Building "new" computer for gaming/video editing, need help!

dwellufool

Solid State Member
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Hey, I got a Dell Inspiron desktop a few year ago I believe, it was pretty good for it's time. All I did was upgrade the graphics card, now it could use somewhat of an overhaul.

I'm trying to save money by using the old tower and some of the old upgraded parts, but the rest I'm not sure about. I have an idea of what to get, but it is what I need?

Here's what I plan to move into the new computer from the old:

1tb Western Digital hard drive (has games etc on it I planned to move into the next comp)

PNY VERTO GT 240 Geforce Graphics Card (1024mb version)

I also have my old Geforce 8400 GS I got a while back if it comes to be useful later.

Rocketfish (unfortunately) 500w gaming power suppy with a 600 peak.

The disc reading... thing that came with the inspiron.

What I'm looking to get for upgrades is:

4-6gb of RAM, currently looking at: Memory Master - 2-Pack 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM Memory Kit - MMD4096KD2-800

AMD Black Edition for processor http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AMD+-+B...+965/9564606.p?id=1218125331461&skuId=9564606

Motherboard: Newegg.com - ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Windows 7 (up from Vista) Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate - 1 PC (Plan to purchase that online)

If you think there's something better, something from the old that needs to be replaced, if I can use those two graphics cards, whatever you can think of that's better I will greatly appreciate all the feedback.

I am by no means an expert with computers, that's just what I've looked up that's affordable with a little time and won't be easily replaced by the time I get it, so feel free to put corrections on what you think I should get.

Thanks! I'm not looking for over the top, I'm 16 and my job is at a local grocery store + Birthday and Christmas money, (Thankfully they're close, but too far apart to get joint gifts. I know, I'm greedy. ) and I've finally gotten my parents to stop worrying about gifts so much this year. Economy sucks, so I'm thankful for a roof and food on the table!

No minimum budget, looking to top about 500 dollars from the things I'm getting to go with the new PC.

TL;DR

Is what I'm going to get good with that I'm moving over to the new PC?

Are there other upgrades I need, or something in the upgrade section I should reconsider (and please mention what it is I should get instead of a certain upgrade)

No minimum of course, top budget around 500 dollars for the parts I am upgrading alone.

Thanks! ~ Tucker
 
Heres the setup I'm going for which is ideal for moderate gaming and video editing. Remember a dual core is better than a quad for gaming as most games utilize two cores, therefore having 2 running at 3.3GHz on an X2 processor, is better than having a quad with say... 2.8GHz on 4 cores, as only two are being used :) Therefore you get more use out of the 2. If it's not extremely advanced and complex video editing then the dual will be absolutely fine.

A fairly decent AM3/AM2+ Motherboard of your choice. Just something with PCI-e 16x and DDR3 ram banks. (£45)
AMD Phenom II X2 555 - 7MB L3 Cache (very good for gaming) (£70)
4GB DDR3 1333MHZ RAM (£30 - £35)
1TB Western Digital HDD (£30).. Phenomonal value.
ATI/AMD Radeon HD5770 or a GTX 460. With your PSU the ATI is a MUCH better choice.
Optical drive of your choice, could just use your existing one.
Windows 7. Unless you have an OS already on a DVD.

That should be a good setup for what you need.

Just a quick note... they are prices in £... you might wanna convert them. Also remember that things like this in the US are also normally slightly cheaper. 15% less maybe.
 
A fairly decent AM3/AM2+ Motherboard of your choice. Just something with PCI-e 16x and DDR3 ram banks. (£45)
AMD Phenom II X2 555 - 7MB L3 Cache (very good for gaming) (£70)
4GB DDR3 1333MHZ RAM (£30 - £35)
1TB Western Digital HDD (£30).. Phenomonal value.
ATI/AMD Radeon HD5770 or a GTX 460. With your PSU the ATI is a MUCH better choice.
Optical drive of your choice, could just use your existing one.
Windows 7. Unless you have an OS already on a DVD.

