Upgrading 5 year old comp. Couple of questions..

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OmegaZer0180

New Member
I built this gaming computer back in 07 and it's now quite dated. Here are the specs.

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX
EVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 KO
XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W ATX 500W Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA

I am wanting to upgrade it now so I can play BFBC2, metro 2033, and other graphic and cpu intense games.

After some mild research, I figure I'll be needing a new motherboard, a new video card, and a new CPU. Can this be accomplished for around 300??

Also, after switching the mobo, cpu, videocard out. How's the process of restoring the computer to use in terms of reinstalling drivers and such? I'm assuming I wont have to reinstall the OS, but do I have to reactivate it with the new mobo or something? Sorry for all the questions, It's been a while since I've messed with the computer. Thanks.
 
I am willing to switch over to AMD as well if the price is better. The card I was looking at was the Radeon HD 5670 which is only for 80 bucks. How is that card in terms of longevity and performance?
 
Yeah i would say get a new AMD system. Just look around newegg for a Mobo CPU combo and some DDR3 RAM.

With $300, you can do pretty good with AMD ;)
 
If you are going to keep ddr2 ram, I suggest getting amd

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131595
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157226

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048&IsNodeId=1&Description=gts%20450&bop=And&CompareItemList=48|14-102-898^14-102-898-TS%2C14-161-338^14-161-338-TS%2C14-125-341^14-125-341-03%23%2C14-130-572^14-130-572-TS%2C14-162-063^14-162-063-TS
 
That stinks that they raised the price on the Athlon II 640 Quad-Core Processor. The price used to be $100 and they raised it $10.
 
Wow, thanks for all the responses. This is what I've finalized it down to. Just wanted to make sure everything will be compatible and I'm not missing anything. Here is what I have:

mobo: ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402

cpu: AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871

video card: XFX HD-567X-ZNF3 Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

How's that looking?
 
I haven't honestly been around here in a while, and its late anyways, so let someone else confirm it, but looks good to me.
 
I would just get a second hand Q6600, over clock it, new PSU and Graphics Card. Job done.


If you go ahead and change your mobo, be prepared to purchase a new Windows key.
 
The ASUS M4A79XTD motherboard, Athlon II 640 Quad-Core Processor, G.Skill DDR3 RAM and video card are all compatible. I think your choice in parts is good.
 
OmegaZer0180 said:
I built this gaming computer back in 07 and it's now quite dated. Here are the specs.

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX
EVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 KO
XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W ATX 500W Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA

I am wanting to upgrade it now so I can play BFBC2, metro 2033, and other graphic and cpu intense games.

After some mild research, I figure I'll be needing a new motherboard, a new video card, and a new CPU. Can this be accomplished for around 300??

Also, after switching the mobo, cpu, videocard out. How's the process of restoring the computer to use in terms of reinstalling drivers and such? I'm assuming I wont have to reinstall the OS, but do I have to reactivate it with the new mobo or something? Sorry for all the questions, It's been a while since I've messed with the computer. Thanks.
Click to expand...

if its not the exact mobo that you have than you will need to reinstall windows.for the the parts you picked,you'll be happy.
 
Alright, Thanks everybody! But, by switching out the mobo, I'll have to install windows 7 again... will I have to actually purchase a new key again like bigfella mentioned?
 
Im not sure TBH. I only did that kind of thing with XP and i never needed a new key. Ive installed XP on counless machines with the same disk.

Windows 7 may be different though.
 
Ring microsoft explain to them the situation how you had to buy new hardware and they might de-activate the key on your old machine and re-activate it on this new machine you are building if you are lucky. :P
 
If you bought a retail version of Windows from a store somewhere, then you can just install it on the new machine. No worries. You may not even have to reinstall it...sometimes you can boot from the install disk and use the "repair" option, and it'll have you up and running on the new board in minutes. Sometimes it'll even repair itself without the disk!

If you bought an OEM license, then yeah, you'll have to try and get it reactivated or buy another license. If you go the latter route, then the good news is that you can use the old rig as an HTPC/file server/backup. :good:
 
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