Advive on Upgrading a desktop

[tecnowraith]

Hey all this a part 2 of my technology adivce series (being silly I know) and I am now ready to uprgrade my desktop that is like 10 to 15 years old I think. My mom has been using my desktop latey and she finally is ready to upgrade it and she is gonna help out with finance. I am need help/advice on what to get now adays cause I have not truly kept up on the latest tech. The type of pc I am goning for is a gaming pc so I know graphics and processor need to be good. I do not know my budget yet but I do know nothing too exspenive. The parts I need that I can think of at this point are: Motherboad, chip processor, graphics card, memory and hard drive.

What I need to know is which brand name to to get for eac. I know I need and intel core, western digital or something else, the rest is what need help with. Any suggestions or advice is great aprieciated.
Thanks

 

[Janx]

would a modern board fit into a 10-15 year old case?

Surely the ports would have slid around. heck nowadays, PS2 ports aren't common. It's all USB.

I don't see the appeal of building a machine from scratch. Past experiences has been that you'll spend about the same as buying a new PC. At least compare/contrast your build list vs. buying an AlienWare and being done with it

 

[Umbran]

I don't see the appeal of building a machine from scratch. Past experiences has been that you'll spend about the same as buying a new PC.

I can see two reasons for doing so:

1) You really know what you're doing, and can thus put together a machine with exactly the specs you desire.

2) You have access to parts at significant discount. If you're not using some form of Linux, you probably have to include the OS price, remember...

Otherwise, I don't see it as a win. Not that assembling a box is actually difficult, but you won't realize monetary savings or performance benefits unless at least one of those is true.

At least compare/contrast your build list vs. buying an AlienWare and being done with it

If you aren't a hardcore gamer, pretty much anything you get these day will be sufficient. Go to Dell, or HP, and buy a box, and you're done.

 

[Janx]

I can see two reasons for doing so:

1) You really know what you're doing, and can thus put together a machine with exactly the specs you desire.

2) You have access to parts at significant discount. If you're not using some form of Linux, you probably have to include the OS price, remember...

Otherwise, I don't see it as a win. Not that assembling a box is actually difficult, but you won't realize monetary savings or performance benefits unless at least one of those is true.



If you aren't a hardcore gamer, pretty much anything you get these day will be sufficient. Go to Dell, or HP, and buy a box, and you're done.

If he enjoys it, that's his call. having built my own PC and worked as an engineer at one of those companies, my experience is that it's just not worth it.

Nobody knows architecture like the engineers, so most people are just picking parts by reputation and reviews. There's no magic "I know better than everybody else" sauce to be had. Sure the consumer stuff isn't as good for gaming. Because it's cheap hardware with video memory coming from the PC's main memory.

Once you slap your whitebox together, you're lacking any benefit of QA or certification process. If you buy a Dell or HP, all the drivers had to pass certification. Not that it's an awesome test, but it finds bugs that get sent back to the driver guys to be fixed.

You don't get that with a whitebox. Your motherboard has never been formally tested with the storage controller or video card that you are about to put in it by an organization that can push back on the vendor to fix their driver before it ships because it failed Microsoft WHQL Certification.

DIY is a fine hobby. But it ain't cost effective.

 

[Deset Gled]

First, if your old computer is 10-15 years old, you're not upgrading. You're starting from scratch. There is nothing in your 10-15 year old computer that is worth trying to salvage for a new project.

Second, it's kind of difficult to give you parts recommendations without a budget. A reasonable consumer grade desktop can cost anywhere from $300 to $3000. Comparing the low end ones to the high end ones is like trying to compare a golf cart to a semi truck; they both have wheels and go forward, but they're very different under the hood. Knowing exactly what you want to do with it (i.e what games you want to play, what other things you expect to do, where it needs to go, how long it needs to last, etc) would also be helpful.

I would mirror the advice of others that it's probably not the best idea to build your own system. Based on the scenario you're painting, your level of tech knowledge on the subject matter is a little lower than I would recommend for starting from scratch. If you really want to take on building a computer as a hobby, the place you want to start is Newegg's DIY combo's: http://www.newegg.com/DIY-PC-Combos/PromotionStore/ID-33 This gives you two key benefits: discounts, and a guarantee that the parts you buy will be compatible with each other.

 

[trappedslider]

The reason behind building your own computer is that it's just easier to upgrade parts. I had an acer aspire and in order to upgrade any part on it, I had to get a new power supply,which meant a new case. So now that i have the new power supply,new graphics and a new case, next time i chose to upgrade, it will be the cost of a new part rather than a whole new computer.

As for gaming, it would depend on what game ( s ) you plan to run on it. Then i'd recommend going to that games forum and asking about computer specs.

