Help! Major upgrade needed on Inspiron 531 to Minor Gaming PC

[FairPlay]

To start off here are my current system specs:

- Some dire Dell Inspiron 531 Motherboard
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor 5600+ Duel Core 2.8Ghz
- Nvidia Geforce 460GTX 1GB
- 2GB RAM
- 500w Power Supply
- 360GB Basic Hard Drive

I would like to upgrade my PC into a minor gaming computer. Really, it's a new CPU I'm going for, but to do this I really need a new motherboard. I'm in the UK and reallly need some help on knowing what the right components to buy are. I have a very hopeful budget of £250.

I would like new:

- Motherboard
- CPU
- RAM
[ And if it's worth it then: ]
- Case
- Hard Drive

The other parts I'd take from my other PC.

Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks guys!

 

[Roark]

Keep in mind that if you upgrade your motherboard you will need to purchase a new license for Windows.
Keeping with your current motherboard I'm not sure how much of an upgrade you can do CPU wise. Download CPU-Z and look at the "mainboard" tab, you should either be running an AM2 or 939 socket.

For RAM you can get DDR2 667 or 800 MHz.
In my opinion cases are personal preference, you're the one who has to look at it.
Can't go wrong with a WD Black hard drive.

(assumed system specs).

When you say "minor gaming" what games are you looking at?
My current system is much slower than what you're currently running and can manage fine with WoW, EVE, and a number of Steam games on the Source engine.

 

[FairPlay]

Oh yeah the OS, are you saying I have to purchase a whole new copy or that I have to re-register it somewhere?

I was planning to get an i5 Quad core so I'm gna need a supporting motherboard.

 

[MindoverMaster]

If it is OEM, which it probably is, you an not transfer it to another computer or motherboard. You need a whole new license.

 

[Trotter]

Inspirion 531 = Dell = OEM license.

£250 for a CPU, mobo, and RAM (as it will use DDR3) is extremely optimistic, especially since it is Intel and you will need a new OS.

 

[FairPlay]

Yeah... Looking at this again, that budget is too optimistic. Excluding the OS, what would be a more realistic budget, keeping in line with my aims...

PS, OEM OS..?

 

[MindoverMaster]

It should say OEM on your license sticker.

 

[Roark]

The term, OEM (original equipment manufacturer) refers to companies that make products for others to repackage and sell.

Microsoft sells companies like Dell OEM licenses for Windows in bulk so they can add it to all of the systems they build, the license can be used on one computer (tied to the motherboard) and is not transferable.

I'm not sure what the preferred shopping site in the UK is, but on Scan.co.uk:
CPU: £164.60 i5 2500k.
MB: £131.60 Asus P8P67 Pro.
RAM: £68.59 8GB Corsair Vengeance.
= £366

This setup is actually meant for overclocking, and the price can be brought down a little by choosing parts without that option.

£154.98 for the i5 2500 (non k version)
£112.40 for the P8P67 (non pro version)
Same RAM
=£337

You just have to decide if its worth about 30 quid to have the option to overclock.
Price can also probably be brought down by shopping around, I only looked on the one site.

 

[MindoverMaster]

OEM can also be bought at a store. It just doesn't come with a pretty box and documentation. Also cheaper.

 

[Yami]

I'm not sure what the preferred shopping site in the UK is

We don't have any single 'really good' site like Newegg, we just have a bunch of decent ones.