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Hey guys,
OK, so I'm looking to do a cheap upgrade to a Dell business computer that is currently in my care. One day it will be returned to the office, but it's mine for now. That being the case, I can't do too much to this thing. It has an OEM copy of Win 7 Pro 64 attached to it, so I can't go changing the motherboard or anything major. What I CAN (and plan) to do is give it the full 8gb of ram it can accept (have 2x2gb sticks in it now), replace the power supply and put a medium-grade GPU in it. The motherboard is a Dell 0GDG8Y (specs in link).
I'm not looking for full build info, so I just was curious on a few things. My goal is to be able to play some games (I'm not looking for top of the line visuals; I'll be playing on my 50" plasma, likely mostly through Steam Big Picture Mode. 30fps for medium to high settings would be slick, but I won't be playing anything AAA really) and do some game creation/level editing/3D modeling that won't bring it to its knees (Unity and Blender definitely, UDK possibly). I'm currently running at 2gb of memory with the Intel HD graphics. Pretty much anything will be a night/day difference for me. That said:
Budget is like $200, shipping included. I live south of Boston, so Microcenter is an option.
1. The mobo can take 8gb of 1066/1333 RAM. The CPU is an i5-2400. Any particular RAM I should go for with bang-for-buck in mind?
2. I've seen mention of other people asking what GPU to get for a Vostro 260 (this desktop) online and without upgrading the power supply, there was only like one option, which I already forgot. What's a decent supply that could power a good GPU for the tasks I mentioned above?
3. What GPU would be worth snagging for an i5-2400 system?
If suggestions that would really work for me go over $200, that's OK, but I'd prefer to stay at (or below) since I am dirt broke and just want something to tide me over for now until I build a full system down the line. Thanks in advance!
Edit: I realize that $200 is insanely low. I'm more concerned with GPU/power. I'm more curious about the RAM as I can snag that at some point later on without worry.
OK, so I'm looking to do a cheap upgrade to a Dell business computer that is currently in my care. One day it will be returned to the office, but it's mine for now. That being the case, I can't do too much to this thing. It has an OEM copy of Win 7 Pro 64 attached to it, so I can't go changing the motherboard or anything major. What I CAN (and plan) to do is give it the full 8gb of ram it can accept (have 2x2gb sticks in it now), replace the power supply and put a medium-grade GPU in it. The motherboard is a Dell 0GDG8Y (specs in link).
I'm not looking for full build info, so I just was curious on a few things. My goal is to be able to play some games (I'm not looking for top of the line visuals; I'll be playing on my 50" plasma, likely mostly through Steam Big Picture Mode. 30fps for medium to high settings would be slick, but I won't be playing anything AAA really) and do some game creation/level editing/3D modeling that won't bring it to its knees (Unity and Blender definitely, UDK possibly). I'm currently running at 2gb of memory with the Intel HD graphics. Pretty much anything will be a night/day difference for me. That said:
Budget is like $200, shipping included. I live south of Boston, so Microcenter is an option.
1. The mobo can take 8gb of 1066/1333 RAM. The CPU is an i5-2400. Any particular RAM I should go for with bang-for-buck in mind?
2. I've seen mention of other people asking what GPU to get for a Vostro 260 (this desktop) online and without upgrading the power supply, there was only like one option, which I already forgot. What's a decent supply that could power a good GPU for the tasks I mentioned above?
3. What GPU would be worth snagging for an i5-2400 system?
If suggestions that would really work for me go over $200, that's OK, but I'd prefer to stay at (or below) since I am dirt broke and just want something to tide me over for now until I build a full system down the line. Thanks in advance!
Edit: I realize that $200 is insanely low. I'm more concerned with GPU/power. I'm more curious about the RAM as I can snag that at some point later on without worry.
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