Help with Gaming CPUs

[Takuma080]

Hey there. Im very new at the whole building your own cpu and upgrading rigs to be great gaming rigs. I just had many people telling me many conflicting "facts". I've been told All-in-One PC in general cannot be upgraded, and if so, only RAM and HD size. Besides that I assume nothing else can be changed. I want someone to elaborate and/or confirm on this issue.

And finally, lets say I wanted to buy a gaming PC. I want to know if these are still the same as an All-in-one PC or not. Here is an example.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5653741&Sku=I455-G4000

This is listed as a "Gaming PC". I want to know if these types of PCs are the same as A-I-One and if their components can be upgraded. Thanks alot for any answers in advance.

 

[lazyboy947]

i would have to say most All in one pcs can be upgraded but as said the hdd and ram, as most likely the rest of the components are like a laptop and soldered to the board, and there may be some that can be upgraded but generally for gaming just stay away lol It matters on the all in one pc u get but i think majority will come with a mobile cpu and if not which there is quite a few that use desktop components like the ibuypower but in an all in one ur forced to use the IGPU or the graphics built into the board as there is no way to fit a pci-e dedicated graphics card in there lol

That pc as its a desktop can be upgraded as long as what u get is compatible as thats an intel i5 with lga 1155 ur upgrades cpu wise is the 3570k i5 or i7 3770k and a lga 1155 motherboard, and any video card thats pci-e that beats the 660gtx. Also the power supply can be upgraded to almost any atx psu, and the ram to 16gb or higher, add an ssd etc something that isnt manufactured specifically like the all in one pcs can basically be upgraded.

U can upgraded any prebuilt by just replacing the parts that u want as most use a standard atx/matax form factors etc.

99.9% of people on this forum would say always build ur own pc if ur looking to buy new and for gaming, as its cheaper than a prebuilt even from ibuypower and u know what ur getting. The Ibuypower u linked isnt a bad deal as normally u have to purchase windows and peripherals separately from the build itself and a i5 build with similar components will cost prob that $900 with no OS and keyboard/mouse, but the custom build will most likely have a higher quality of components than the ibuypower.

 

[Takuma080]

i would have to say most All in one pcs can be upgraded but as said the hdd and ram, as most likely the rest of the components are like a laptop and soldered to the board, and there may be some that can be upgraded but generally for gaming just stay away lol It matters on the all in one pc u get but i think majority will come with a mobile cpu and if not which there is quite a few that use desktop components like the ibuypower but in an all in one ur forced to use the IGPU or the graphics built into the board as there is no way to fit a pci-e dedicated graphics card in there lol

That pc as its a desktop can be upgraded as long as what u get is compatible as thats an intel i5 with lga 1155 ur upgrades cpu wise is the 3570k i5 or i7 3770k and a lga 1155 motherboard, and any video card thats pci-e that beats the 660gtx. Also the power supply can be upgraded to almost any atx psu, and the ram to 16gb or higher, add an ssd etc something that isnt manufactured specifically like the all in one pcs can basically be upgraded.

U can upgraded any prebuilt by just replacing the parts that u want as most use a standard atx/matax form factors etc.

99.9% of people on this forum would say always build ur own pc if ur looking to buy new and for gaming, as its cheaper than a prebuilt even from ibuypower and u know what ur getting. The Ibuypower u linked isnt a bad deal as normally u have to purchase windows and peripherals separately from the build itself and a i5 build with similar components will cost prob that $900 with no OS and keyboard/mouse, but the custom build will most likely have a higher quality of components than the ibuypower.

But thats the thing Im only somewhat knowledgeable on computer components and building in general. I basically want to but a tower like the one I linked, which already comes with graphic card, processor, ram, etc, and then have them upgraded later on at some point, but the thing is I want to be able to know what graphic card will be compatible, what ram what motherboard etc, can be compatible with the specific tower I bought. Is there any way to determine what can/cannot be installed on whatever tower you have?

 

[lazyboy947]

Well currently all modern boards use pci-e 2.0/3.0, and at the moment 3.0 has no advantage really and all graphics cards at the momment are pci-e3.0 and are compatible and the case that comes with the ibuypower one is a nzxt case and is a standard case compatibility is always basically guarenteed if u match the motherboard and the case as in lets say a case is compatible with atx, mAtx, mItx, well then u can put those three different form factor boards into that case and expect full compatibility with the case mount and front panel hook ups, but u will not be able to do extended ATX, XL ATX, or something like btx and utx.

again at the current moment match the motherboard u pick or cpu u pick to a corresponding socket like LGA 1155/1150/2011 for intel or AM3/am3+/fm1/fm2 for amd and of course after u find a board or cpu make sure that the board will support a certain processor, for amd certain boards wont be able to use the 125watt processors or even at all if there isnt a bios update or cpu support list for that cpu. To figure out pick a board with the features u want with good reviews and meets ur needs and then if its not a cheap $60 most likely it will b able to use almost all cpus that has the same socket, same for upgrading an existing pc. But in the future more than 5 yrs there may not be as a big varierty of lets use ur example of upgradable cpus that will fit the motherboard for lga 1155 and beats the i5 thats in it.

RAM is a easy pick, pick the upgrade speed u want and the brand and quality and just make sure its for this generation is ddr3 or for older pcs ddr2/ddr, and for future boards ddr4. The motherboard has the specs for what memory is compatible.


So lets take the ibuypower pc, it has a i5 3350p, could upgrade to a i5 3570k or i7 3770k as there the best cpus for that gen i5/i7
upgrade the psu to a quality psu with possibly higher wattage standard atx which majority of all cases use
Graphics card to something like a 670/680 gtx from same generation or newer 770/780 gtx, or amd 7950/7970. Use benchmarks to compare and see whats better or get another 660gtx and run sli if the board has two pci-e ports
Add a Sata III SSD of ur wanted size for faster boots and loading speeds or another hard drive
Update the current 8gb 1333 ram to a higher speed like 1600-2133 and 8gb-32 but high ram freq usually require a OC and 8gb is more than enough for gaming but u can get 16 or more if the board supports up to 32 or 64gb

You could take everything out of that nzxt case and throw into ur own choice of a ATX case.

All this info is easily found on the motherboard specs for compatible cpus, ram(size,quantity,and support), sata ports, pci-e, form factor.
And after that the case u pick will show in specs its form factor and all the motherboard form factors it supports and most use a standard ATX psu unless specified.

A little research and making sure certain things match will get u compatible upgrades, and alot of things dont have to deal with what can do into the tower (case) as the case houses everything it just needs to fit the motherboard and psu and the dedicated graphics card for its length and if u add one a cpu cooler.

This all seems like alot but for me its seems like common knowledge lol and a little difficult to put into words