Upgrade Question

[Brodom]

Hey guys, my bro-in-law is looking to upgrade... He has a Dell XPS gen 5... about 4 or 5 years old... he's only running 1gb of ram(553 or 667)... thats the only type the mobo will support i think... should be cheap to upgrade the ram... but here is the real question... can he upgrade the CPU and the GPU... or will he need to get a whole new mobo? He wanted to get the card im looking to put in my custom build...
Newegg.com - EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
I told him, that i personally think he need to upgrade the mobo, cpu, and gpu... if not the psu also, cuz i thought it would be a waste to pay so much for a card that i didnt think his system could take full advantage of.

here are his specs...

-CPU =Intel Pentium 4 3.2ghz

-GPU =nVIDIA 6800 256mb 128bit

Not sure the name of the mobo, i know there isn't a PCIe 2.0, but here are the specs

* 1 - PCI Express x16 card connector

* PCI Express x4 card connector

* 1 - PCI Express x1 card connector

* 3 - PCI card connectors

* 4 - Serial ATA (SATA) connectors

* 1 - IDE connector

* 5 - USB connectors

* Socket LGA775 for Intel Pentium 4 CPU

* Intel 955X chipset

* 4 - Memory module connectors (533 or 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM)

* Integrated ethernet adapter

* IEEE 1394 connector

So let me know what you guys think... also if you can come up with mobo, gpu. cpu combo if you think it all need to be replaced...
I'm not sure what he is willing to spend... i know at least the amount of the GTX 260...
just to be fair... any ideas... keep um under 500. unless

thanx ahead of time guys... you have already been so helpful with me... i know he apriciates it.

 

[zedman3d]

[CPU] Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Processors - Desktops - $145

[MOBO] Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards - $75

[HDD] Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives - $50

[RAM] Newegg.com - CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory - $55

[VID] Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100265L Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards - $90

[PSU] Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies - $80

[OPT] Newegg.com - LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners - $24

[CSE] Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases - $35

= $550

The 4830 isnt as good as the 260GTX+ but for close to $500 you will get a whole system that will be so much better than if you just upgraded the old PC to a 260GTX which may be hard or close to impossible to do. Also that P4 would have really bottlenecked that system should you have upgraded not to mention that you would have had to upgrade the PSU so for all that effort you may as well just make a whole new system.

 

[Brodom]

[CPU] Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Processors - Desktops - $145

[MOBO] Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards - $75

[HDD] Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives - $50

[RAM] Newegg.com - CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory - $55

[VID] Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100265L Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards - $90

[PSU] Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies - $80

[OPT] Newegg.com - LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners - $24

[CSE] Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases - $35

= $550

The 4830 isnt as good as the 260GTX+ but for close to $500 you will get a whole system that will be so much better than if you just upgraded the old PC to a 260GTX which may be hard or close to impossible to do. Also that P4 would have really bottlenecked that system should you have upgraded not to mention that you would have had to upgrade the PSU so for all that effort you may as well just make a whole new system.

Lol... those were almost my words to him, exactly, but i don't know everything... so i figured i would ask. Thanx

 

[Evolv]

Yea, he's better off getting a whole new system. Can't really do much with a Pentium 4 system.

 

[Brodom]

Cool... I already talked to him about it... Thanx for the info guys!

 

[Whirlwind]

For $200 he could still use that system for gaming....mor ram and a better video card.

If he wants to spend $500,,,,yes, then build.

 

[Brodom]

For $200 he could still use that system for gaming....mor ram and a better video card.

If he wants to spend $500,,,,yes, then build.

yeah he games on it as is... cod5 waw... @ medium, he was just wondering if it was worth it to go out and spend a bunch of cash on a bad a$$ GPU. I told him his current system will bottleneck the cards efficiency.