Upgrading PC

K

KennyOlson

Posts: 9   +0
Hello :)

so I'm upgrading a Desktop PC I got from my cousin, as my laptop is slowly dying. It's a Dell Dimension 5100 with less than 1gb RAM. I'm upgrading to 4GB RAM since I found a good deal. I want to play Starcraft 2 and use some music producing programs, so my question is... what kind of Graphics Card and/or Motherboard would work with it, or do I even need to purchase a Motherboard??? also is there anything else you think I should upgrade?

Thank you for your time :)!
 
The Dell Dimension 5100 is an extremely old system. It comes with an Intel Pentium 4 processor that will definitely not handle any of the more modern games. It's based on an Intel 945G chipset that does support some Core 2 Duo CPUs, but might not be worth the upgrade. Although it also features a PCI-E x16 slot that should support all modern GPUs, you'll have to change your PSU for a better one.

I suggest that you save up your money until you can build an entirely new system from scratch.

Also, it would help if you could provide us with an approximate budget.
 
I'm just trying to build a decent PC with the best deals possible that will run a game like SC2, Counterstrike, and run music-related programs. I'm willing to upgrade the entire system if I need to. $200-$400 would be a nice range. Also I'll definitely be using the tower if that helps.
 
I'm off to sleep right now. It's 3 A.M. back here. I'll post a build for you first thing in the morning. :)
 
One more possibility. After rebates, it's under $400.
 

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If you could push your budget more, that would yield a much better graphics card.
No that much you can do for just $400.
 
Doesn't get much better than what JMMD suggested as builds at $400. Push your budget up by around $50 and you could easily get yourself a Radeon HD5770 which will outperform the 5670 by miles.
 
hmmm... I'll have to test this out. Thanks for your help guys! Great forum :) I will probably get the better graphics card, and I also already ordered 4gb RAM so I'm sure will help too :D
 
Alright question.. I found a good deal on a case combo here

I don't quite understand what can fit where so my question is... will all of those options fit in this case? I might have to call Crucial and redo my order since I'm not sure if the 2x2gb cards will fit in this case. Found a good deal on everything else though :)
 
Nevermind.... I'm getting the suggested case. But I do need to find out if the Crucials fit... sorry about that :p!!!!
 
What case? The 5100? I wouldn't be hyperconcerned about that, RAM isn't going to limit fitting in a case most of the time. Usually its the graphics card.

But lets pretend it is the limiting factor for a sec, you could just run caseless.... Or just surf newegg's cheap cases with free shipping. Should be able to find a case and have it shipped to you for less than $20. Sure it isn't going to be a great case, but in my experience, unless you are needing extra cooling from OCing, the cheap cases work just as well as the expensive ones. Where expensive ones win is if you ever want to touch the innards of your system once you've screwed everything in.
 
But I want neon lights!!!!!11!!!11!1!11
Just kidding... but I basically just used all of the suggested parts + a little extra RAM and the better video card, and it wasn't that much over $400. I'm just not sure on the RAM because I had 2 old computers and was going to put one RAM into the other but it did not fit and both were Dell. If it doesn't fit worst case scenario I sell the RAM on ebay since I got it with a sale code anyways or I return it...
You guys have been big help. Thank you so much for your time. I'll definitely be using this forum whether to read/post or try to help others once I learn more :)
 
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