My Upgraded PC, Tell me what you think!

[rioisk]

Hey everyone! I was wondering what yall thought of my upgrades to my PC and maybe answer some questions for me! There are some bottlenecks, but please forgive my stupidity! These parts were cheap, so I thought it was a formidable upgrade to my older PC.

 

Here is my old setup:

Dell XPS 410 Mobo

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13 Ghz

EVGA Geforce 9800 GTX+ OC

3 Gigabytes PC2 5300 ram (not in DDR mode because it is 3x 1 gigs)

7200 RPM HDD (SATA II)

500w 12v 24amp Antec PSU

 

New Setup:

Dell XPS 410 Mobo

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66 Ghz

Gigabyte Geforce GTX 460 OC

4 Gigabytes PC2 6800 800mhz ram (2x 2gigs in DDR mode)

Kept 7200 RPM HDD

450W 12v 36amp PSU

 

Everything is in 64 bit architecture.

 

Novabench went from 624 to 968 and runs games a LOT better. Everything works.

 

Some questions:

 

1) If I added in the two empty ram slots with the 2x 1 gig pc2 5300, increasing the memory from 4 gigs to 6 gigs) and lowering the MHz to 533mhz , would that be a good decision? It lowers my novabench by around 10 points, but would the extra memory help at all? How much ram do games run with these days?

 

2) Should I get an SSD to replace the HDD? How much of a difference in gaming is 3 gb/s SATA II SSD versus a 7200 RPM HDD?

 

3) Overall, the cost of everything was around 200 dollars. Should I invest in a new mobo/case to replace the OEM dell mobo or is that just wasting money until I get a completely new PC?

 

Thanks!

[FMod]

Why would you swap a 500W Antec for a 450W generic?

 

Other than that, I think it was worth $150, it wasn't worth $200. RAM improvement is marginal (and it was DDR mode, it wasn't all dual channel), really what you got is a quad-core CPU and a rather old though usable video card that's only a small upgrade on yours.

 

People should avoid wasting money on minimal upgrades. Look for 2x+ improvement in every aspect when upgrading. Don't even think of sinking any more money into this old machine. I think overall long-term you'd be better off doing a major upgrade of either platform or GPU (just one), but what's done is done.

[samadchaz]

get a new pc :confused: old configuration even with 8mb q6700 is not good enough but you can play GTAIV also dont worry about those points and score, those extra memory will help you running 64bit OS better

[Beriallord]

My opinion? You should have just saved up $500 and built a PC from scratch. For $500 you could build a solid base rig that could be upgradeable for many years in the future. With that current setup you squeezed the last little bit you could out of that motherboard that is already really, really old.

 

Something like this would be budget:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1MD4S
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1MD4S/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1MD4S/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.46 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($46.24 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.48 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $503.14
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-09 03:48 EDT-0400)

 

Reuse the 500w antec if possible, and of course reuse your HDD.

 

This might not be what you want, but its an example of what you can do with $500. That $500 PC could smash Skyrim or any of the top games right now. And don't underestimate Intel I3 processors, they're known for whipping AMD flagship CPUs in gaming.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Beriallord

[Lord Garon]

You know you will be second-guessed on a public forum, no way around it. The real question is; "Did it accomplish your goal?" Those older quad cores still perform well even compared to many newer chips. You got a DirectX 11 video card, fine; a lot of newer games will use it. Memory? Try it and see how things run. 6GB will help reduce swapfile use with memory hungry modern games and HDD I/O is much slower than even 533MHz ram. SSD? That's very subjective. Most things will LOAD much faster, some things will RUN faster/smoother. If you are happy with your HDD, save your money towards a whole new machine.

 

I would agree not to spend any more money on this computer, though. You have increased the performance of your machine a significant amount. Enjoy your upgrade while you save up to build a whole new machine.