I know a number of folks who have built their own systems that are cheaper than an alienware pc and can run some games at the high end specs.

http://lifehacker.com/5840963/the-best-pcs-you-can-build-for-600-and-1200

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

For many years now all I've done for moving to a better machine is buy a box off the shelf with a decent processer and adequate memory and then add a good video card and maybe some more memory.

Even if you are a gamer, unless you're a HARDCORE gamer that's plenty good enough.

 

[Janx]

The reason behind building your own computer is that it's just easier to upgrade parts. I had an acer aspire and in order to upgrade any part on it, I had to get a new power supply,which meant a new case. So now that i have the new power supply,new graphics and a new case, next time i chose to upgrade, it will be the cost of a new part rather than a whole new computer.

As for gaming, it would depend on what game ( s ) you plan to run on it. Then i'd recommend going to that games forum and asking about computer specs.

I know a number of folks who have built their own systems that are cheaper than an alienware pc and can run some games at the high end specs.

http://lifehacker.com/5840963/the-best-pcs-you-can-build-for-600-and-1200

By all means, one should be able to beat the pricing on a top AlienWare. But $300 ain't gonna get you a gaming machine either.

The problem with your logic is in this fragment: cost of a new part

If you are building a top end gaming machine from scratch, 2 years from now, exactly what part do you think you are going to upgrade that is going to make the machine better than it is now?

drives don't count, they're a commodity item
memory doesn't count. You should already have the top-end of RAM you'll ever need on this technology generation (if 4GB is standard on a PC, you should have at least 16GB, and no game will use more than 8GB if 4GB is standard).

Processors are architecture and timing dependant on the motherboard. You should already have a top speed CPU, and in 2 years, the next gen CPU will have a different socket anyway, meaning you'll need a new motherboard.

Upgrading a PC in parts only happens when the existing equipment was not top of the line in the first place. If you're gimping your purchase at that level anyway, then you aren't making a gaming machine, you are dabbling.

Furthermore, any such upgrade you make is likely marginal and minimally impactful. Notice how consumer CPU speeds haven't crossed the 3GHz line in over a decade. At most, you get more cores on a single CPU. Which is nice, but ultimately, a game wasn't designed to run on a server, it's not going to get dramatic benefit from ridiculous # of cores. Same as RAM. It's expensive at the higher counts, and over 16GB, you're not likely utilizing it for a game, so adding more isn't going to net a benefit.

Past a certain threshold, the only thing that matters is the video card. And the perks from that are dependant on how it connects to the processor. And that's under the control of the motherboard design and what implementation it uses for PCI Express and what slot you stick it in. Which is back to, are you a motherboard designer?

 

[tecnowraith]

Well I think several wasked what was my budget which I have which is no more than $1,000. Sorry for my bad wording my 1st thread and causing somewhat I was excited about "getting a new pc" and I knew I needed help.

 

[trappedslider]

By all means, one should be able to beat the pricing on a top AlienWare. But $300 ain't gonna get you a gaming machine either.

The problem with your logic is in this fragment: cost of a new part

If you are building a top end gaming machine from scratch, 2 years from now, exactly what part do you think you are going to upgrade that is going to make the machine better than it is now?

drives don't count, they're a commodity item
memory doesn't count. You should already have the top-end of RAM you'll ever need on this technology generation (if 4GB is standard on a PC, you should have at least 16GB, and no game will use more than 8GB if 4GB is standard).

Processors are architecture and timing dependant on the motherboard. You should already have a top speed CPU, and in 2 years, the next gen CPU will have a different socket anyway, meaning you'll need a new motherboard.

Upgrading a PC in parts only happens when the existing equipment was not top of the line in the first place. If you're gimping your purchase at that level anyway, then you aren't making a gaming machine, you are dabbling.

Furthermore, any such upgrade you make is likely marginal and minimally impactful. Notice how consumer CPU speeds haven't crossed the 3GHz line in over a decade. At most, you get more cores on a single CPU. Which is nice, but ultimately, a game wasn't designed to run on a server, it's not going to get dramatic benefit from ridiculous # of cores. Same as RAM. It's expensive at the higher counts, and over 16GB, you're not likely utilizing it for a game, so adding more isn't going to net a benefit.

Past a certain threshold, the only thing that matters is the video card. And the perks from that are dependant on how it connects to the processor. And that's under the control of the motherboard design and what implementation it uses for PCI Express and what slot
you stick it in. Which is back to, are you a motherboard designer?

I was using my own life experience as one view point, sorry for going "hey this is how i feel about it and here's why" and by the way you seem very set against someone building their own pc unless they are a professional.

Well I think several wasked what was my budget which I have which is no more than $1,000. Sorry for my bad wording my 1st thread and causing somewhat I was excited about "getting a new pc" and I knew I needed help.

The link i posted from lifehack, will give you some ideas regarding cost and parts for your budget.