Upgrade or new build?

[Omnisome]

Hello, after building a new computer for my Mom I've decided to upgrade my own but from looking at my current specifications do you lot think the more appropriate road to take is to save money and buy a new one. I know I've made some bad choices in the past but I am somewhat new in this field.
1280x1024@75Hz.

I am 14 years of age so money is scarce!

From Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 to Battlefield 3! I do plan on getting Windows 7!

 

[Crap Daddy]

Well, for starters you can keep the GPU, PSU, case and HDD and get a CPU, mobo, memory and OS. You should set a budget for those three components and start looking around.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

If this is your case...

then i would get rid of it. you need something with BETTER airflow to keep your hardware cool. if you are on budget, look at getting a case like an Antec 100. it costs more then your cheapo CiT 1008 but its got ventilation by the bucket loads compared to your current case.

It will be better for you hardware in the long run

 

[Omnisome]

Well thanks but at this time I've no problems with the case.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Well thanks but at this time I've no problems with the case.

of course not. but if you choose to upgrade then you will need something with better ventilation to keep everything cool. If your brave enough you can use a dremel tool and cut yourself a small hole to fit a 120mm fan.

YOU might not have a problem with overheating, but your hardware does.

start showing those Aunties an Uncles some puppy dog eyes when it comes to birthdays n Christmases and start saving up. otherwise see if anyones willing to hire you for a small part time job. thats what i did. I started working when i was 12. of course they will pay you shit money because youre not yet 16 but if the managers a nice guy you should get a alright pay for a few hours work. think of it as extra pocket money. meanwhile it also looks good on your CV when you start applying for other jobs. dont sit around waiting for handouts. if you want something badly enough then go work for it

 

[kurosagi01]

Which country are you from within the EU be a nice start for us to look for good price etc.

 

[AsRock]

It this is your case...

http://www.aone.zen.co.uk/imagesproduct/cs/large/cscit1008.jpg

then i would get rid of it. you need something with BETTER airflow to keep your hardware cool. if you are on budget, look at getting a case like an Antec 100. it costs more then your cheapo CiT 1008 but its got ventilation by the bucket loads compared to your current case.

It will be better for you hardware in the long run

Or a dremel .. And surely one of those is cheaper than a good case and could come useful for other stuff later. Unless mother would not allow him to use such crafting tool .

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Or a dremel .. And surely one of those is cheaper than a good case and could come useful for other stuff later. Unless mother would not allow him to use such crafting tool .

--->

of course not. but if you choose to upgrade then you will need something with better ventilation to keep everything cool. If your brave enough you can use a dremel tool and cut yourself a small hole to fit a 120mm fan.

 

[Evolved]

Get a HAF 912 as your new case
or a HAF 922, if you willing to spend a bit more.

 

[AsRock]

--->

.. Ok i with ya on that no idea how i missed that lol...


Get some crafting skills going ..

 

[craigo]

Does that AMD unlock at all? maybe you could get more performance by unlocking the cpu cores.
It looks to me like you only have 1 stick of ram if you add another stick of the same capacity for a dual channel configuration it will increase the systems overall performance that is a cheap way to squeeze a little longer out of that system spend your cash on a new monitor and nicer card to drive higher res gameplay later and as soon as amd`s bulldozer comes on sale buy a very cheap max cpu for your system....I see no problem with your case at all for now but a higher end card may require you to fill the fan spots with decent quality fans...remember its not your system budget, its how you frag the opposition.

 

[Peter1986C]

Craigo, any TPU member should now that a Regor is a native Dual Core CPU and cannot be unlocked.

It this is your case...

http://www.aone.zen.co.uk/imagesproduct/cs/large/cscit1008.jpg

then i would get rid of it. you need something with BETTER airflow to keep your hardware cool. if you are on budget, look at getting a case like an Antec 100. it costs more then your cheapo CiT 1008 but its got ventilation by the bucket loads compared to your current case.

It will be better for you hardware in the long run

Erm sorry but the Antec 100 costs ~70 euros in the EU AFAIK, while a Xigmatek Asgard of 30-40 euros should be more than enough.

Or a dremeling of a fan hole in the side panel at ~the height of the graphics card for an intake fan and (optional) a hole in the top for an additional exhaust fan is an option too. The only problem of that solution (money wise) is that the addition of decent fans and meshes/fan grills would make the cost ~equal to the price of an Asgard.

