I currently have a Dell XPS 400 with the following specs:
Pentium D 930 3.0 ghz (locked BIOS - so no OC'ing)
2x1 GB Ram at 533 mhz
7900 GS (OEM) (PCI-E)
X-fi Soundcard
Dell 375 watt psu
Windows XP Media Center (not planning on getting Vista anytime soon)
BTX insides (reference to motherboard and power supply location)
I use this computer all the time for work related things and some decent gaming every now and then (Oblivion, FEAR, C&C3, Half-Life 2 Ep. 2, etc.) at 1280 x 1024. I am pretty happy with it, but am gradually noticing that in newer games, my performance is less than desired. I'm not expecting to play Crysis or anything very new and demanding, but would like to see a decent fps increase in the games I currently own (or anything released in 2006 or before) and also increase my satisfaction with this computer in general. Currently, I am planning on using this computer as my primary computer for at least 2 more years.
Two questions:
Is it worth upgrading anything on the computer? Perhaps the processor/motherboard?
Is this technically (it is a Dell) and financially feasible ($150-$250 range)?
Thank you for your time.
~Zack
Edit:
Current alternatives:
Do nothing (I'm currently thinking this is the best opinion).
Sell my computer for a couple hundred bucks now, not have a computer for awhile, save up a couple hundred bucks and build a new computer sometime next February (good idea, but not my favorite option for a variety of reasons).
Swap the 7900 GS with a new HD 3850 I recently found out I can get from a friend $130 (why so cheap? - the deal also involves trading some old hardware) (could be good - but will my processor severely limit the card to the point where it is not worth $130 bucks?)
Pentium D 930 3.0 ghz (locked BIOS - so no OC'ing)
2x1 GB Ram at 533 mhz
7900 GS (OEM) (PCI-E)
X-fi Soundcard
Dell 375 watt psu
Windows XP Media Center (not planning on getting Vista anytime soon)
BTX insides (reference to motherboard and power supply location)
I use this computer all the time for work related things and some decent gaming every now and then (Oblivion, FEAR, C&C3, Half-Life 2 Ep. 2, etc.) at 1280 x 1024. I am pretty happy with it, but am gradually noticing that in newer games, my performance is less than desired. I'm not expecting to play Crysis or anything very new and demanding, but would like to see a decent fps increase in the games I currently own (or anything released in 2006 or before) and also increase my satisfaction with this computer in general. Currently, I am planning on using this computer as my primary computer for at least 2 more years.
Two questions:
Is it worth upgrading anything on the computer? Perhaps the processor/motherboard?
Is this technically (it is a Dell) and financially feasible ($150-$250 range)?
Thank you for your time.
~Zack
Edit:
Current alternatives:
Do nothing (I'm currently thinking this is the best opinion).
Sell my computer for a couple hundred bucks now, not have a computer for awhile, save up a couple hundred bucks and build a new computer sometime next February (good idea, but not my favorite option for a variety of reasons).
Swap the 7900 GS with a new HD 3850 I recently found out I can get from a friend $130 (why so cheap? - the deal also involves trading some old hardware) (could be good - but will my processor severely limit the card to the point where it is not worth $130 bucks?)