Poor, poor old girl...I am not sure if it is truly dead, but its not turning on anymore (Figures, I think it might be the motherboard, but that is just my guess). Anywho, I was looking into building a new one anyway, so any recommendations on any decent, but cheap parts? I'm looking at a possible $700 or less budget, and I would like to at least get a 8 series Geforce card.
At least? 8 series is as high as it goes my friend. 7 will still do very well, and unless you're gonna be wasting your resources on Vista, the DX10 won't do much. I'm in Canada, so I can't give you perfect prices, but as for a CPU, the Athlon X2 3600+ is a great choice. Less than $100, dual core, 65nm, one of the best bang for your buck chips out there, and it can be upgraded to the Phenom X4s later. Asus make good mobos, stable and have lots of features. Seagate for HDDs in my opinion, and make sure your RAM is dual channel, at least 1GB (OCZ is my favorite). eVGA are the best for nVidia cards, they have lifetime warrenties, even if you change the cooler and overclock. Here's a good choice (I am rushing a bit though ) http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=20496&vpn=256-P2-N624-AR Cases and PSUs by Antec are really good, well built and quiet. My AMD system has an Antec HTPC case, 380W PSU and stock AMD cooler, runs silent. Hope that helps. If you want any more advice, don't hesitate to PM me.
That helps quite a bit. I may hold off on ordering a new video card, since the one I have now I just got not a year ago (7800 GT). Granted, my main goal is to look for something that can play Crysis when it comes out.
Crysis will run in XP\DX9, and with the way Vista is with drivers right now, you'll probably get better performance that way (I don't see them fixing it before September). I havn't read the improvements the 8 series have over comparably priced 7 series, but SLI is always an option for your 7800, providing one 8 series isnt 2x as powerful as a 7 series (if that makes any sense). What kind of CPU do you have in the dead system? If its dual core (Athlon X2 or Core 2), consider just buying a new mobo. Also, if you have DDR2 RAM, keep that, providing the sticks are 512MB+. Whatever you do, go dual core. Crysis will be optimised for dual core and 64 bit.
Sadly, the only thing I think I may be able to use is the video card. The processor is a crappy AMD Athlon 64 3000+, decent back 3 years ago, but now does jack to help. The RAM is also old, and I think it was causing issues from time to time (I'm also going to put it in a different computer that is not a gaming rig, but works fine for internet and such). Oh, and I sent you a PM as well.
I think god loves to shit on me...Not one day after my computer broke down, my laptop's AC adapter decided to break. I have to use my old compaq now to do anything.
Make sure it's the adapter that's broken, not the laptop itself. I spent $100 ordering a new adapter for my laptop, just to find out the actual power socket on the laptop was to blame. Words cannot describe how angry and dissapointed I was.
What kind of hardware do you currently have? Can you recycle any of the parts? Chances are you can reuse your HDD, CDROM, case, etc. I recommend AMD because it is cheap. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138074 I'd suggest you get the combo deal they have at the bottom of the page. You can get the motherboard and dual core CPU for $150. On top of that you can get a 2gig memory kit for less than $80 now. The prices are freaking ridiculous. Wish I had the money to upgrade myself. I'd also recommend a new PSU. Look into ThermalTake 430watt PSU. Should be enough to power up to an 8600GTS videocard as well as those components I listed. I doubt you'll be doing overclocking. If you do get that board, chances are you will need a new HDD as they only have one IDE port for CDROMs and if you have many CDROMs and PATA HDDs, then you'll have to get a SATA HDD. You can get a 250gig for $50-$60 now. So: $150 (motherboard/CPU) $80 (RAM) $60 (HDD) $50 (PSU) $150 (8600GT VGA card) You will be well within your budget
opethfan: it was the AC adapter itself. The metal part that plugs into the laptop broke off (its been wiggling for awhile now). madhatter246: Isn't the motherboard you linked to a micro ATX board, meaning it won't fit in a standard case unless I get it specifically for that?
