Hello! New dell pc upgrade question

I

I7wish

New Member
Greetings all,
I am a (wanna be) pc gamer on a budget and am considering picking up one of those Dell outlet scratch and dent systems (visible damage to case but still under same dell warranty as new products.) My first question is whether or not these computers are reliable...Here are the specs


Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Memory 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (4 DIMMs)
Hard Disk Drive 1 TB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Video 1024MB nVidia GeForce GTS 240
125V Power Cord
Dell USB 6-Button Logitech Mouse
Heat Sink, Mainstream, Desktop
USB Keyboard
No Modem
Scratch & Dent

Processor: Intel Core i7-860 Processor (8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
64BIT Operating System CDNetwork Interface Card
Dell 1505 WLAN PCIe card with11n mini-Card & external antenna
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability

I want to know if this is a legit gaming rig, and if not what sort of upgrades need to be made? Can the power supply handle another gts 240 card and would that seriously amp up performance? Also how good are WLAN cards for gaming? Im kind of concerned over using a wireless setup for games...Thanks in advance!
 
I would NOT get a deal unless it's practically given to me. The quality of their parts are unbelievably low. For the same price I'm almost certain you could build an equivalent or better system off Newegg.

Onto your question, the GTS240 isn't a very powerful card. You'd be better off getting a higher-end card than trying to do SLI. On top of this, does the board even support SLI?

And wireless...eh, it's a mixed bag. Technically, anything "G" or higher should be much faster than your internet service. However, wireless can have more latency, interference, and such causing it to be a fair bit slower than wired. Unless there's no way around it' I'd strongly suggest going with wired networking.
 
On the lighter side from what i understand is (refurbished).
If someone orders new and does not accept it will be sold a refurbished.
I my self has never owned one. I have ordered for family.
You can goto dell and query refurbished. its a budget computer. thats ok.
i like it better than a Gateway.
happy holidays.
 
The_Other_One said:
I would NOT get a deal unless it's practically given to me. The quality of their parts are unbelievably low. For the same price I'm almost certain you could build an equivalent or better system off Newegg.

Onto your question, the GTS240 isn't a very powerful card. You'd be better off getting a higher-end card than trying to do SLI. On top of this, does the board even support SLI?

And wireless...eh, it's a mixed bag. Technically, anything "G" or higher should be much faster than your internet service. However, wireless can have more latency, interference, and such causing it to be a fair bit slower than wired. Unless there's no way around it' I'd strongly suggest going with wired networking.
Click to expand...

i would love to build a new system off new egg but i have no experience and wouldnt know where to start...What parts would you recommend for a gamer looking to keep costs at around 900-1000 bux with some room to upgrade later?
 
Without the Dell model number it would be hard to say what can or cannot be upgraded. As far as reliability, Dells aren't bad, however as T_O_O said they do use cheap parts.

FWIW, in my personal opinion, I don't really care for Dell. They are notoriously underpowered and if you do anything one of the first things you'll have to do is change the PSU. The BIOS sucks and, unless they have changed it, does not allow for any tweaking other than the really basic stuff (most major OEMs are this way). I could go on with a whole laundry list of things but that would really be beside the point.

If you want a decent, inexpensive rig to do basic computing then Dells are ok. But if you are looking for a platform from which to build a gaming rig, stay away from Dell.

There are a lot of articles on how to assemble your own rig. It isn't hard, just simple mechanical assembly. The price difference isn't that much and in the end you'll end up with a better rig and a bit more knowledge.
 
schw32m said:
Without the Dell model number it would be hard to say what can or cannot be upgraded. As far as reliability, Dells aren't bad, however as T_O_O said they do use cheap parts.

FWIW, in my personal opinion, I don't really care for Dell. They are notoriously underpowered and if you do anything one of the first things you'll have to do is change the PSU. The BIOS sucks and, unless they have changed it, does not allow for any tweaking other than the really basic stuff (most major OEMs are this way). I could go on with a whole laundry list of things but that would really be beside the point.

If you want a decent, inexpensive rig to do basic computing then Dells are ok. But if you are looking for a platform from which to build a gaming rig, stay away from Dell.

There are a lot of articles on how to assemble your own rig. It isn't hard, just simple mechanical assembly. The price difference isn't that much and in the end you'll end up with a better rig and a bit more knowledge.
Click to expand...

is there some way to figure out what parts are game ready and in my price range?
 
I7wish said:
is there some way to figure out what parts are game ready and in my price range?
Click to expand...

Come up with a basic specification, IE CPU and such. Figure out what you want to play and the requirements.

Come up with a budget and then ask the folks on here to choose the parts that will work best for you. Especially for gagming there are those on here that would be way better at choosing gamers rigs than I will.
 
schw32m said:
Come up with a basic specification, IE CPU and such. Figure out what you want to play and the requirements.

Come up with a budget and then ask the folks on here to choose the parts that will work best for you. Especially for gagming there are those on here that would be way better at choosing gamers rigs than I will.
Click to expand...

Ok basic specs i want:

Intel I7 processor
an SLI or crossfire setup
6-8 gb of ram
an affordable soundcard

My basic goal is to have a rig that can play the newest games in high resolution, and also has some room to upgrade in the future. Any guidance on parts selection that will keep this rig under 1000 bucks would be great!
 
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