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What To Do With Upgrading PC?

Darkening Demise

By Darkening Demise,
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nutluck

nutluck

Posted
Posted

Where would I go though with my PC about upgrading? The only place of business for quite some miles around here is Kroger!

 

Well where do you live exactly? As in what town/city, in what state/providence, and what country? If you live in a very out of the way location, your best bet would be to find a small PC shop. But those are hit and miss, some are very good and cheap and some are expensive and bad.

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pinky6225

pinky6225

Posted
Posted

Where would I go though with my PC about upgrading? The only place of business for quite some miles around here is Kroger!

 

I think it might be worth you downloading piriform speccy http://www.piriform.com/speccy - get the free version

 

Then you can run it and give a more accurate description of what you have to then work out what can be upgraded since depending on what you already have upgrading maybe fairly cheap or it may be totally unviable/not cost effective i.e you have a old socket motherboard that better cpu's are no longer available for so you would have to replace the motherboard and the cpu so basically all your actually keeping is the case

 

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nutluck

nutluck

Posted
Posted

 

Where would I go though with my PC about upgrading? The only place of business for quite some miles around here is Kroger!

 

I think it might be worth you downloading piriform speccy http://www.piriform.com/speccy - get the free version

 

Then you can run it and give a more accurate description of what you have to then work out what can be upgraded since depending on what you already have upgrading maybe fairly cheap or it may be totally unviable/not cost effective i.e you have a old socket motherboard that better cpu's are no longer available for so you would have to replace the motherboard and the cpu so basically all your actually keeping is the case

 

 

 

Yeah he has a old style motherboard with a FM1 socket for AMD's, AMD's are now doing AM1-3 and FM2 sockets. Can't really find CPU's for his motherboard. Which to me suggest the motherboard is fairly old and is going to be limited on ram etc. But yes knowing the exact motherboard would help us offer suggestions on what could be upgraded. Though I am thinking a new PC might just be a better bet at this point.

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Darkening Demise

Darkening Demise

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My location? Davison, Michigan.

If I can't run Skyrim with ENB mods and overhauls like apachiiskyhair on NPCs and trees and grass fields like MXR has going for example. Then I'm not interested in upgrading. Especially since I have over 500GB data on my hard drive that I'm concerned about if I do just need to buy a whole new PC.

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chevyowner

chevyowner

Posted
Posted
Yeah he has a old style motherboard with a FM1 socket for AMD's, AMD's are now doing AM1-3 and FM2 sockets. Can't really find CPU's for his motherboard. Which to me suggest the motherboard is fairly old and is going to be limited on ram etc. But yes knowing the exact motherboard would help us offer suggestions on what could be upgraded. Though I am thinking a new PC might just be a better bet at this point.

 

 

You don't want to buy an AM3 motherboard anymore. It should be AM3+, and yes there is a difference. IIRC very few AM3 motherboards support the current AM3+ CPUs.

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nutluck

nutluck

Posted
Posted

 

Yeah he has a old style motherboard with a FM1 socket for AMD's, AMD's are now doing AM1-3 and FM2 sockets. Can't really find CPU's for his motherboard. Which to me suggest the motherboard is fairly old and is going to be limited on ram etc. But yes knowing the exact motherboard would help us offer suggestions on what could be upgraded. Though I am thinking a new PC might just be a better bet at this point.

 

 

You don't want to buy an AM3 motherboard anymore. It should be AM3+, and yes there is a difference. IIRC very few AM3 motherboards support the current AM3+ CPUs.

 

I am not a AMD person so I don't know much about them. I only know the FM1 is gone and the others still exist. Before I would have suggested him buying one I would have looked up the differences. That post was only pointing out that the other motherboards still had CPU's being sold for them, while the one he has does not. So his is a very old motherboard or one that just got obsoleted very fast.

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Darkening Demise

Darkening Demise

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So could I just replace the AMD parts with Nvidia since AMD is pretty much history? I keep reading Tripwire is using Nvidia stuff for the gore system and whatnot in Killing Floor 2. Right now I can't play that game with graphical settings higher than medium and most things are off like motion blur, anti analising, low shaders, etc. Just as long as my hard drive data is safe, I'll be OK with upgrading. So what kind of businesses should I look for? Does Best Buy do anything? (Wait that's in Flint, a bad part, never mind!)

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nutluck

nutluck

Posted
Posted

So could I just replace the AMD parts with Nvidia since AMD is pretty much history? I keep reading Tripwire is using Nvidia stuff for the gore system and whatnot in Killing Floor 2. Right now I can't play that game with graphical settings higher than medium and most things are off like motion blur, anti analising, low shaders, etc. Just as long as my hard drive data is safe, I'll be OK with upgrading. So what kind of businesses should I look for? Does Best Buy do anything? (Wait that's in Flint, a bad part, never mind!)

 

AMD makes CPU's and video cards. Nvidia makes video cards. What is the problem with yours is your motherboard supports AMD CPU. Intel not Nvidia makes the other type of CPU. But you can't switch out CPU's they require a socket.