Alright, here's what I'm looking at based on what you've said:

Is this the processor you mean? Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision HDZ555WFGMBOX

For the motherboard: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA78LMT-S2 AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Keeping the 4gb ram: Memory Master - 2-Pack 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM Memory Kit - MMD4096KD2-800


I had a question though, you mentioned ATI/AMD video card I think? Am I needing to upgrade from http://www.bestbuy.com/site/PNY+-+G...Card/9636231.p?id=1218135451546&skuId=9636231 which isn't 512mb, it's 1024mb version that isn't listed on the website. Are you saying I need two video cards or a replacement?

Thanks for the feedback, if there's anything else aside from these please say so :D

I'll link the final build I'm doing after I have this confirmed, thanks Danny!

PS: Thanks for the info on quad/dual processors, I'm still learning this stuff. Thanks for that especially.
 
Alright, here's what I'm looking at based on what you've said:

Is this the processor you mean? Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision HDZ555WFGMBOX

For the motherboard: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA78LMT-S2 AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Keeping the 4gb ram: Memory Master - 2-Pack 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM Memory Kit - MMD4096KD2-800


I had a question though, you mentioned ATI/AMD video card I think? Am I needing to upgrade from PNY - GeForce GT 240 512MB GDDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card - VCGGT2405G5XEB which isn't 512mb, it's 1024mb version that isn't listed on the website. Are you saying I need two video cards or a replacement?

Thanks for the feedback, if there's anything else aside from these please say so :D

I'll link the final build I'm doing after I have this confirmed, thanks Danny!

PS: Thanks for the info on quad/dual processors, I'm still learning this stuff. Thanks for that especially.
Yep, that's the processor. The Phenom II dual cores make good gaming processors apparently. It may be wise to upgrade to DDR3 as it is alot faster. I'm not sure if the DDR2 you want to keep will work in that DDR3 board, you'll have to find out. The motherboard you chose would be good, although if you have a 5.1 speaker system you won't be able to use it to its full advantage because the motherboard you posted only has in out and mic. This has in, out, mic, sub, sides and backs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128451

Video card... I don't know. Hard to say. The 240 you have is a good card but you may want to upgrade in the future as games become more demanding. You could keep it.
 
Moving from windows vista to Windows 7 requires slightly more resources and I would recommend moving to 6GB of memory and moving to a 64 bit OS (windows 7 x64). You cant use over 4GB of total memory (on motherboard + on video card) if you have a 32 bit OS (IE the normal Windows 7).
 
Moving from windows vista to Windows 7 requires slightly more resources

Actually, the inverse is true. Windows 7 is less resource intensive than Vista.

and I would recommend moving to 6GB of memory and moving to a 64 bit OS (windows 7 x64). You cant use over 4GB of total memory (on motherboard + on video card) if you have a 32 bit OS (IE the normal Windows 7).

If you have the money to spend on extra RAM, go for it. If you don't, Windows 7 doesn't need 6, but I would agree with the 64 bit OS, just personal preference as at this point, well there are quite a few 64 bit programs, but none that are 64 bit only that I'm familiar with.
 
if its going to be used for gaming and video editing i would go with a quad nothing wrong with a dual but on the video editing aspect the quad would be better and for about another 50 bucks or so you can get a phenom II quad of the same frequency and the Phenom II X2 555 which would be great for both video editing and gaming.
 
Yummy feedback! Thank you!

Anywho, I see that motherboard Danny linked has four places to put RAM? I have two 1gb RAM cards, plus the two would mean 6 if I'm not mistaken unless the RAM I have now doesn't fit for some mystical reason?

Anyway, here's the build I will be using now.

Old things moving over:

Vidiot Card: PNY - GeForce GT 240 512MB GDDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card - VCGGT2405G5XEB

Power Supply: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketf...=9648492&st=rocketfish power supply&cp=1&lp=1

Inspiron Tower Only: Google Image Result for http://i.dell.com/images/global/products/superview/sv_inspndt_530.jpg

The thing that reads discs that came with the inspiron.

1tb Western Digital Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...re=western_digital_1tb-_-22-136-490-_-Product

Possibly two 1gb RAM cards that came with the Inspiron.

New things to come:

Processor: Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision HDZ555WFGMBOX

Motherboard: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

RAM (4gb): Memory Master - 2-Pack 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM Memory Kit - MMD4096KD2-800

If I need to get a new graphics card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447&cm_re=ATI-_-14-150-447-_-Product (if anyone doesn't think it's any good, or knows one better, I'm willing to pay decently IF I need to, I'd rather keep that old one until later.)

