation checks to see if your card is there before installing. You get a "Incompatible Hardware" warning when there is no card present, or the wrong driver is downloaded (ie trying desktop driver on laptop).

Actually, I rechecked the driver through device manager, and it was installed, but has this issue:

"Your computer's system firmware does not include enough information to properly configure and use this device. To use this device, contact your computer manufacturer to obtain a firmware or BIOS update. (Code 35)"

So I went HP's site, found the drivers section for my computer and found that they only have drivers for this computer for windows vista and below. I have windows 7 .

If anyone would like to help me find if my BIOS is outdated, or a way to upgrade it with windows 7, my current BIOS version is 1.07. And my computer is the HP Compaq dc7600 Convertible Minitower. Any help MUCH appreciated, as I have to compete in a TF2 tourney tomorrow, and not being able to play would kinda not give me a chance to win .

Edit: I managed to update my BIOS from version 1.07 to version 1.61, but it still give me the same error on the device manager. If anyone has any advice, I really need it.