 

Think of a socket like a bolt, a bolt will only thread into a hole that is made for that sized bolt. You can't put a 1 inch bolt into a 1.2 inch bolt hole. It just won't fit. A socket for a CPU is along those lines. A FM1 socket CPU which is what you have only fits in a motherboard with a FM1 socket. Only AMD makes FM1 socket CPU's. So a intel chip would not fit in the motherboard.

 

In your case AMD no long makes FM1 socket CPU's so you can't even upgrade your CPU with out buying a new motherboard. If you buy a new motherboard there is a chance you would need new ram as well.

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nutluck

nutluck

Posted
Posted

:-/ ..............so just save a shit ton of money and buy a whole new PC then, gotcha. :P

 

 

Well some stuff can be used on your new computer. Your power supply if it is big enough to support the new parts you buy you could move over. If your HDD has sata connectors it would be moved over. Similar with your DVD player could be moved. Your ram might be able to be used on a new motherboard. Would need a lot more information about your system to know for sure what could and could not be used on a new motherboard.

 

The only things for sure is you would need a motherboard and cpu, which depending on what you want could cost as little as 300 US or as much as 1k range depending on just how high end you wanted to go. Like if you switched to intel (I am using that as a example because I know them) you could get a i5 3.5gig CPU and motherboard for around 450-500, if you was willing to do the work yourself.

 

I am assuming you just went to a store and bought a ready to go PC sitting on a self. If so your PC should have a model number. Like HP 705n or something like that, HP is for hewlet packard PC. Other brands will be different but have a number and letters for model number along those lines. Look for that on your case. They tend to be on the front or the side of the PC. If you tell us the model number we can look up the specs of the PC. Then tell us any new parts you put in the PC since you bought it if any.

 

With that information we could tell you a lot more on exactly what you would need to upgrade your PC.

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nutluck

nutluck

Posted
Posted

HP

Pavilion p7-1254

PC

 

Ok it uses Sata connectors which is good, that means the HDD and DVD you can swap. It uses DDR3 ram which is good it is only DDR-1333 ram so a little on the slow side but ram is cheap and you can upgrade it next year or when you next have money. The important part is it uses the same pins and DDR type as most ram other than the really high end stuff.

 

Ok it only has a 300w PSU which is to low if you want a better system. The case is also a bit small but it is a full ATX form motherboard which is good, just would be tight fit. Which could causes problems with heat if you go to high on parts and make it harder to work on.

 

Though you will need a video card ASAP as it only has a integrated video card on the motherboard which they all have but that will be a huge bottleneck. Even upgrading the stuff I listed the computer wouldn't play games much better. What it would do is be ready to easily upgrade it later with a video card and ram, then with the new CPU etc you would see a huge performance jump.

 

Looking up parts on newegg these are the prices you would expect to pay. Staying with a AMD.

Motherboard = $100 MSI 970 Gaming AM3+

CPU = $100 AMD FX-4350 quad-core 4.2gig CPU

PSU = $65 Corsair CX600

video card = $140 GTX 750Ti 2gig card EVGA 02G-P4-3753-KR

 

The rest of your parts would work with that. So the cost would be $405 +shipping and tax. So say around 450-470 range. If you was willing to do the work yourself.

 

The above parts are just parts I grabbed at random off the newegg site that would fit your requirements. Before I would recommend them you would need to research them. I just used them as a example to give you a rough idea.

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chevyowner

chevyowner

Posted
Posted

GTAV is going to need a better GPU then a 750 TI even for medium. It may work better with windows 10, but we don't know yet. The biggest problem that GPU will have is a lack of VRAM.

 

I would also stay away from those dual co....err "quad core" AMDs, and get an i5 instead.

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nutluck

nutluck

Posted
Posted

I prefer intel chips myself but I was listing AMD incase he prefers them.

 

As for GTA V I know people playing it on max settings with a 780 2 gig card(using windows 7 64 bit) and the specs only call for a gtx 600 2 gig card for recommended specs. The required specs are way lower.

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nutluck

nutluck

Posted
Posted

 

Depends on the game. But don't buy from Bestbuy they are way over priced.

 

You can get something like this from Ibuypower

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Intel-Z97-Core-i7-Configurator

 

Better case

same CPU

much better video card.

better motherboard

 

choose to upgrade to 16gig of ram option and upgrade the video card to a GTX 960 4gig video card and you have a much better computer for only 150 bucks more.

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Darkening Demise

Darkening Demise

Posted
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Posted

 

 

Depends on the game. But don't buy from Bestbuy they are way over priced.

 

You can get something like this from Ibuypower

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Intel-Z97-Core-i7-Configurator

 

Better case

same CPU

much better video card.

better motherboard

 

choose to upgrade to 16gig of ram option and upgrade the video card to a GTX 960 4gig video card and you have a much better computer for only 150 bucks more.