Windows 7: Possibly won't get ultimate, don't honestly need it. Counting the Premium at $70 instead.

Sound card (if needed): No idea!

To wrap up

I need what I have listed confirmed, and possibly info on if that motherboard can hold four RAM cards?

Could also use a good sound card to go with that if the motherboard isn't sufficient for the sound.

This undercuts my original budget, and has more things :p very glad for the help I've gotten on these forums, thanks yet again. :D

If there's anything needed to be known to help me I'm more than willing to offer, (computer related of course.)

PS! According to PCwizkid, 2 cores can be unlocked in the processor I'm planning to get, the editing is nothing serious but it looks like I won't have to worry about if even if that were the case? If anyone knows bout' diz bsns I'd greatly appreciate info. :p
 
Yummy feedback! Thank you!

Anywho, I see that motherboard Danny linked has four places to put RAM? I have two 1gb RAM cards, plus the two would mean 6 if I'm not mistaken unless the RAM I have now doesn't fit for some mystical reason?

Anyway, here's the build I will be using now.

Old things moving over:

Vidiot Card: PNY - GeForce GT 240 512MB GDDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card - VCGGT2405G5XEB

Power Supply: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketf...=9648492&st=rocketfish power supply&cp=1&lp=1

Inspiron Tower Only: Google Image Result for http://i.dell.com/images/global/products/superview/sv_inspndt_530.jpg

The thing that reads discs that came with the inspiron.

1tb Western Digital Hard drive: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Possibly two 1gb RAM cards that came with the Inspiron.

New things to come:

Processor: Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision HDZ555WFGMBOX

Motherboard: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

RAM (4gb): Memory Master - 2-Pack 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM Memory Kit - MMD4096KD2-800

If I need to get a new graphics card: Newegg.com - XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (if anyone doesn't think it's any good, or knows one better, I'm willing to pay decently IF I need to, I'd rather keep that old one until later.)

Windows 7: Possibly won't get ultimate, don't honestly need it. Counting the Premium at $70 instead.

Sound card (if needed): No idea!

To wrap up

I need what I have listed confirmed, and possibly info on if that motherboard can hold four RAM cards?

Could also use a good sound card to go with that if the motherboard isn't sufficient for the sound.

This undercuts my original budget, and has more things :p very glad for the help I've gotten on these forums, thanks yet again. :D

If there's anything needed to be known to help me I'm more than willing to offer, (computer related of course.)

PS! According to PCwizkid, 2 cores can be unlocked in the processor I'm planning to get, the editing is nothing serious but it looks like I won't have to worry about if even if that were the case? If anyone knows bout' diz bsns I'd greatly appreciate info. :p

The sound on that board will be fine, 5.1 audio which gives you full surround sound if you get 5.1 speakers. Remember to get DDR3 ram (the notch is in a different place than DDR2, so I doubt it will fit in that DDR3 board)

Ultimate isn't a neccesity, just an OEM copy of premium would probably be fine for what you need.

And yes, the cores can be unlocked somehow :) just be very careful doing it
 
The sound on that board will be fine, 5.1 audio which gives you full surround sound if you get 5.1 speakers. Remember to get DDR3 ram (the notch is in a different place than DDR2, so I doubt it will fit in that DDR3 board)

Ultimate isn't a neccesity, just an OEM copy of premium would probably be fine for what you need.

And yes, the cores can be unlocked somehow :) just be very careful doing it

Now I know what DDR3 and 2 means lol.

Alright, Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL if I need the video card, if I don't need the video card: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ which I may get regardless because there isn't much of a price difference.

I'll pick up premium windows 7 online. :D

I have Harmon Kardon Soundsticks III Speaker System - 2.1 Chanel, 8 Full-Range Transducers, 6 Subwoofer, Volume Controls, 40 Watts Total at TigerDirect.com which is 2.1, so I may need an upgrade or sound card?

I don't plan on risking unlocking the other cores unless I feel absolutely confident I won't screw up XD

-Thanks again and again Danny. lol
 
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