 

[hat]

We might be better able to help if you gave us a budget, too.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

He says money is scarce, so im guessing not even 100USD.

 

[r9]

That is descent build especially at that resolution. Overclock the cpu get W7 and some more ram and you are set.

 

[WarraWarra]

A possible answer that could work:
Recycle as much as you can, get a few big 60CFM or more fans for $3 each or one of the 4pack for $14.
Thermal paste and a good cpu cooler is a bonus or worst case thermal paste only and what ever comes in the box of the cpu for now.
GPU:
You can reuse your GPU.
Ram:
You would likely have to go DDR3 so $50-$80 or get a mboard that can do both ddr2+ddr3 and use old ram, ram is cheap and about to go up during summer sales time until Oct where the prices usually stabilize again.
CPU:
Likely AMD as they are cheap and decent for gaming or get a cheap low end i3-i5-i7 as they can be pushed to decent performance. Socket 1155 is where you would want to go at this time if possible.
Mboard:
$60-$120 should cover you and seeing you have or will have / can afford 1 gpu you can get a decent mboard for this price. There is mini-itx that already has wifi and other stuff in but might cost a bit more = same or less than buying individual parts. AMD or Socket 1155.

Your biggest problem could be mboard and ram once you have this with basic part you can always latter replace the cpu or gpu as you get more cash.

Bargains:
Coupons / 2nd hand decent GPU's from a trusted person that is upgrading, microdirect or microcentre or something has shops in CA + all over and extremely good specials only instore not online and you can get up to 60% of retail price if you buy in store.
There is similar shops.

Do you need the best motherboard / gpu / cpu = no just what gets you to a level and then add later is best option.
Best upgrade you will ever buy is a SSD hard drive 64gb and use it as boot / games drive and old HD as storage space 2nd drive.

OS:
WinXP is great I love it, don't be fooled by Vista / Win7 unless you are buying a DX11 card and really need to only run DX11 games. $180 for Win7 = ouch that is 2xSSD's in raid0 price or a decent video card or half your replacement parts cost = not worth upgrading the OS.

Research:
Then decide on parts and use newegg or similar add to cart to get general idea of total budget and then see if you can use xp and xp drivers on that hardware and how many issues is there with that specific chips on the 3 narrowed down mboards you are looking at and their driver issues.

Worst case you can get a demo of Win7 and use it for 3 or 6 months to test it if you really need to but Win7 coming from XP will irritate the heck out of you. Win7 is stupid or it feels stupid and too many stuff in the wrong places / hidden for XP users. XpAntiSpy, UWT and a few others can fix Win7 from stupid to usable.

SSD and cpu is the only things you should look at, at this time from what you have. Or get something you can re-use later if you upgrade. Summer time is here, maybe get a job in a pc hardware store, make money and use the staff discount to build a better pc ?

Hope this helps.

 

[Doherz]

According to the biostar site his board will support all models of phenom 2. So a phenom 2 955 would be a reasonably priced upgrade that would add performance, add that to another 2gb of ram and you will have a much more capable system.

The case suggestion is pretty valid too, if you want to upgrade to anything more powerful in the future you will need better cooling.

 

[hat]

I noticed you have the same processor I do. I overclocked mine to 3.5GHz without overvolting it at all, and I would expect your chip to be able to do the same. If you want to look into overclocking, that 700MHz boost would be quite nice.

 

[Funtoss]

change cpu and motherboard and buy more ram

 

[BraveSoul]

looks like another 2gb of ram... then a better video card

 

[qubit]

Omnisome, I think you've been given some great replies here. However, please tell us how much you have to spend, as that pretty much defines what you can do.

At 14, I imagine you're money's coming from your parents? Perhaps show them this thread, which might encourage them to give you more money for this.

Regardless of how much you have to spend, I recommend waiting for the imminent release of AMDs Bulldozer octacore (8 core) CPUs before buying, as pricing for everything will inevitably be adjusted downwards after that.

One last note about your OS. XP might be old, on its way out and doesn't support DX11, but it does give significantly better frame rates than Vista or 7 in DX9. This is especially important if your framerate in a particular game is somewhat borderline. I posted a thread about this ages ago on TPU if you want to find it. Therefore, if money is really tight, you might want to delay buying Windows 7 for now. This advice is not hard and fast though and 7 has hundreds of general improvements over XP, including better security.

www.fraps.com Awesome utility for displaying your framerate in real time. Comes in a free version.