Hi,

Right, my problem is I have a great pc, but it's in a mini case - Dell XPS 210. The graphics card struggles with COD4, it will play, but almost everything set to off or low. My idea is to buy a case and build up over the next couple of months a gaming machine. As cheaply as possible. Any ideas on where to start, and what I should be putting in the case, and how much I will need to spend.

Ta

Alienware do a buy it now pay in 12 months on their computers. Although it may cost more overall, you'll have a fantastic computer and not have the huge initial outlay. I think PC World do similar things too. The only reason I suggest this is because you'll have a brand new computer with warranty and it'll be less hassle than upgrading one.

Just to put things into perspective, a decent graphics card will be around £300 upwards, double that if you use SLI. Then you have the RAM, faster hard drives possibly, new motherboard, power supply etc. It all adds up and works out similar to those buy it now and pay later deals.

there are system guides available here and here which will at least give you base from which to start when you're looking around for bits

Any ideas on (1)where to start, and (2)what I should be putting in the case, (3)and how much I will need to spend.

Ta

1) See what you can carry over from the old machine, probably HD, DVD and not much else.

Get a good case, a big one. If you plan to in tinkering a lot there is no point in skinning your knuckles everytime. Make sure it has fittings for 120mm fans.

2) Don't scrimp on the basics. Get a good power supply and motherboard.

Other than that I wouldn't really know these days. My last homebrew system is still running fine after 5 years and I don't game much anymore.

3)More than you plan to.

1) Good Quality power supply. The overall quality is more important than the power rating on the tin. Eg a good 800W supply is probably able to supply your needs better than a no brand 1kW supply.

2) Good branded motherboard.

3) If you really need it now all well and good, otherwise the i7 processor is very nice and shouldn't be that long until it hits retail.

If you go this route, then what sort of graphics card is in your dell? Is it a build in jobby or do you have a PCI express slot to play with? If you have a x16 then it might be worth buying a better card and keeping where you are for a few months.

The Christmas run up period is one of the most expensive times to buy PC Computers and often the same applies to parts.

Alienware do a buy it now pay in 12 months on their computers. Although it may cost more overall, you'll have a fantastic computer and not have the huge initial outlay. I think PC World do similar things too. The only reason I suggest this is because you'll have a brand new computer with warranty and it'll be less hassle than upgrading one.

Just to put things into perspective, a decent graphics card will be around £300 upwards, double that if you use SLI. Then you have the RAM, faster hard drives possibly, new motherboard, power supply etc. It all adds up and works out similar to those buy it now and pay later deals.

I would dissagree with the GFX card thing.. the 8800gt is more than capable and thats only £100 - £300 gfx cards are for people with very very deep pockets and give very little real-world gain

1) Good Quality power supply. The overall quality is more important than the power rating on the tin. Eg a good 800W supply is probably able to supply your needs better than a no brand 1kW supply.

2) Good branded motherboard.

3) If you really need it now all well and good, otherwise the i7 processor is very nice and shouldn't be that long until it hits retail.

If you go this route, then what sort of graphics card is in your dell? Is it a build in jobby or do you have a PCI express slot to play with? If you have a x16 then it might be worth buying a better card and keeping where you are for a few months.

The Christmas run up period is one of the most expensive times to buy PC Computers and often the same applies to parts.

Seconded.. wait until after Xmas.. the Core i7 is only just out and its too expensive at the moment, plus DDR3 prices are still a bit steep too..

BUT: i would strongly consider a cheap way into a decent gaming PC would be to buy one of the bigger dells for cheap, then slap your own graphics card in it.

the more conventional sized Dell stuff use standard components so are (to a point) upgradeable.

EDIT: something like THIS - it even already has a good graphics card.

When I built my PC about a year or so ago, I found rather than spending ~£200 on a processor, i paid £80 for a slightly older one which was actually soo overclockable it would run at nearly twice its speed making it more than a match for the VERY expensive stuff. Not sure if this is still applicable but worth the research as it saved me a lot of money.

Same with the graphics card went for a 8600GT Fatal1ty. Overclocked as standard and more than enough to run the games I was after, without spending £300. £90 I think I paid. Ran HL2 like a dream.

HDD, I went down the route of a Raptor Drive, 72GB 10krpm, quiet expensive but does run well. Smaller faster HDD for the OS, and a big old slug for music videos etc.

Power supply must not be overlooked, As someone quiet rightly said 800w is probably ample, but you get what you pay for. I’ve got a Tagan, think i paid £140 for it AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGESSSSSS ago but its never failed yet. We get a lot of power cuts too.

Alienware are the dogs cahoonas lol. It’s not just the hardware you buy off them; all of their PCs have software alterations to improve running. Plus the cases look sick. Expensive though.

All the Alienware fans do realise they are owned by Dell I assume?

All the Alienware fans do realise they are owned by Dell I assume?

Does that make a difference?

