I am thinking about upgrading my 9 year old HP a1430n to be able to play some modern games (Diablo 3 and Farcry 3 among others). Basically I want to upgrade piece by piece until I have a completely new system. My budget is around $500, but I don't need to max anything by any means; med-high or high would be just fine. Here is what I have been looking at, please tell me what you think:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G8mK
Notes:
-I already have the Thermaltake PSU. Got it for real cheap. Is it good enough?
-I have no real brand loyalty. These products are what I found when browsing the forums and/or the articles.
-I am not totally sold on the case. I really like the looks of the Coolermaster Elite 430, but it doesn't have USB 3 (which I am not convinced I need at this point anyway). Plus there was a review by a 12 year old who said it was too small to work in, and since I am older and (I assume) larger than a 12 year old.....
-Is the MOBO too powerful for what I am doing with it? Is there a less expensive one that will work?
-I know I can save money on a CPU/MOBO combo from my nearby Microcenter, including the ones I chose, so there is a little bit more play room.
-I know next to nothing about coolers. That is just one I found recommended most often with the CPU/MOBO combo that I chose.
-Not really looking at SSD at this point.
Maybe someone can answer a question for me. If I upgraded my Win XP to Win 7 with a download directly from the Microsoft website, will I need to buy a new OS with the new system?
Next challenge: If I wanted to upgrade piece by piece, and wanted to be able to play games before buying everything, which order should I buy them in? Here is what I have currently:
MOBO: ASUS A8N-LA
PSU: 300W don't know brand
Processor: Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Ram: 4G DDR
GPU: GeForce 6150LE
I figured maybe the PSU then the GPU and that should get me playing at super low, which I can live with. Then next would be the MOBO/CPU/RAM together. Then the case to put it all in. Then I can add on as I go. Would that work?
Thanks for the help!
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G8mK
Notes:
-I already have the Thermaltake PSU. Got it for real cheap. Is it good enough?
-I have no real brand loyalty. These products are what I found when browsing the forums and/or the articles.
-I am not totally sold on the case. I really like the looks of the Coolermaster Elite 430, but it doesn't have USB 3 (which I am not convinced I need at this point anyway). Plus there was a review by a 12 year old who said it was too small to work in, and since I am older and (I assume) larger than a 12 year old.....
-Is the MOBO too powerful for what I am doing with it? Is there a less expensive one that will work?
-I know I can save money on a CPU/MOBO combo from my nearby Microcenter, including the ones I chose, so there is a little bit more play room.
-I know next to nothing about coolers. That is just one I found recommended most often with the CPU/MOBO combo that I chose.
-Not really looking at SSD at this point.
Maybe someone can answer a question for me. If I upgraded my Win XP to Win 7 with a download directly from the Microsoft website, will I need to buy a new OS with the new system?
Next challenge: If I wanted to upgrade piece by piece, and wanted to be able to play games before buying everything, which order should I buy them in? Here is what I have currently:
MOBO: ASUS A8N-LA
PSU: 300W don't know brand
Processor: Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Ram: 4G DDR
GPU: GeForce 6150LE
I figured maybe the PSU then the GPU and that should get me playing at super low, which I can live with. Then next would be the MOBO/CPU/RAM together. Then the case to put it all in. Then I can add on as I go. Would that work?
Thanks for the help!
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram