Upgrade or bare bones PC?

[Vault boy Eddie]

Here's the situation. My PC isn't half bad, but it's a few years old now. Core 2 Duo, 4 gigs, 512mb PCIe 2.0 and whatnot. But I know it's not gonna be fast enough for upcoming games(mainly Battlefield 3). So I could upgrade the mobo and add the stuff needed to run it and be off. But is this a worthwhile option, when the upgrades will likely run up a tab equal to a bare bones PC? What are your thoughts escapists?

 

[loc978]

depends on how you have your home network set up, really. Personally, when I replace my current system, this one will become a terminal for guests and a file/print server (it has 3TB of hard drive space).
If you wouldn't use your old system for anything, I'd say go with the upgrade. If you would (and you can afford it), I say go for a new build.

 

[Hashime]

Well, the question you must ask yourself is "Do I like my current case" and "Is my current PSU good enough for better hardware".

If you need to replace the PSU just go with a bare bones and use your current box as a secondary / sell it to a buddy / family member.

If you can sell the computer you should strongly consider going the bare bones route, an older MoBo will be unsellable.

In short, do you like your current case, can you sell it, and is your PSU good enough.

 

[Wolfram23]

What specific CPU and GPU do you have, first off?

 

[Shirokurou]

My PC is as old as it can get, without being obsolete.
But I don't really play games on it.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

Well up to now I've upgraded my ram from 2 to 4 gigs, bought the 512 9500GTS vid card, upgraded the power supply to 450 if i'm not mistaken. It's a Core 2 Duo 1.6ghz so 3.2 total. It passes with flying colors all "can you run it" tests with the exception of the processor.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

If I upgraded this one i'd add a hard drive and the processor. But I think that due to the mobo it would have to be a faster core 2 since getting a mobo that can run i5 or i7 would mean DDR3 memory and I currently have DDR2.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Just drop in a core2duo E6500 (2.93Ghz), a GTS450 or better GPU card and a 500W PSU.

 

[JET1971]

barebones is case, PSU(garbage), mobo, and proc. nothing else. buying a barebones rig is not the best way to go when transitioning from older tech (core2 to I5 or I7 example)to newer unless you are building then selling the systems. the best thing for you is to build new and recycle what you can. most upgrade cases you will need mobo, proc, ram, and vid card to upgrade and use the old parts from the last rig including the case. if your PSU is weaksauce then that will add $100 or so to the tab unless you want to take some serious chances.

if you are looking to start fresh for a gaming rig on a budget and wont be using the old one, I suggest upgrade what you have. but if you are confused about what barebone is and think it is the $500.00 budget wallymart boxes... ummm dont buy them they are way worse than buying a barebones except they come with and OS.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

barebones is case, PSU(garbage), mobo, and proc. nothing else. buying a barebones rig is not the best way to go when transitioning from older tech (core2 to I5 or I7 example)to newer unless you are building then selling the systems. the best thing for you is to build new and recycle what you can. most upgrade cases you will need mobo, proc, ram, and vid card to upgrade and use the old parts from the last rig including the case. if your PSU is weaksauce then that will add $100 or so to the tab unless you want to take some serious chances.

if you are looking to start fresh for a gaming rig on a budget and wont be using the old one, I suggest upgrade what you have. but if you are confused about what barebone is and think it is the $500.00 budget wallymart boxes... ummm dont buy them they are way worse than buying a barebones except they come with and OS.

I only shop for PC stuff through tigerdirect, they've never failed me. i'm leaning towards just upgrading the cpu, it's the only thing that fails new game tests, everything else is above par.

 

[Wolfram23]

Well up to now I've upgraded my ram from 2 to 4 gigs, bought the 512 9500GTS vid card, upgraded the power supply to 450 if i'm not mistaken. It's a Core 2 Duo 1.6ghz so 3.2 total. It passes with flying colors all "can you run it" tests with the exception of the processor.

Well first off, 1.6ghz is 1.6ghz... dual core doesn't double the speed, it just means 2 cores are running at 1.6ghz. Anyway that's a really old crappy CPU. My gf had one in her HP desktop.

We ended up upgrading her to a E5700 which is a core 2 duo 2.8ghz CPU and it's a lot faster. But to do that we needed to upgrade the motherboard because the one it came with didn't support the new CPU. So together that was $150. We then upgraded to 4 gigs RAM, but you already have that. We then upgraded to Windows 7 64bit (you need a 64 bit OS to use more than ~3.5gigs of RAM).

