Help with re-building my Dell XPS 420 please!

[alexburton1990]

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

 

[alexburton1990]

Also, i am running Vista Home Premium 32 bit, but i would like to upgrade to Windows 7 Premium 64 bit, because i hear this runs games and other processes much better.

Thanks again,

Alex

 

[zooted]

What is the budget? What exactly do you plan on salvaging from the dell?

 

[cyberkuberiah]

replace everything . you have created a double thread havent you

 

[alexburton1990]

Hello,

I did create this thread twice, but i put the other one in a different sub-heading just because i didn't know if it was in the right one? :lol:

I don't really have a budget as i can't really afford to upgrade it all in one, but i'd like a high end system.

I have just always had a huge interest in PC's but never done anything with it! I really want to learn!

What is the difference between a Core 2 Quad, and say an i5 processor? Are i5's quad core?

and cyberkuberiah, what do you mean by replace everything?

and zooted, i could probably save the HDD from the Dell, and defintely the blu-ray drive.

Also, another query, when you purchase a processor, is it just a simple case of it being pre-built and you screw it to the MOBO, or do i need to assemble it myself with thermal paste and stuff?

Thanks for the replies so far guys

Alex