not sure right forum if not sorry to post here. This is the desktop sys. we have currently. P4 2.8 GH, 1.0 RAM. ATI radeon 9600 Graphics card. We use the pc currently mostly to watch online tv. We have used it in past for gaming. (RPG and FPS)MB is ASUS IC7/IC7-G(Intel i875P-ICH5) 1.0/1.1. Hubby says that MB is maxed out as far as it can go. Would like to replace this with something that will last few yrs. Thinking about getting something that is better then what we have that but not expensive that we can upgrade later. What are your suggestions? Can you upgrade i5 MB to i7 later? When we upgrade we are also thinking about putting in Tv tuner card so we can record tv shows in HD. Pc is hooked up to tv. I know we need more mem. also we may need better graphics card. I was thinking something around 500-600 for all things. Hope I gave enough info. If you need more info let me know. Hubby says he would like to have optical and or coax sound out.
It would help your request get more views if you described exactly what type of help you are looking for in your thread TITLE. You can go back and edit that easily.
In the past few years, AMD has been pretty steady with their sockets. If you buy an AM3 socket motherboard, you will be able to get a computer that you should (hopefully) be able to upgrade the processor in the future and it will fall in your price range.
You mentioned upgrading, so are you able to build the computer yourself or do you need a pre-built one? You also said that you did use it for gaming, are you planning to game with your new one? If so, hard-core or more mainstream? You answer those few questions and we will be able to help you better.
yes hubby can build the system. We are trying to find out if there is something we are missing as far as what type of MD /processors are out there with out getting the latest one but something we can upgrade little bit over next few yrs but better and more then what we already have now. We haven't really checked in to what is out there since we upgraded last time which was about 4 or more yrs ago. We haven't kept up. As far as playing games we will play games like civilization, warcraft, Sims 3 ect. Really hardcore games we play on xbox. ( I think you mean hard core as COD 2, bio-shock, ect right?) We also want to record shows via tv tuner so we can watch shows we like later at our time. We had been just watching shows online but we heard that Hulu is going to be charging and the networks that do have shows online have been last month or so have been not keeping videos on their sites so we miss episodes. I hope this made more sense.
Yeah, that helps. Here is what I would recommend: CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 435 $75 Link Motherboard: Asrock AM3 770 $60 Link Video card: Radeon 5670 $85 A/R Link PSU: Rosewill brand 500W $40 Link
Besides that, you will need 4 gigs of DDR3 ram ($100), a HD ($80 for 1TB), a DVD burner ($25), and an ATX case (pick one you like the look of. I like the Antec 300 for $55, but make sure you like the way it looks. Conversely, you could just use the case you have now and save some money).
Finally, your tv tuner. I like the Hauppauge brand, and they can run you anywhere from $50-100, depending on what you want to spend. Make sure you pick a PCI Express interface. I would recommend this one because it currently has a $30 MIR. Link
So by my calculations, you are at $620 with getting a new case. If you cut out the case, you are back in your price range. You could also drop down to a lower capacity HD to save some money. If you need a copy of windows, it will run you $100 for Windows 7 Premium 64 bit.
I hope this helps.
nguyent88
Member
posted: Mar. 12, 2010 @ 12:44a
If you old graphics card works and you have no problems with the quality, I would save money by using it again, if it is a PCI Expressx16 card. IF AGP, then year replace. YOu could also use old DVD drive too and upgrade later. Same with Power supply depending on what size it was. Probably it is 400 Watt PS which is enough to do everything you are doing. Remember to reuse where you can to save money. That is the only way to save money. YOu could spend less than $300 by going to Dell Outlet and purchase a pre-built system that is refurbished or dinged or returned that already has Windows 7. For what you want to do, these systems will be enough for you. Just upgrade video and TV turner and memory.
Yes, I completely agree with re-using components wherever possible. However, the Radeon 9600 graphic card is AGP at best. Also, with the older PSUs, you may not have connectors to go to SATA drives. That is also the problem with older DVD drives, they aren't SATA. Sure, they still work, but for a minimal investment I would get something faster, usually quieter, and with smaller cords that allow for better air flow.
But that is the one thing I always do when I am upgrading, scavenge the old computer for anything that can be used again.
Very hard to be future proof... Don't expect to reuse components after 5 years...
processor, mobo, memory they all go hand in hand and are hard to preserve. Heck, even OS is expensive if you were to get Win7 on your own.
Build a system on your own and compare what you can get from Dell or HP. Unless you are into serious gaming, you should be ok with a built system. Make sure you do your homework specially if you plan on adding your own upgrades (which usually make sense) like video, tuner, br player...
well yes we want it to have our upgrade last about 5-6 yrs. Then upgrade again at that time. That is what we have been doing so far. We just haven't kept up to date since last upgrade this time. We want to know the diff between Athlon II vs i7 as far as how fast and why it's better ect.
chantspel
Geeky member
posted: Mar. 12, 2010 @ 12:10p
OP, you might want to check out some other sources that relate more to hardware. For example Tom's hardware is good for benchmarking CPU's and GPU's. You can generate the specifics benchmark like Athlon II vs i7 etc.
For general system building advise, I like to use Arstechnica forums. The guys over there really know their stuff. http://episteme.arstechnica.com/
I'm not trying to steer you away from FW but you might get more specific advise over there.
I second Chants suggestion of TomsHardware. They have charts on their that list out a hierarchy of where the different processors fall, and also best gaming processors for the money.
A core i7 is faster than a Phenom/Athlon, when it comes to all out performance. Of course, it is also more expensive, as are its components. You also have to see if you are using programs where you will notice the extra speed. Sure, your virus scan may be done 30 seconds sooner, but the real benefit is with heavy duty, multi-threaded programs.
