I am trying to upgrade my PC (first timer) and I would like some help please

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Mephisticles

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I am using an old Gateway LX 6810-01.

http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/gateway-lx-6810-01/4507-3118_7-33513654.html

For being so old, it still runs everything, albeit on low settings. I want to upgrade. I am looking at an GeForce GTX 660 Ti. I know I'll most likely need to upgrade my psu, but I'm not sure what wattage I will need. Granted, if my hopes require a new motherboard and such I will understand, but be unhappy. Basically, I just want to upgrade the least amount I can at the moment with the parts I have now. However, and here is the tricky part, when I pay off my car and such I am going to redo everything with a new chassis and gpu and SSD and the whole shebang. So I don't want to waste the money I spend now (hence the 660 Ti). Plus, I don't want the psu to drive up my electric bill with unused power (do they really do that? seems silly.) So, in summation I want the cheapest future proofing, both in energy consumption and upfront cost, I possibly can. Also, if at all possible I'd like a Corsair (I heard they rock). Thanks!

Side note: I am thinking of upgrading the chassis to a NZXT Guardian 921RB much sooner than I upgrade the GPU and HDD. Additional thoughts? Does it change your suggestion? Thanks.
 
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Daniel Sudakov
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Daniel Sudakov

Daniel Sudakov

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Being that your computer is pretty aged (DDR2 memory, LGA 775) I wouldn't upgrade it. Your gateway computer will bottleneck with a fast GPU like a 660ti.

If you have a 750 watt PSU, that doesn't mean it will use 750 watts all the time. Depending on what is inside your build, it wouldn't need 750 watts. I have a 760 watt PSU, and I only use around 400 watts for my whole build. So don't worry about power usage. But the more hardware you have in a computer, like 2 graphics cards in either SLI, or crossfire, a overclocked CPU, and multiple hard drives, you'll need a power supply that has a bigger power cap.

Really, I wouldn't upgrade the gateway, being it's old, and adding in new hardware that's faster then the CPU, it'll be somewhat a waste of money. Better to build a whole new PC with new generation components. And upgrading parts all the time will be even a bigger waste of money on the long run. Better to just wait, and save the money.
 
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UsmanM4

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Also as Daniel said your ram is pretty slow so you'd probably be better off upgrading the motherboard. If your going for a cheap upgrade I'd probably buy an Asus M5a78l/m-usb3 or M5a97 and a fx 4350 or 6300!
If your willing to spend some money though I'd probably go for a i5 3570 or 4670 and a decent z77 mobo or z87 (for haswell (the 4670))
http://www.dabs.com/products/asrock-z77-pro-4-s1155-intel-z77-ddr6-atx-80XM.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc%20product%20search&utm_content=Q200&utm_campaign=Components%20and%20Storage%20-%20Motherboards%20and%20Processors%20-%20Motherboards&origin=pla
Would be a good z77 board at a decent price!
 
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UsmanM4

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Actually forget the upgrades.
The chipset should support DDR3-1333 and pci e 2.0.
Just make sure with the ram by going here:http://www.crucial.com/uk/systemscanner/index.aspx
and if it allows a ddr3 upgrade all should be fine!
Also for psu could you tell me which country your buying from!
 
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Daniel Sudakov

Daniel Sudakov

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Depending on what's his budget, he wants to pay off his car first, and then "redo" everything (I guess he means by upgrading the whole thing) So I would believe he'll be somewhat tight on money.

I wouldn't really touch anything if you have plans to pay off bigger things. I'm temped to buy a powerful GPU (a 780 ti or 790), but I have to pay off my credit card statement haha.

The amd route for him would be better, a fx 8320 or 50. Or the intel route to spend a bit more for the i5 4670 or k.
 
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Mephisticles

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Thank you everyone for your quick replies!

@Daniel Sudakov is right. As for now I am on a super tight budget and the 660Ti is on a super off sale on best buy (and http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ says its best price per mark for nvidia). I make enough money to spend a bunch on it and I plan on going the i7 (or i5) with a great mother board and blah blah (like I understand NOTHING about differences in motherboards). Another post will cover that when I am ready lol. But I have to pay off my car before the interest kills me lol. The problem is, I may not be able to for as much as 10 months. Meaning I'm stuck with the LX 6810-01 for a while still. So for now, I want to buy as few high grade components as possible. Last night I was crazy tired, sorry, and didn't explain too well. Bottlenecking and all that isn't a worry (assuming it won't cause damage!). It will be better than what I have now probably, right? I just want to quick upgrade for now, but with parts I WILL use in my build when my car is paid off. I just don't know if it is fully possible with my current motherboard. That and if my psu will even be enough to handle it (its only 400w). What I DON'T want to do is buy a component I will have no need for when I do have money to throw at it. I just need to get through the next few months and, to be honest, I'm mainly worried about ESO and their megaserver latency with a populated PvP screen.

@UsmanM4: I live in USA.

Again, thanks guys!
 
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Daniel Sudakov

Daniel Sudakov

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Well, bottlenecking won't damage your computer, but it'll slow down. If you're looking for higher FPS, it'll won't give you have highest. So the GPU has to wait for the CPU to work together. So it'll be a unbalanced system, it's like having a civic, and you're adding extra horsepower, but in a unbalanced way. The worst case that could happen that happened to me is that my old dell PC with 2007-8 parts, i upgraded to the 770, and it killed my dell.

On newegg, the 660 ti costs around 200 bucks. The current generation gtx 760 (Basically a gtx 670 with a higher clock speed) for a extra 30-40-50 bucks (depending on the cooler) it'll preform better. I just think for the prices on the 600 series are a bit to much for being 2 years old. The 660 ti IMO should be at least 150-170$. I mean, the older AMD cards are dropping in prices.

But if want to at least do something right now, you can get yourself a AMD fx6300, a good motherboard, a 2x4gb 1600mhz memory, a better higher quality PSU with at least a 80+ bronze and a cheap case, like the corsair 200r or NZXT source 210.

I'm not sure what will happen in a few months, most likely intel will bring out some new CPU's, and nvidia maxwell and AMD will have some new cards. Plus g-sync monitors which I can't wait to get my hands on it. Maybe waiting to see what they will show would be a good idea?
 
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Mephisticles

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Thanks, but I'm really not looking to buy stuff for the next 10 months unless it is totally necessary, especially if I'll just be getting new ones then anyway. I can play ESO on low settings, but I had to work during the beta weekend and I didn't have time to test the PVP or the main capital city. If I get to play it again. I'll be sure to check. I'm just worried my PC isn't up to snuff with the high demand the megaservers will place.

That being said, that's another reason I don't want to price out and decide what to put in my rig 10 months from now. But I want to get the current generation when the time comes. And yes, those g-sync monitors look sick. Should I at least create a build profile for now you think? Save it for later when the time comes? Or just wait till then?
 
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Daniel Sudakov

Daniel Sudakov

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Good man ;)

Good idea to start profiling, helps to plan. You'll often change the list, you'll see a lot of new stuff this year, and you'll go "I gotta get that!" and you can keep changing the list everything. A good website I recommend is called "PCpartpicker.com" They have a really good list of parts. They also have a forum there for builds, and people have their builds there so you can view them.
 
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