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  1. #1
    [2012: Year of the Whore]
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    Buying/Building a computer but I need some help..

    So I found someone at work who is going to help me build my computer from the ground up (it's his business) for $25.00 or for free if I want to come and help him and learn.

    The thing is, I'm fairly new to building computers from the ground up. The only thing I've ever done is install a new graphics card and RAM. Anywho, here are a few questions I'm curious about..

    1) What parts can I transfer from my current Dell XPS computer to my new computer? I have 8 gigs of ram, a GFX 470 card, quad-core 2.66GHZ processor, windows 7.. the case obviously. Is any of this (I know the card can be) transferable?

    2) Should I just wait for Black Friday to get things off of newegg? Or do they have decent deals all year round? And is there a website better than newegg to buy parts from?

    3) What the fuck do I need!? Lol.. I'm looking to spend upwards of $1,500 to build a computer.. or more if that's what it takes for a great gaming rig. My rig now is good but I'm wanting something that will do good for future games.

    Pertaining to Q#3 .. if someone has spare time and would like to help me with a list of EVERYTHING I would need to build a working computer.. I would appreciate it very much.

  2. #2
    Pandemonium
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jak View Post
    So I found someone at work who is going to help me build my computer from the ground up (it's his business) for $25.00 or for free if I want to come and help him and learn.

    The thing is, I'm fairly new to building computers from the ground up. The only thing I've ever done is install a new graphics card and RAM. Anywho, here are a few questions I'm curious about..

    1) What parts can I transfer from my current Dell XPS computer to my new computer? I have 8 gigs of ram, a GFX 470 card, quad-core 2.66GHZ processor, windows 7.. the case obviously. Is any of this (I know the card can be) transferable?
    Dell uses a lot of proprietary hardware so it's hard to say, depending on what you want to do. It's easier to get new things (since the type of processor you want determines the motherboard, which determines the memory, etc) but you can definitely use the graphics card in the new box.

    2) Should I just wait for Black Friday to get things off of newegg? Or do they have decent deals all year round? And is there a website better than newegg to buy parts from?
    They have decent deals all year, if you can find a Microcenter store in your area they often match or beat newegg prices, and you don't need to worry about shipping costs.

    3) What the fuck do I need!? Lol.. I'm looking to spend upwards of $1,500 to build a computer.. or more if that's what it takes for a great gaming rig. My rig now is good but I'm wanting something that will do good for future games.
    This is like... a super subjective question. Do you want to SLI? How much storage do you need? Do you want a silent build or a loud one? Also, future-proofing your computer is generally a bad idea. Upgrade when you need to, don't try to build for games that aren't out yet. Technology moves fast, it's just a waste of time and money.

  3. #3
    A. Body
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jak View Post
    1) What parts can I transfer from my current Dell XPS computer to my new computer?
    laughed pretty damn hard at this

    Take that 1,500 and find one of the /g/ guides
    follow and stay in your budget
    Sell that XPS on craiglist or to a family member. (wipe all your porn or put a new HD in it)
    but you should be able to rip the CD/DVD drive out and use it. Rest of its gonna be wonky

    heres a nifty place to start
    huge like xbawks

  4. #4
    [2012: Year of the Whore]
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    Yah, sorry.. I didn't so much mean future-proofing as just upgrading. I buy a new computer every two years and I plan on making one this time around.

    As for the build, my current build is loud b/c my cooling system is shit for the 470 when it's hot so the fan is always like 80% or higher. So a loud/silent one is no big deal.

    Storage wise I barely have 100G on my current computer out of the 800G (or whatever) of total space.. so again, space isn't a huge deal and I was curious how good those SSD work and if they are worth it.

    Graphics wise I wouldn't mind SLIing (I guess it's correct term?) two 470s if they work well.


    edit: and why laugh? I'm clueless I have no clue what to expect/do which is why I'm asking for help.

  5. #5
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    Sorry dont take it personal it was just funny
    i know some people swear by them but I've always been nervous of the sli setups. Because of older games having issues with the 2 gpus processing.
    Ive always gone with a Single Super strong card. Rather than 2x card setups. Just my opinion

  6. #6
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    1) What parts can I transfer from my current Dell XPS computer to my new computer? I have 8 gigs of ram, a GFX 470 card, quad-core 2.66GHZ processor, windows 7.. the case obviously. Is any of this (I know the card can be) transferable?
    Probably most/all of it could be transferred - the main hangups would tend to be the motherboard and case. If nothing else, Dell (last I read) uses BTX case/motherboard layouts, which aren't so much proprietary as they are uncommon. You'll also have a custom Dell BIOS on the mobo/etc.

