Advice Wanted: New PC or Upgrade Components?

gecko

gecko

Charter Member
So, I'm thinking this year's tax return may go towards PC related items. I have a 6 year old Dell XPS which has served me quite well, but is starting to give signs of unreliability. I'm considering a GPU, HD, and power supply, or just buying a whole new PC. I'm looking for three things - longevity (I won't be able to shell out cash for PC things again for a long time), cost, and performance - a healthy balance of those three but prioritized in that order.

I'm estimating around $400 to get the three parts, or alternatively, found a new Dell XPS better than my current one (and it still has Win7!) for about $720. Both seem reasonable for the cost to me, but long term, what's the better option? Also, if I went the parts replacement route, how to I ensure what I buy will work on my 6 year old system?
 
The only thing I'd throw at a 6 year old PC is extra memory. Maybe the newer XPS? Newer motherboard, processor, PSU, graphics, memory and HDs... yep, I'd buy new. It'll be faster in all departments, but make sure you get lots of RAM.
 
iw ould say $1200-1500 on a new pc. Ram at 8GB and os 64 bit if you plan to do DCS as well as OFF(OVER FLANDERS for CFS 3)
 
Yeah, seems a new PC is the way to go. As soon as I read my own post I knew that was the answer. Now the follow on, are there any gotchas involved in Windows 7 Professional? That's what's running on the model I'm looking at buying. Really don't want to go the Windows 10 route as the mos editor doesn't seem to work in it and I'm just starting to use it and I'm not really a fan of that OS anyways.
 
mongoose said:
Came across this when looking at necessary upgrades for Oculus Rift. Seems to offer something for everyone. I would seriously build your own as if I can do it, anyone can!:mixed-smiley-010:

http://www.logicalincrements.com/#!/
Click to expand...

I agree. For $700+ you can build yourself a nice new machine from the ground up. I would, personally, avoid Dell's older machines which use a proprietary motherboard style and go with ATX style, perhaps even a mini.

If you are comfortable with setting up the cpu, etc on the motherboard, this is the way to go. Lots more bang for the buck.
 
gecko said:
Yeah, seems a new PC is the way to go. As soon as I read my own post I knew that was the answer. Now the follow on, are there any gotchas involved in Windows 7 Professional? That's what's running on the model I'm looking at buying. Really don't want to go the Windows 10 route as the mos editor doesn't seem to work in it and I'm just starting to use it and I'm not really a fan of that OS anyways.
Click to expand...

Win 7 Pro 64bit no problem. Should be able to get at a reasonable price if you don't know anyone with a spare license. I agree with KellyB!
 
Another good site on building your own gaming pc is http://www.build-gaming-computers.com/ . This is the one i'm using to build mine and saving a ton of money . Plus you can choose what pc fits your budget. This guide does all the work of making sure all components work together and guides you through the build. Hope this helps.
 
mongoose said:
I would seriously build your own as if I can do it, anyone can!:mixed-smiley-010:

http://www.logicalincrements.com/#!/
Click to expand...

Fully agree. Work out what you need it to do, and go from there. For example, CFS3 can use only one core, so it's a waste of money buying a serious multi-core processor when in fact you'd be better going for fewer cores but higher core speed, which CFS3 is sensitive to. I can look and see what mine is when I get back, but high core speed, huge RAM and the best nvidia card you can afford sounds like the way to go. It-s what I did, and I can now run CFS3 with the sky full of aircraft and sliders on 5.
 
ndicki said:
Fully agree. Work out what you need it to do, and go from there. For example, CFS3 can use only one core, so it's a waste of money buying a serious multi-core processor when in fact you'd be better going for fewer cores but higher core speed, which CFS3 is sensitive to. I can look and see what mine is when I get back, but high core speed, huge RAM and the best nvidia card you can afford sounds like the way to go. It-s what I did, and I can now run CFS3 with the sky full of aircraft and sliders on 5.
Click to expand...

You are right, only not every game runs well on an dualcore, like BoS and RoF. My trick, you can set the core affinity, using the Windows task manager. In my case core0 is for all processes and core 1,2&3 exclusive for CFS3 process. Despite CFS is a single core application, to me it appears that Win7-64 is spreading the CFS3 load on the 3 cores.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/83632-processor-affinity-set-applications.html
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/37272/set-a-programs-affinity-in-windows-7-for-better-performance/
I also set CFS3 as high priority
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/83361-priority-level-set-applications-processes.html
 
gecko said:
So, I'm thinking this year's tax return may go towards PC related items. I have a 6 year old Dell XPS which has served me quite well, but is starting to give signs of unreliability. I'm considering a GPU, HD, and power supply, or just buying a whole new PC. I'm looking for three things - longevity (I won't be able to shell out cash for PC things again for a long time), cost, and performance - a healthy balance of those three but prioritized in that order.

