Getting my computer up to speed

G

Gcommando36

New Member
Hey everyone, I have a Dell Optiplex GX520 I'm looking to get up to top performance. Everything is stock right now except for a 1Tb Hard Drive. I hope to get it to be able to run most new games without a problem, and then some. I'm on a budget though. Here is what I'm looking for in it:

Case - The stock one is fine, I'm more for functionality than asthetics. I'll get a new case if the new motherboard won't work with it though.

CPU - At least 2.8GHz Quad Core.

Motherboard - I really don't know

RAM - 4Gb Dual Channel DDR2. I saw some made by Quantum Technology for $100 on ebay. Will that do?

Graphics Card - Something that can run DirectX 11

Video Card - Not sure, but it has to be something good. Preferably dual

Hard Drive - The Samsung 1Tb in it right now is fine.

OS - Windows 7 Ultimate; my dad is going to lend me the disk

Cooling - Good fan, water cooling if I get the money for it

I know I'm probably making a fool out of myself by asking all this, but I'm a noob to this whole thing, and I don't know where to start. Will any of the stock parts be fine? Here they are according to Speccy:

CPU: Intel Pentinum 4 521
Prescott 90nm Technology
2.8 GHz Single Core

RAM: 1.0 GB Dual Channel DDR2 @ 266MHz 4-4-4-11

Motherboard: Dell inc. 0WG233 (Microprocessor)

Graphics: Dell E173FP @ 1280 X 1024
Intel 82945G Express Chipset Family
Intel 82945G Express Chipset Family

Hard Drive: 1000GB SAMSUNG SAMSUNG HD103UJ (IDE)

Optical Drives: TSST Corp CD-ROM TS-H192C

Audio: USB Audio Device

Help? There's also one other thing that's getting to me. I'm paranoid that by the time I finish all this crap, half of it will be outdated.
 
First of all you can't borrow your dad's windows 7 disc. you need your own. It only comes with one product key code unless he bought multiple user accounts. Second, what are you wanting to do with this computer i.e. gameing, internet, work, school, etc. What is your budget? As for the dell optiplex GX520 I'm very familiar with these things as I use them as a throw away computer in my machines for work. The answer is NO, NO, NO don't use anything out of that thing.......:eek:
 
I plan on doing gaming and internet mostly.

I do understand that these things suck. Will the case even be fine? I'm more of a "functionality > asthetics" kind of guy.

I didn't need Windows 7 too bad, but I would like it.

My budget is... well... very limited. I want to start off with more important stuff. The main things I want to switch out right now are the motherboard, RAM and CPU. I'm more concerned about how a game plays than how it looks too.
 
Give us a budget. Also, where do you live (USA, Canada, UK, etc)?

Don't worry, asking questions you don't know the answer to does not make a fool out of you ;)
 
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