 Wife Is Letting Me Upgrade My Computer!, Gateway 507GR |
Welcome Guest ( Log In | Click here to Register a free account now! )
Register a free account to unlock additional features at BleepingComputer.com
Welcome to Bleeping Computer, a free community where people like yourself come together to discuss and learn how to use their computers. Using the site is easy and fun. As a guest, you can browse and view the various discussions in the forums, but can not create a new topic or reply to an existing one unless you are logged in. Other benefits of registering an account are subscribing to topics and forums, creating a blog, and having no ads shown anywhere on the site.| Important Announcement: The winners of the BC Million Post contest have been announced. You can read who the winners are at this post. - BleepingComputer Management |
  |
  Aug 4 2008, 10:28 PM
Post
#1
|
|
|
New Member  Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: 4-August 08 From: Olivehurst Member No.: 227,626  |
Gateway 507GR I need a good Power Supply, this PC comes with a 300W I need to upgrade to a good video card, I was thinking an Geforce 8800 (hence the power supply) But something with a VGA output. I also need to upgrade to 2gb RAM. What I need is product suggestions and tips on how to make this computer a decent system. Mind you I am trying to stay with-in a somewhat reasonable budget of 250-300 bucks.  |
 |
 
|
|
Aug 5 2008, 04:36 AM
Post
#2
|
|
|
arachibutyrophobia Group: BC Advisor Posts: 4,850 Joined: 4-March 05 From: Northern CA. Member No.: 13,532 |
EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130319
Antec earthwatts EA500 500W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817371007 Crucial http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.as...98634EDA5CA7304 -------------------- Lord, may we please have a little more chlorine in the gene pool?
|
|
|
|
|
Aug 5 2008, 01:17 PM
Post
#3
|
|
|
New Member Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: 4-August 08 From: Olivehurst Member No.: 227,626 |
Thank you, I am wondering though if I skip out on the power supply and go with a PCI Express x16 Geforce 8600, if I would still be able to run most games. I read that the 8600 only requires a 300w Power supply.
The reason I ask is because I was told that more than likely any power supply I buy is not going to fit right with my Gateway. Is this true? |
|
|
|
|
Aug 5 2008, 03:28 PM
Post
#4
|
|
 Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,179 Joined: 28-September 06 From: New York Member No.: 87,553 |
It depends. What game's you're going to play? Newer games won't run very well with only an 8600.
One thing you should know also is your computer has a Pentium 4 processor, and it doesn't seem like it can be upgraded to anything better. A Pentium 4 is going to severely bottleneck newer graphics cards. I even had an older ATI X1900GT, with a Pentium 4, 3.0ghz. My FPS in Call of Duty 4 was really disappointing. Other games such as Bioshock, were unplayable even at low settings. I eventually got a Core 2 Duo processor and everything changed! I could play Call of Duty 4 on high settings without lag, and could play Bioshock on medium-high settings with only the occasional lag spike. If you want to play older games, go for an 8600GT. It's a waste to get an 8800GT with a Pentium 4 processor. I'd recommend saving up to just buy a new computer if you really want to game. --------------------  |
|
|
|
|
Aug 5 2008, 09:45 PM
Post
#5
|
|
|
New Member Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: 4-August 08 From: Olivehurst Member No.: 227,626 |
Honestly I would be happy if I could get this computer to run The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and be able to handle home videos from a Hard Drive CamCorder
|
|
|
|
|
Aug 6 2008, 01:14 AM
Post
#6
|
|
 Distinguished Member Group: BC Advisor Posts: 865 Joined: 24-June 06 From: Pace University - New York City Campus Member No.: 73,266 |
You may be able to get Oblivion to run, it just won't go very fast. The 8600 will run most older games quite well, but on newer ones it will choke especially with your processor. For general home computing tasks, your upgraded computer (more memory and a better graphics card) would do nicely. But for gaming, you should have a more recent dual-core processor, more than 2 GB of RAM, and a decent graphics card. You will have a much better experience with a new PC.
--------------------  |
|
|
|
|
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
| Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 22nd November 2008 - 03:35 PM |
© 2003-2008 All Rights Reserved Bleeping Computer LLC.