[Jaexyn]

Hey all, need some pro help. I've had my machine for years...like 10 of them. It's a bit of a Frankenstein as I've added parts to it over the years as some either failed or were just not enough to run my games. I'm gonna be playing the new Tera and Guild Wars 2 and while my laptop is a nice Asus i5, I'd still like to play on the desktop when I can. My question is should I bother trying to get upgrades (mobo, ram, processor) or should I just buy new?

Now the embarrassing part, here's my "rig" (HP Pavilion a1632x) lol:

Base processor
Athlon 64 X2 (W) 3800+ 2.0 GHz

2000 MT/s (mega transfers/second)
Socket 939

Chipset
GeForce 6150 LE
Motherboard

Manufacturer: Asus
Motherboard Name: A8N-LA
HP/Compaq motherboard name: Nagami2-GL8E

Memory
3GB

Hard Drive
300GB 7200rpm SATA

Upgraded parts:
OCZ 700W PSU
GTX 260 Core 216 graphics card

That's pretty much it. Any help would be great. It's lasted me quite well for years and held up very well for what I've put it through. Just need to know if the old girl should be retired.

~Jackson

This post has been edited by Jaexyn: 18 April 2012 - 07:14 PM

[LiveBrianD]

Hey, that's not too bad. However, I think the CPU is probably a bottleneck, and you can't upgrade past a athlon x2 4800+ (not too much better). Plus, the ram is only DDR1, max 4GB. Besides, if you upgrade things like the GPU, I'm not sure how well the cheap HP case will be able to keep up with cooling (though I guess it's ok, given you have a 260 in there right now). The machine can probably run those games without a problem.

That said, I don't think putting more money into upgrades for this machine is a good idea at this point. My suggestion is to use this as an excuse to build a new rig . (Note: if you do so, wait a week or so for Ivy Bridge to come out - you might be able to snag one of those if they aren't out of stock, and if they are, at least you might be able to grab a Sandy Bridge CPU for less. They both use the same socket, LGA1155, and thus are backwards compatible.)

[techie4fun]

Buy new, or build. You can find decent systems suitable for what you need for less than $500 if you buy. Just find a better video card and pop it in the new machine. A good point is that upgrading your current might cause issues with air circulation, and your current case lies the culprit here, if it's as small as we think it is.

[waldojim]

This is the point at which you need to start replacing your motherboard/CPU/ram. You have a decent power supply, and a fair enough video card. All in all, you could drop $300~$400 and end up with a kickin machine, or if you want to save some $$$ drop about $200 and still wind up with more than enough power for the games you mentioned.

[ElfBane]

I think upgrading would only get you to what you can play today. If you can afford it, I would get something that would allow you to play games for at least 2-3 more years. Plus, you will love Win7 x64 with 8GB RAM, IMO.

[Jaexyn]

Thanks for the info guys. That's pretty much was I was expecting to see. Think I'll wait until the Ivys come out to see if the Sandys drop in price and just get a suitable setup then.

[Melissa12]

Exactly I had this question in my mind as to what could be done in such kind of situation. I know now what could be done. Thanks for your excellent cues.

[coastie65]

Jaexyn, on 19 April 2012 - 02:35 AM, said:

Thanks for the info guys. That's pretty much was I was expecting to see. Think I'll wait until the Ivys come out to see if the Sandys drop in price and just get a suitable setup then.

Hi. It would depend how you want to go. With that case, you would to go with a mATX socket 1155 Motherboard to accomodate whichever processor you went with ( Sandy or Ivy ). Being as how that is a prebuilt, you are saddled with an OEM operating system so need that as well as a Graphics card, memory ( DDR3 ) and a PSU suitable for whatever Graphics card you chose. You could just hold off until the release of the IVY ( Q3 I think ) and buy or build. That would give you ample time to plan a build.

[waldojim]

If you are going with a dual core, then just remember that Intel has intentionally held back release of dual core IVY because sales have been slow on the SB's. Meaning that I doubt you will see those prices drop for some time yet.

[coastie65]

I think that is the same model as my Nephew has and I'd just wait and get something new or build. That thing is definitely getting long in the tooth and it is also a Mini Tower which restricts things a bit.

[bernhard8]

That thing is definitely getting long in the tooth and it is also a Mini Tower which restricts things a bit.