So yeah if your motherboard supports better CPUs then just get around a 3ghz dual core, otherwise you may also need to swap the motherboard. BioStar makes cheap ones.

You would also probably want a new video card. A 5770, 450, 550, 6790 are all very good options and probably about as powerful as your system can handle.

All together for cpu, mobo, and gpu you're looking at less than $300

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

Well up to now I've upgraded my ram from 2 to 4 gigs, bought the 512 9500GTS vid card, upgraded the power supply to 450 if i'm not mistaken. It's a Core 2 Duo 1.6ghz so 3.2 total. It passes with flying colors all "can you run it" tests with the exception of the processor.

Well first off, 1.6ghz is 1.6ghz... dual core doesn't double the speed, it just means 2 cores are running at 1.6ghz. Anyway that's a really old crappy CPU. My gf had one in her HP desktop.

We ended up upgrading her to a E5700 which is a core 2 duo 2.8ghz CPU and it's a lot faster. But to do that we needed to upgrade the motherboard because the one it came with didn't support the new CPU. So together that was $150. We then upgraded to 4 gigs RAM, but you already have that. We then upgraded to Windows 7 64bit (you need a 64 bit OS to use more than ~3.5gigs of RAM).

So yeah if your motherboard supports better CPUs then just get around a 3ghz dual core, otherwise you may also need to swap the motherboard. BioStar makes cheap ones.

You would also probably want a new video card. A 5770, 450, 550, 6790 are all very good options and probably about as powerful as your system can handle.

All together for cpu, mobo, and gpu you're looking at less than $300

Hmm, learn something new everyday lol, didn't know that about the dual cores And in regards to nvidia vid cards, something that confuses me, the lower the number the better, is that how it works?

 

[Wolfram23]

Well up to now I've upgraded my ram from 2 to 4 gigs, bought the 512 9500GTS vid card, upgraded the power supply to 450 if i'm not mistaken. It's a Core 2 Duo 1.6ghz so 3.2 total. It passes with flying colors all "can you run it" tests with the exception of the processor.

Well first off, 1.6ghz is 1.6ghz... dual core doesn't double the speed, it just means 2 cores are running at 1.6ghz. Anyway that's a really old crappy CPU. My gf had one in her HP desktop.

We ended up upgrading her to a E5700 which is a core 2 duo 2.8ghz CPU and it's a lot faster. But to do that we needed to upgrade the motherboard because the one it came with didn't support the new CPU. So together that was $150. We then upgraded to 4 gigs RAM, but you already have that. We then upgraded to Windows 7 64bit (you need a 64 bit OS to use more than ~3.5gigs of RAM).

So yeah if your motherboard supports better CPUs then just get around a 3ghz dual core, otherwise you may also need to swap the motherboard. BioStar makes cheap ones.

You would also probably want a new video card. A 5770, 450, 550, 6790 are all very good options and probably about as powerful as your system can handle.

All together for cpu, mobo, and gpu you're looking at less than $300

Hmm, learn something new everyday lol, didn't know that about the dual cores And in regards to nvidia vid cards, something that confuses me, the lower the number the better, is that how it works?

Nope

The first number indicates the generation - 7xxx, 8xxx, and 9xxx being pretty old now. 2xx was next, but only DX10 capable, and then 4xx and 5xx are the newest and DX11 capable. The next numbers - x50, x60, x70, x80 - the higher the better (and more expensive).

Generally each generation of card improves over the last, so a 550 is better than a 450, a 560 is almost as good as a 470, a 570 is as good as a 480, and the 580 is the best single GPU card on the market right now. There is a 590 which is a dual GPU card, and AMD Radeon has their 6990 which is also a dual gpu card.

If you're looking to buy a new card it's important to look at benchmarks and reviews so you know what you're getting into. tomshardware.com, xbitlabs.com, hardwarecanucks.com are all good sources.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

Thanks dude I think i'm starting to get it, don't quiz me tho lol.

 

[Wintermoot]

rebuild it, you might be forced to re-upgrade it later in the year and completely re-building it is the fastest option, it might cost you allot in the short run but you would save money in the long run.