 

Ah my current PC was from Best Buy. So if I get that one from your link would it be easier and better to upgrade in time than my current one then? Also it has so many options for things, what should I pick?

 

OK here are the things I chose, I have NO clue to anything.

 

 

a71-main.png
Case
Thermaltake Chaser A71 Full Tower Gaming Case Black
LED Fan Lighting
3x [blue] 120mm LED Case Fan
Case Lighting
None
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction
Basic - iBUYPOWER Harmony SRS Sound Reduction System Reduce System Noise
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion
None
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7-4790 Processor (4x 3.60GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
iBUYPOWER PowerDrive
None
Processor Cooling
Asetek 510LC Liquid CPU Cooling System [sOCKET-1150] - Standard 120mm Fan
Memory
16 GB [8 GB x2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand **Free Upgrade to DDR3-2133 G.SKILL Ripjaws X
Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 - 4GB - Single Card
Motherboard
ASUS Z97-P - *Free Upgrade to ASUS Z97-K -- 2x PCIe x16, 4x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0
Intel Smart Response Technology
None
Power Supply
350 Watt - Standard - *Free Upgrade to 700W Standard
PCI-E SSD Card
None
Primary Hard Drive
2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive
Data Hard Drive
None
Optical Drive
24x Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW - Black -- Free Upgrade to LG Blu-ray Reader
2nd Optical Drive
None
Media Card Reader / Writer
None
Meter Display
None
Sound Card
3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Network Card
Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
USB Expansion Card
None
Operating System
None- Pre-formatted Hard Drive Only
Keyboard
iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Keyboard
Mouse
iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Mouse
Monitor
None
2nd Monitor
None
Speaker System
None
Webcam
None
Case Engraving Service
None
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty Service
Rush Service
No Rush Service (Usually Ships in 5-10 business Days)

 

 

 

Subtotal $1216

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nutluck

nutluck

Posted
Posted

yes the advantage other than cheaper for what you get, is when buying from a place like the one I linked is you can upgrade the PC for a lot longer. I got a PC from them 7 years ago and upgrade a part in it every couple of years and have been able to play all the latest games on high settings. I have finally hit the wall where to upgrade more will require a big investment. I will finally need to upgrade the motherboard and CPU.

 

If you got the money then the one you showed will play the vast majority of games on max settings, only a few of the top games mostly first person shooters or witcher 3 would likely need to be set lower than max but likely on high instead of ultra on some things.

 

Any game made for consoles which most are would run great on that PC, assuming it was a good PC port and no Batman Arkam Knight type port.

 

 

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Darkening Demise

Darkening Demise

Posted
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Posted

OK so $1216 (plus whatever else) is what I'll need to save up. So based upon those I could play Skyrim with those ENB mods, tree and grass overhaul mods. Like MXR does in his weekly Skyrim mod videos?

If this thing is a guarantee then I'll get right to working up all the dosh-I need to stop playing KF.

 

Also did it say anywhere on what operating system it comes with? I need to make sure it's also 64-bit and not 32 right?

 

 

OK I got the OS selected, but where do I find out how to make sure it's using the wireless adapter thingy for internet access?

 

 

a71-main.png
Case
Thermaltake Chaser A71 Full Tower Gaming Case Black
LED Fan Lighting
3x [blue] 120mm LED Case Fan
Case Lighting
None
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction
Basic - iBUYPOWER Harmony SRS Sound Reduction System Reduce System Noise
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion
None
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7-4790 Processor (4x 3.60GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
iBUYPOWER PowerDrive
None
Processor Cooling
Asetek 510LC Liquid CPU Cooling System [sOCKET-1150] - Standard 120mm Fan
Memory
16 GB [8 GB x2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand **Free Upgrade to DDR3-2133 G.SKILL Ripjaws X
Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 - 4GB - Single Card
Motherboard
ASUS Z97-P - *Free Upgrade to ASUS Z97-K -- 2x PCIe x16, 4x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0
Intel Smart Response Technology
None
Power Supply
350 Watt - Standard - *Free Upgrade to 700W Standard
PCI-E SSD Card
None
Primary Hard Drive
2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive
Data Hard Drive
None
Optical Drive
24x Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW - Black -- Free Upgrade to LG Blu-ray Reader
2nd Optical Drive
None
Media Card Reader / Writer
None
Meter Display
None
Sound Card
3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Network Card
Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
USB Expansion Card
None
Operating System
Windows 8.1 + Office 365 Trial [Free 30-Day !!!] 64-bit
Monitor
None
2nd Monitor
None
Speaker System
Logitech S120 2.0 Speaker System
Webcam
None
Case Engraving Service
None
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty Service
Rush Service
No Rush Service (Usually Ships in 5-10 business Days)
Additional Software
Microsoft Office 2013 Home and Student Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote included
Gaming Accessories
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
Keyboard
iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Keyboard
Mouse
iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Mouse

 

 

 

$1628

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