kids! bah, humbug!

XWrench3

Daemon Poster
Messages
818
Location
W. MICHIGAN
my boy has some green paper, burning a hole in his pocket. he plays minecraft a LOT, and wants to make things speed up. the problem is I am a gear head, not a "techie". he has a HP / compaq model # dc-7900 , running windows 7 professional 64 bit . the specs are intel core 2 duo cpu e8400 @3.0ghz, 2gb ram, direct x-10, graphics intell q45/q43 express chipset. i do not know what type (ddr2?) ram it has, or a graphic card maker or modle number. i am sure it is what ho installed. i also do not know what the front side bus is. i was told years ago (back when windows xp was new!) that the fsb was the slowest part of the computer. so i do not know if that would be the limiting factor on this as well, or even if that information was true. i want to help him get the best bang for the buck. so if anyone can help, please ask, and if you can tell me where to look, i will be happy to dig up what ever you might need as far as information goes. my gut feeling is he probably needs a better graphics card, and more ram. but i have no idea for sure. of course, he is limited financially, as he is only 12 years old. he currently has $60.00, and i know that Santa has some more on the way. but i do not know for sure how much. and of course, good old dad is always good for $50-100 bucks. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks, and Merry Christmas!
 
Biggest question is what form is it? Full case of small box?

If you have the small box then you're boned, you can't do anythig.

F you have the full size case your only real upgrade would be a quality power supply, I say a quality as they last many many rebuilds/upgrades, and a mid tier graphics card.

I'd say $75-$90 for each. Something like a gt640 or 7750ish is more than enough for Minecraft.

And a psu like a Corsair 650tx will last 5+ years and is able to power 95% of computers.
 
Here is the full specs :

HP Compaq dc7900 Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz 2GB 160GB DVD HP dc7900 dc7900 SFF

Since it is a "small form factor" set up it will be difficult to upgrade as the 240 watt generic power supply won't push much of a video card. If you can find a power supply that will fit inside the same area as the existing power supply, I suggest you replace the Power supply with a better one , then get a video card for the PCI x16 slot. You may get away with a very poor video card that will draw power directly from the PCI slot adn use the existing power supply - but it may not help him much. This is a PC that is meant for a small business , not gaming . Hence the configuration is not set up to really upgrade. You could try a video card like this :

HP GeForce GTX 630 Graphic Card - 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM - PCI Express x16 - Newegg.com
 
Here is the full specs :

HP Compaq dc7900 Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz 2GB 160GB DVD HP dc7900 dc7900 SFF

Since it is a "small form factor" set up it will be difficult to upgrade as the 240 watt generic power supply won't push much of a video card. If you can find a power supply that will fit inside the same area as the existing power supply, I suggest you replace the Power supply with a better one , then get a video card for the PCI x16 slot. You may get away with a very poor video card that will draw power directly from the PCI slot adn use the existing power supply - but it may not help him much. This is a PC that is meant for a small business , not gaming . Hence the configuration is not set up to really upgrade. You could try a video card like this :

HP GeForce GTX 630 Graphic Card - 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM - PCI Express x16 - Newegg.com

Ah but in the HP specs they have both a small form and a mid tower.

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13029_na/13029_na.pdf
 
hmmmmm. i thought this thing had a huge case, at least compared to all of my computers so far. 17 3/4" x 17 3/4" x 7" wide. those are outside dimmensions, but i can not immagine the insides would be much smaller. i know it served as a small business computer in a former life. but his last computer was basically a glorified type writer. so this one is a big step in the right direction. i also knew it was not a gaming computer when we bought it. but when we bought it, he had very limited funds. and this was much better than what he had. i have been inside the case once to clean it. i thought there was a lot of open space in it.
 
Sounds like the mid tower version so you're in luck.

Take the first suggestion. Get him a mild GPU (something like what I linked, or if funds permit a 650ti) and a good PSU. A good PSU can last years without the need for an upgrade so something like a Corsair TX650 or Seasonic 620w would be perfect if funds permit.
 
I agree with getting a quality PS, He's 12 and into minecraft BUT it won't be long before he starts wanting better and better games and if you ever find another PC that will be better you can just swap the PS into the new one, Mine is on it's 3rd PC and I don't build them THAT often LOL but it has good power and handles what I need it to. I have the Corsair TX650

Dauntae
 
ok, i found 9 different corsair 650 power supplies. ranging from $30.00 to $199.00! i would ASSUME that the most expensive one would have the highest quality components. and would last the longest. but buying that would be the end of the upgrades for now, with no help to him that he could notice. i lean towards the middle of the road corsair @ $79.99, and then get a graphics card, which would give him the performance he wants. i unfortunately understand all to well, about having a good base, before "hopping-up" to achieve performance levels you want. its that way with engines also. being on a fixed income, we have to really be VALUE conscience. there is no way we could ever afford a BMW, but i refuse to drive a YUGO also. are there less expensive, quality power supplies that will do what he needs, without failing after a few months? we really appreciate all the help you guys give. thanks!
 
Back
Top Bottom