I suggested the Athlon processor above because they are usually the best value for the money. They are cheaper than their Phenom cousins since they lack L3 Cache, but the average user won't notice that. They are also MUCH cheaper than a i7. Also, I like AMD since, at least in the past few years, they have been good about keeping the same CPU sockets, which makes upgrading as easy as buying a new processor.
Hey where do you live at? Is there a Frys around. If so thats the best place to buy the motherboard. You could use Superbiz.com for the dvd-rw. Got mine for $30. 3btech.com for the powersupply,and the atx case. they have a bunch of great cases. I went with the 600w ps for 20 and the atx case for 20.
You should check out pricewatch.com. Decent little site to compare parts. Really depend on the motherboard you go with. The reason I was asking if there is a frys around. Do you really plan on watching tv from computer in the next couple of years. I have never tried it but seems a little restrictive at best. Not so bad if you had multiple towers and one central server. As far as watching "stuff" via computer should look at bintube. Will not state what this is because it does not exist but you may like it. Better than tv. From there if you sign up for what they are offering (get ssl encryption with the service) find your OS and then google windows 7 toolkit or xp wga crack. If confused pm me because I belive the mods are going to hate this post.
There is one critical piece of info that is missing and that is what type of TV you are hooked up to. My guess from your current video card is that you are connected by s-video to an older TV or possibly by VGA to a new flat screen. If you have a flat screen with a VGA or DVI connection, or better yet HDMI, then your options are wide open.
Lets say you have a flat screen or are going to buy one in the near future and base the new PC around it being a PVR. Based on your requirements I would save my money and buy a motherboard with onboard video. No knock against Intel but the best bang for the buck and ease of build for a novice is to go the AMD route. Newegg is going to be the best place to start for most of your parts. Some choices do depend on if you are going to try and salvage parts from the old PC but it is probably best to go all new and keep the old one as a good backup.
It probably is the best deal for onboard graphics that are DirectX 10 capable plus VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs. Also it has optical audio out which you need for a home theater. There are several others in the $70 to $100 range that would be just as good with the same option in a different brand if you have a preference.
CPU:
Any AMD dual, triple, or quad core in a RETAIL box with heatsink and fan for under $100.
Again I would shop at Newegg and go with a dual core in the $60 to $70 range if you are really looking to save money. Go with the triple or quad if money or the slightly higher power usage is not an issue.
Memory:
2 GB if you are going to stay with XP. Possibly 4 GB if you are going to Windows 7.
I'm not going to tell you what to buy because the prices are high right now and I would shop carefully. You can always upgrade the memory later during a sale.
It does everything including ATSC, NTSC, Clear QAM, FM, and hardware MPEG2 encoding. Hauppauge cards are great too but they are generally more expensive. A lot really depends on if this will be a full time video recorder and if so the Hauppauge cards have more 3rd party software options.
Power supply:
Very important so don't go for the cheap no name brand. You want this PC to last five years so go for the quality build with 80 plus certification. There are some very good deals in the $40 to $80 range on Newegg right now.
ok with all due respect if you are posting computer hardware requests on slickdeals I would almost instantly recommend you just buy a HP/Dell/whatever prebuilt system. I personaly have built every computer I've owned for the past 10+ years but it's not for everyone. Building a computer lets you pick exactly what you want but unless you really want to go high end its generally cheaper to just buy a prebuilt one. I would stick with and i5/i7 (i5 is fine unless you have the $$ to spend) and shop around-look for refurb deals etc. If you play civ etc on your computer integrated graphics is fine.
we don't have Frys in our state but we were in Ca last weekend and we actually went there because so many ppl here were saying how they have great deals. We found that no that is not true. They had suckiest deal. We were actually going to spend couple hundred more then what we had planned to get the I7 system they had on sale for about 850 or so. When we got there the sales guy didn't even know about that sale and after I had him go to their website and showing him he says oh we don't have that but we do have this sytems that is 1100 that you can buy. We also have this open box item which is 50 bucks more then the 1100 but it was not even as good as far as speed ect then 1100 one. We found the sales staff to be very very very bad, no help at all. This was in built system area then we went to component area thinking may be better to get parts it self. Hubby is looking at diff MB's and he couldn't find any combo prices. I went over to where they had service station and ask this lady who worked there to help me and she goes oh they are just posted on the wall there. No coming over to show where they were. As we were leaving the component area hubby and I were walking together, she sees hubby and is all so sweetly asks if she can help him find anything. May be she thought I was not worth trying to help me when I asked. If she had only known I was the one who had money cash in my purse she could have made her commission. This Frys was in or near Milpitas not sure where it was we were visiting family. So the experience at Fry's has taught us that they have no good sales ppl who doesn't want to help customers but want to push product that will get them more commission and in doing so they lost a cash customer. If any Fry's ppl happen to read this learn to better pay attention to customers or they will leave. As for the question about what type of tv is hooked up its big LCD or plasma I think and it's hooked up with HDMI I think cause hubby said something about HDMI on motherboard.
Ahh! I went to a girlfriend's house, so I am finally able to respond to this thread... read it in the library, but never could login. Office Depot has a HP tower PC on sale every other week for $599 (in the off weeks its $699 or $669). http://www.OfficeDepot.com/a/products/593973/HP-Pavilion-p6330f-Desktop-Computer-With/ This has an integrated Clarkedale GPU, which can play Sims 3 probably (have not tried - do nt own computer nor Sims 3) http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=879&type=expert&pid=10 and here is the motherboard link http://h10025.www1.HP.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02014355&tmp_track_link=ot_faqs/top_issues/en_us/c02014355/loc:2&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=4120664 Happy Gaming! Peace.
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