APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: End of November at the earliest (Black Friday!), end of December at the latest.
BUDGET: ~$600 (I'm flexible on this to a degree)
SYSTEM USAGE: Gaming, trivial PC tasks (web surfing, word documents, movies, etc)
PARTS PREFERENCES: None
OVERCLOCKING: Maybe (if it actually makes a significant difference and doesn't blow up my computer, 'yes!')
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Probably in the future... but probably not needed right now
NOTES:
I'm planning on doing some upgrades to my current PC, but I don't really know where to start. I already have a case that I bought a year ago and haven't used yet, so ideally I'd like to get parts that would fit easily in that. Also, I am certainly on a budget and am not looking to run Crysis 5 on Mega-Awesome graphics settings. However, I would like a powerful PC for a decent price - one that will keep me going for a while, but one that will also allow for upgrades over time as needed.
Parts NOT Required
(I am most likely going to keep these unless someone points out something much, much better...)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM
Case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Monitor
Parts OWNED and may need to be upgraded
Graphics Card: Radeon HD 4850 1GB
I'm not sure if this is a good video card anymore, since I've had it for over a year and it was not very high-end at that point. It appears to run everything fine... however, I've been having some driver issues with it, being unable to install ATI's CCC without having blue screens of death. The card does work fine with drivers from Windows, so I can live with it if the card is still good for modern games.
Parts NEEDED
Motherboard
RAM
Processor
Sound Card?? (Are sound cards even worth it? I've never owned one, and always have had USB headsets... I'm definitely not an audiofile by any means, but if they are good/cheap I would take the plunge.)
And anything else I forgot...
Thank you so much for any advice you can give me!
BUDGET: ~$600 (I'm flexible on this to a degree)
SYSTEM USAGE: Gaming, trivial PC tasks (web surfing, word documents, movies, etc)
PARTS PREFERENCES: None
OVERCLOCKING: Maybe (if it actually makes a significant difference and doesn't blow up my computer, 'yes!')
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Probably in the future... but probably not needed right now
NOTES:
I'm planning on doing some upgrades to my current PC, but I don't really know where to start. I already have a case that I bought a year ago and haven't used yet, so ideally I'd like to get parts that would fit easily in that. Also, I am certainly on a budget and am not looking to run Crysis 5 on Mega-Awesome graphics settings. However, I would like a powerful PC for a decent price - one that will keep me going for a while, but one that will also allow for upgrades over time as needed.
Parts NOT Required
(I am most likely going to keep these unless someone points out something much, much better...)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM
Case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Monitor
Parts OWNED and may need to be upgraded
Graphics Card: Radeon HD 4850 1GB
I'm not sure if this is a good video card anymore, since I've had it for over a year and it was not very high-end at that point. It appears to run everything fine... however, I've been having some driver issues with it, being unable to install ATI's CCC without having blue screens of death. The card does work fine with drivers from Windows, so I can live with it if the card is still good for modern games.
Parts NEEDED
Motherboard
RAM
Processor
Sound Card?? (Are sound cards even worth it? I've never owned one, and always have had USB headsets... I'm definitely not an audiofile by any means, but if they are good/cheap I would take the plunge.)
And anything else I forgot...
Thank you so much for any advice you can give me!