I'm estimating around $400 to get the three parts, or alternatively, found a new Dell XPS better than my current one (and it still has Win7!) for about $720. Both seem reasonable for the cost to me, but long term, what's the better option? Also, if I went the parts replacement route, how to I ensure what I buy will work on my 6 year old system?
Click to expand...


I do not know what the XPS series is, on the web I do see lots of laptops. But reading your story guess it is a desktop. If you want on the budget I would first check on what components could be re-used, like DVD/HD/PSU/RAM/case/Windows7.
For the Vcard I would go for the nVidia GTX960 it is low power consuming so maybe your PSU can handle this.

Think you will need:60-100,- on motherboard that can use your DDR3 RAM. As a sample the Asrock ASRock B85M Pro4 65,-
200,- for a Intel BOXED i5-4460 3.2Ghz [3.4Ghz turbo] Quad or a 120,- BOXED i3-4170 3.7Ghz [no turbo] Dualcore [BOXED=using its stock cooler].
200,- for a GTX960-2Gb
price in euro's
 
Thanks for the help guys. Building it myself still seems pretty intimidating to me, so I ended up going with the XPS 8900 desktop with Windows 7 Pro. Next PC I may try to prep for and do a build myself. Meanwhile, the graphics card on my current desktop bit the dust yesterday (rather timely, sort of). Unfortunately I didn't get my latest files backed up beforehand so I have to wait till a sata/usb cable arrives in the mail to be able to access my hard drive.:banghead: Hopefully all is still well with the HD and I can move everything important over to the new PC when it arrives.
 
After much researching i ran across a real sleeper. It's the HP Envy Phoenix 850se . It starts around $1000. Priced around $1300 with a few extras i tagged on. Good news with this model is it uses Win7 64 bit ! Not as much hardware as a self-build has,(lots of optional hardware for the HP), but it does have a decent warranty and quality parts. Parts for a self-build are warranted too, it's just more of a hassle to do. I'm temporarily using a HP gaming laptop for now and am completely happy with it for now. Just have too keep it running cool . That's just typical problem with laptops and they can't be upgraded also. At HP's website they also have the Envy 750xt with win.7 64 bit and it starts around $650. Nice to see a few gaming rigs still hanging on to Win.7. Saving that money for a new rig if things around the house and our car would just stop breaking !!! If i can just quit smoking i could also put that money toward a new rig too. A good reason to quit i say.
 
New PC Parts....Whatch out for the new Nvida drivers

Hey Folks, Just browsing around and came across your discussion. Maybe this is a known variable, but Nvida's new VC drivers have incorporated that "GeForce Experience" SW (piece of garbage IMHO)...They have removed the Control Console so you can not Tweak the internal 3D Settings of the VC any more, it is all done automatically by Nvida through Their Cloud. Problem is, CFS3 is not recognized by Nvida. I spent two hours on live chat with a real mentally challenged individual in a 3rd world country, with English as their 3rd language, trying to get her to understand, one of the reasons I bought the GTX 670 three years ago was because it was open OC'd from MSI out of the box. Now that they have taken that functionality away from me, I wanted a refund! Just saying to be careful with Nvida VC's; The new driver release has really mucked things up. When mine need replaced, I will seriously research the benchmarking between ATI and Nvida compatible cards.


Regards,


Ohiotrooper
 
Are you on Windows 10? I'm on Win 7 and even with the drivers from last week (364.47) I still have a control panel that fully recognizes CFS3.

Also, I use Nvidia Inspector to have even more control over the internal functions of the video card.

By the way you do not have to install Geforce Experience to update your drivers. Download the zip from Nvidia. Run it and let it unpack all of the files, but don't let it go through with the installation of the drivers. Go to the directory where the files were unpacked, and delete everything except the files and folders shown here.

Rk4LAxv.png


Then run set-up, and you will have only what you need.
 
Nvida Drivers

Thanks Major for the Intel. Did not know about Nvida Inspector; Where do I get that from? I deleted the 362.xx drivers and reinstalled the 359.xx ones from last summer. I had been suing MSI's Afterburner app to try and OC the VC and keep up with temps, ect.

Thanks again,


Ohiotrooper


BTW, running Win7-64.
 
Nice Intel to have...

"Salute" :ernaehrung004:, Capt. Winters, Very useful downloads for Nvida VC's. Very much appreciated.


Ohiotrooper; CMSGT USAF, ret. "That Other's May Live"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top