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Help re-building my Dell XPS 420

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Hello,

I was looking to re-build my Dell XPS 420, as it is a couple of years old and i would love to be able to play the latest games.

I have bought and installed a new graphics card (XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5) and a new power supply unit (Antec 650w PSU)

Basically, i have read a lot of stuff about how Dell's aren't that great and you can't use certain hardware because of BIOS limitations, and that the Motherboard is a BTX and not an ATX, and i can only use DDR2 RAM etc.

So here is what i have so far:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200, 2.33GHz (think its 4mb cache, you can find the Processor on Amazon)
500GB SATA hard drive (don't know the full specs of it, but would like to know as i wish to upgrade)
4GB DDR2 RAM
Blu Ray Disk Drive
XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5
Antec 650w PSU
Stock XPS 420 motherboard (don't know what it is, i'm new to this so any help/experience you can give me would be amazing!)

I've read that certain dual cores perform better than my quad core, but i would like to stick to a quad core.

I don't really have a budget as i'm fine not upgrading all in one big lump, because the set up i have now does run Crysis 2 on 1080p ultra and BF2:BC on 1080p on highest settings.

Now i've bought the GFX Card and the PSU, i'm just really into builing/upgrading PC's.

So yeah, any help would be ace :) 

Thanks in advance,

Alex

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Your case and mother board is a BTX boards. BTX boards are no longer made or sold, so you would have to look into replacing the motherboard and case and least. At thie point you should keep the machine and save your money and replace everything.
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Quote:
Your case and mother board is a BTX boards. BTX boards are no longer made or sold, so you would have to look into replacing the motherboard and case and least. At thie point you should keep the machine and save your money and replace everything.


I don't quite understand the last bit? What do you mean by save money and replace everything? When is there going to be newer technology out? Also, will newer stuff not cost a fortune?

Quote:
I would agree. You can buy a decent i5 2500k setup for around $600 with the gpu and psu already purchased.


Is this a pre-built or if i was to purchase myself? Are i5 2500k's good?

Thanks for the replies guys, I am sorry about the lack of knowledge but i'd really like to learn about this :) 

Alex

i5 2500k can be a prebuilt, for a much higher price. If you are comfortable and do some research, you can build one for probably 70% of the price. i5 2500k is the best gaming processor out there for the $200 range.

As far as newer technology, it usually happens with cpu's about every 12-18 months, and everything else anywhere from 6months to 18 months. Newer technology does cost more, but is usually worth the extra penny after 2 months from release. Initial release prices tend to be high because consumers are dumb and marketers are smart (point being, consumers will buy it JUST because it's new, and they dont care how much they spend). You can go AMD and save a ton of money, a cpu with mobo can be had for roughly $125, and you can get a HDD, Ram, and PSU for roughly$150 more. For an AMD system that you can afford, and still offer decent performance, you are looking at around $325 in upgrades total. I think this is doable.

Thanks casualbuilder.

Is there any AMD processors better than or equivalent to the Intel i5 2500k. What does the 2500k bit mean? and is it better than an i7? If so, why?

Also, i am from the UK, so prices would be in £.

I think the prices are the same but just different currency. I use this website quite a bit "www.ebuyer.co.uk" so i could check prices on there? There are a lot of other sites too, do you guys know any good cheap ones for the UK?

Thanks again,

Alex

i5 2500k is the only intel chip worth buying for a gaming rig, and the 960T Zosma is my choice for the AMD side of things, since you already have a gpu. The 960T is a quad-core clocked at 3.0GHz, and is easily overclockable, but also has a chance to unlock 2 more cores, making it a 6 core. USD retails at $220 for the intel i5, and $125 for the AMD 960T. Motherboards can be had for roughly $75 each if you dont need a lot of fancy features. These are USD currency, im guessing its roughly 160e for the i5 and 85e for the 960T. Guestimates. These are the only 2 chips i recommend right now for gaming rigs.

zakattak80 said:
well to safe some money you could try to overclock the cpu by using the tape mod. i have done this and it jumps the fsb up to 1333 and increases the processor to 3.0

He's already using a 1333 chip
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