Does that make a difference?

Well if they are going to start the don't buy a lower priced dell and drop in a gfx card, buy an alienware as they are |33t FTW!!!!!!1! then yes.

BTW that Dell Col linked to is a steal, the gfx card is as said pretty good and the only obvious change I'd do would be to add £10 to it to upgrade to 4GB from 3GB so you get the Dual Channel rather then single Channel mode of operation.

Also as I've said on here before, IMHO the raptors are a waste of money on the desktop.

Going back to Dave's original post, he did say "as cheap as possible". It's been ages since I looked into alienware, but I always saw them as a expensive tweaked version.

Also, he did say "building a gaming PC" which suggests buying the bits and putting it together, not buying a ready-made PC :P

But if the reason behind building it as opposed to buying it pre-made was because it would be cheaper, that's not necessarily the case unless you already have an OS licence you can re-use. The cheap Dells Colin refers to are pretty good.

If I were to build a gaming PC, I'd either go down that route, or if I really wanted to build something myself, it would be around a simple C2D cpu, 2GB RAM, recycled harddrive, possibly recycled PSE from his existing dell, a case can be had for not that much, but worth getting something decent that won't lacerate your hands. The 8800GT graphics is more than enough.

To be honest, his existing setup struggles with COD2, then anything less than a year old will be miles better.

Good point,

Always budget atleast 1day of download time before buildind a new PC to torrent the OS :p

This is my view, and not the view of Briskoda.net or anyone else on this forum.

If you are happy to build the PC yourself I found a really good deal on Scan.co.uk: Computer Hardware - All not trying to advertise but they do seem trustworthy and I think you maybe be able to drive the the warehouse and pick up the bits from there, as its near you.

just buy a better gfx card and ram dave and leave the rest

if the PSU isn't man enough get a secondary one, we've done it our selves on our DELL desktop with decent results

My tip would be keep what ever spec you plump for a cool as possible. It'll gain you some speed.

just buy a ps3 / xbox

seeing as the man mentioned FPS i assume this is what he wants to play, which are $hite on any console. A FPS on a PC cannot ever be beaten by a console for reaction, accuracy or speed in terms of control.

Well, something like this quickly knocked up. That's assuming you're reusing the CPU, HDD and RAM. Ooh could probably do with a HSF for the CPU too. forgot to add that

Not sure what spec the 210 you currently have is, but if it's C2D, you should be able to reuse most stuff.

But given that you're having to fork out for a new case, power supply, motherboard, etc, you might be better off / cheaper getting a new PC from dell :rubchin:

edit: I'll second Will's thoughts on Scan. I'm sure Colin will rate them too. They're pretty good. My only complaints have been their sometimes questionable estimations on delivery dates, but if you can pick up locally, they're great. You can reserve online and then pick up later in the day, jumping the queues

Thanks for all of your input so far guys. To be honest a new pc is out of my reach at the moment. I'm hoping I can pop most of the innards from my Dell into a new case, and add some better bits.

Here is my motherboard...

WG860 0WG860 | Dell Dimension D9200c Motherboard Wg860

Im wondering if that will fit in a bigger case?

Also, my graphics card is an ATI Radeon X1300 pro PCIe Low profile. I have found a couple of better ones to upgrade to, but i only have a 275 watt power supply, and cant find the power requirements of said cards, or I would just buy one and try it.

just buy a ps3 / xbox

I had an Xbox. It was ok, but I couldn't browse the internet on it, email, etc etc lol.

It won't fit in a normal case Dave as the PCIe slots are on the wrong side of the board for a normal ATX case. It actually looks more like a BTX design, but those cases are not exactly easy to get hold of.

THat however is a PCIe x1 and a PCIe x16 so if there is nothing in that x1 slot you could easily put a better graphics card in there and if the x1 is in use then you could still get a better card, you'd have to be a bit careful about hte size of the heatsink.

Suggest something like this would do nicely and I don't think they use too much juice:

Buy 512MB XFX GeForce 8600GT*PV-T84J-YAJG from CCL - Online Retailer of the Year 2008, 2007 & 2006 for laptops, desktops and computer hardware

An NVidia 6800GT should clean the floor with the X1300 so anything more modern than that or it's ATI equivalent should do it.

Edited 18 November, 200817 yr by cheezemonkhai

Thanks Mark. You know for £35 thats got to be worth a punt. The only issue would be it will hang out the side of my case, but the side is off anyhow as the existing card gets so hot.

Buy Sparkle GeForce 7200GS 256MB SF-PX72GS256U2LP Passive from CCL - Online Retailer of the Year 2008, 2007 & 2006 for laptops, desktops and computer hardware

That any more use?

Not as powerful, but lower Power use and less thick.

Looks the same size - where the monitor plugs are - thats too long.

The thickness I dont think will be a problem, as I can slide my HD out of the way

I just now am confused with ddr2/3, and the power requirements