    You could pretty much buy a new case/mobo/CPU cooler (Dell's solution is likely tied to the BTX layout/OEM case) and rebuild your current machine into that...but you'd end up with pretty much the same thing (maybe more overclockable).

    If you're actually wanting to upgrade, I'd second to just leave the XPS as it is (maybe put the stock video card back in if that's a swap). Other than the video card, you could definitely rip the drives out...but there's little point in having an otherwise good PC sitting there for want of a HDD. Make it a server, a living room PC, a Linux box, give it to friends/family, sell it, whatever.

    Storage wise I barely have 100G on my current computer out of the 800G (or whatever) of total space.. so again, space isn't a huge deal and I was curious how good those SSD work and if they are worth it.
    Generally, SSDs are rather nice to have, though it depends on what you do on the PC - if you spend most of your time in games, then other than lower load times (which most games mask anyway), they don't do a lot.

    All that said, what you really should do is look at what your current machine isn't doing, or isn't doing well enough. What CPU is it that you have now? i7 920? You could possibly do a case/mobo/cooler swap to overclock that, maybe get more life from it. Couple that with a SSD boot drive upgrade, and spend $500 instead of $1500 revamping your setup.

  7. #7
    [2012: Year of the Whore]
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    I have a GPU that I was told was the whole reason my games bottleneck.. and it seems to not be overclockable :-/ It's stuck at 2.66 Ghz (quad core as stated, but yah). If I were at home I would get the specifics. But yah, I was told everything else on my computer was pretty darn-tootin' good.

    I guess I'm just jumping the gun on getting a new computer because of Skyrim coming out. I just like running games at full-blast ultra-high graphics with no slow downs which I'm able to do with most any game now that I play (Crysis, Farcry 2, Just Cause 2, etc.).

    Preparation is what I have in mind. I want to be prepared and know what I'm getting into and what works/doesn't work good.

    And thank you for that graph, I had forgotten about it.. it'll come in handy.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jak View Post
    I have a GPU that I was told was the whole reason my games bottleneck.. and it seems to not be overclockable :-/ It's stuck at 2.66 Ghz (quad core as stated, but yah). If I were at home I would get the specifics. But yah, I was told everything else on my computer was pretty darn-tootin' good.

    I guess I'm just jumping the gun on getting a new computer because of Skyrim coming out. I just like running games at full-blast ultra-high graphics with no slow downs which I'm able to do with most any game now that I play (Crysis, Farcry 2, Just Cause 2, etc.).

    Preparation is what I have in mind. I want to be prepared and know what I'm getting into and what works/doesn't work good.

    And thank you for that graph, I had forgotten about it.. it'll come in handy.
    If you knew your exact processor model and socket type, you could move it to a new motherboard and overclock it that way, but as was said, a motherboard pretty much dictates what components will be compatible (and Dell motherboards pretty much only support GPU overclocking).

    *If your processor is a socket 775, then your motherboard must be able to support that CPU.
    *If the new motherboard has the same socket type, then you have to check to see if the 775 board will support DDR2 or DDR3 RAM for compatibility.

    You'll save a hefty amount of change by switching motherboards to re-use your same CPU, RAM, HDD, and Video card. If new games start to show performance loss, you can always upgrade your Mobo/CPU/RAM then.

    If you have money to piss away, you can upgrade to a decent board that supports socket 1155, DDR3, reuse your hard drive (or get a faster one), and re-use your video card (I'd image you meant GTX 470, not GFX 470, which performs well) with 2 PCI-e x16 slots to SLI if you ever wanted to.

    Monitor resolution will also affect performance in your games. For example, if you're able to play on Ultra settings with no hiccups on 1680x1050, then upgrading to 1900x1200 and playing at that resolution on Ultra might start hurting (if you decide to get a new monitor). If you're already at 1900x1200 or higher, then no worries.

  9. #9
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    You can take the Hard Drives, Memory, GFX Card, CD drives from your current machine. As for the processor you need to find out. Is the processor a Core 2 Quad or Core i7? If it's a Core 2 Quad and want to go the i7 route you can't use the memory.

    So find out if it's a Core i7 (920) or Core 2 Quad (Q6700, Q8400) seeing it's a Dell there is likely to be a sticker in the front to tell you. BTW, if you want to just replace the processor and you're using a Core 2 Quad, you can. A Q9650 (3.0 Ghz Quad) will fit right in but wont offer that much of a speed boost.

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