RitualBlack Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 My old tower is currently running with a pentium 4 (just shy of 3ghz), 2gb of ddr ram (really old) an Nvidia 8500, a stock fan and a 350 watt power supply. I want to put a small sum of money into it and am not sure if the power supply could handle it. I would be putting it to 4gb ram, an 8800 and a better fan. I am assuming that a 350 watt supply is enough as there would only be another 100watts with the graphics cards (havn't looked at fans yet). If I do need to upgrade my power supply also I wont bother with it but do you guys think I would need to upgrade it? I am only doing this because dell is garbage and I have been waiting over 2 months for my laptop. With the amount of wrong computers they are sending me I can soon open up an alienware reseller out of my basement :dry:. I got my first one broken, my second one with $900 less of hardware in it and they said they would send a repair man. I waited a week and suddenly it is "too much work" to change out the parts so I am getting a new one. Conveniently they are listing it as the same on they sent me last so I will have to call them to let them know they are getting it wrong again. By the end of the day I will realistically have to send them back 1 broken laptop, 2-3 working ones with stock parts in it, and will end up waiting another month before I finally get my correct one. I have learned my lesson: No matter how good a deal you get from dell/alienware it isn't worth it. It actually was a really good deal for a 18.4'' laptop with crossfire 6970m's, 8gb ram and a 500gb solid state hybrid (as it was the laptops promotional release combined with cash discount) but their incompetence caused more grief than the deal is worth. Sorry for the rant :tongue: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik005 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Upgrading a pentium 4 is a waste of money IMHO. Your better of getting a new rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonger Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 My old tower is currently running with a pentium 4 (just shy of 3ghz), 2gb of ddr ram (really old) an Nvidia 8500, a stock fan and a 350 watt power supply. I want to put a small sum of money into it and am not sure if the power supply could handle it. I would be putting it to 4gb ram, an 8800 and a better fan. I am assuming that a 350 watt supply is enough as there would only be another 100watts with the graphics cards (havn't looked at fans yet). If I do need to upgrade my power supply also I wont bother with it but do you guys think I would need to upgrade it?you can eeeeek by with that system but that video card won't run with that power supply you can find cheep vid cards that will work but not an 8800 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitualBlack Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 ya, the 8500 is just barely doing what I want it to now, but if the power supply is to low it will stay out of date. I guess I will just have to wait before I install any of the new games I bought. Thanks :happy: Erik005, I was only wanting to put like $200 into upgrading my tower because I could play games on it until my laptop arrives, and afterward it could serve as a nice LAN machine. I am not really interested in buying a new tower because than I would have to move everything over to the tower, and than to my laptop (if it ever arrives) + I wouldn't even really use the new tower. I suppose I will still be limited to medium settings on games made around 2006, and WC3 :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N3C14R Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 (edited) I pretty sure you could still find an open box Evga 9800GT Akimbo for $70 for less on Tiger Direct, they had this deal running a couple of months ago, not sure if it's still valid. Upgrading the P4 to a midrange Pentium D or, if your mobo allows it a E2XXX/E3XXX C2D would benifit aswell, as they also can get gotton hold of for cheap. A decent 400 to 500 watt can be bought for cheap nowadays and would ensure the rest of the upgrades would work adequatly well with the added power draw capabilities.Assuming everything was compatible. Edited July 12, 2011 by N3C14R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samadchaz Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 200$ upgrade on 350watt? hmmmyou can upgrade to 9500gthttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130395withhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130305http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122&cm_re=ddr2_2gb-_-20-231-122-_-Producthttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116381ORhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115056 its up to you ;) (after this your tower can handle new Mages out there) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitualBlack Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 I am not sure if the 9500 would be enough of a change from the 8500. It would help but I was hoping to give it a significant bargain upgrade. N3C14R I haven't looked at power supplys in a while so if you can pick up a cheep one I may just do that but I am not sure if I want to drop the extra money. I will check out prices and your links and in a while I will make the decision. +kudos to you guys for helping and samadchaz you have a great banner. The little mouse bench pressing the trap is very funny :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresxx Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 If you are looking to extend the life of that old P4, try the buy/sell/trade sections in computer enthusiast forums or EBAY, craigslist, etc. Yuo should be able to find used power supplies and older graphics cards for cheap. Lots of people have extra hardware that they get rid of this way. Do not spend any money on brand new stuff for an older computer like that. Only spend money if you can score a good deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N3C14R Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 I am not sure if the 9500 would be enough of a change from the 8500. It would help but I was hoping to give it a significant bargain upgrade. N3C14R I haven't looked at power supplys in a while so if you can pick up a cheep one I may just do that but I am not sure if I want to drop the extra money. I will check out prices and your links and in a while I will make the decision. +kudos to you guys for helping and samadchaz you have a great banner. The little mouse bench pressing the trap is very funny :DThese 2 would work fine.Rosewell 530W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182199 $50Antec 550W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016 $65 ($50 After mail in rebate.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitualBlack Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 Those are some good tips thresxx I will consider some used parts, and I had no idea that power supplies were so cheep. In the future when I get some money I will definitely consider it now. Thanks N3C14R and everyone else. That just about wraps it up :biggrin: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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