Hey,
Well this has a little bit of a story to go with it, and i typed this without it, and it kinda left me wonderin, so im just going to tell it. Anyways...
My dad gets me free computers from his work(im in high school). He is "Tech Department" for an Insurance company. Its a small company, so he does everything. And he is able to bring me a new "updated" computer every 6 months or so. The problem is, they are optiplexs. Right now, my build is:
-Optiplex 720
-Core 2 Duo 2.33ghz
-HD2400
-2 GB DDR2 330mhz ram
-like 350 watt ps
-10k rpm hard drives
This would be a great build if i was logging onto and working from terminal servers all day, and doing nothing that requires a decent CPU, GPU, or ram. I would like to go spend 800 bucks at newegg, and buy me a computer that would last me well into colledge, but he thinks that i will be buying "low grade products" and that i have to buy one from Dell (he has a representive that gets him huge discounts, but there is still no comparison). SO i can go on and on, and dont get me wrong, im thankful for the stuff like Free microsoft products due to the Mircosoft Partner network, and mostly fast hard drives (he is about to get me like a 300gb or so ssd). But i would like a decent computer.
So here is what i want to know. What can i do with the limitation of only screwing with Ram, GPU, and CPU(if i do it behind his back...) I am thinking about:
Putting like DDR2 800 mhz ram, but i want to make sure all ddr2 ram will fit, or if i will have any problems with that. I understand that i will have to take my current ram out, and DDR2 ram is freaking expensive.
Putting a Core 2 Quad in, but them are freaking EXPENSIVE to.
Getting a better GPU. But this is a problem, because it has to be low profile, to an extent. i have one slot, and no 6 pin connector. Also, its not one of those tiny cased computers, but i run into a lot of size problems as well.
What, if anything can i do to at least make it play 2002 Games BF2 and The sims 2 at high setting, cause it wont. It also must do audio work(im a musician). Am i better off to just wait tell i graduate then build a computer?
Thanks for the help.
Edit: I know my MB is locked, but would using a 3rd party program and Overclocking help me any. 50 bucks for a cooler is better the 200+ for a processor.
Well this has a little bit of a story to go with it, and i typed this without it, and it kinda left me wonderin, so im just going to tell it. Anyways...
My dad gets me free computers from his work(im in high school). He is "Tech Department" for an Insurance company. Its a small company, so he does everything. And he is able to bring me a new "updated" computer every 6 months or so. The problem is, they are optiplexs. Right now, my build is:
-Optiplex 720
-Core 2 Duo 2.33ghz
-HD2400
-2 GB DDR2 330mhz ram
-like 350 watt ps
-10k rpm hard drives
This would be a great build if i was logging onto and working from terminal servers all day, and doing nothing that requires a decent CPU, GPU, or ram. I would like to go spend 800 bucks at newegg, and buy me a computer that would last me well into colledge, but he thinks that i will be buying "low grade products" and that i have to buy one from Dell (he has a representive that gets him huge discounts, but there is still no comparison). SO i can go on and on, and dont get me wrong, im thankful for the stuff like Free microsoft products due to the Mircosoft Partner network, and mostly fast hard drives (he is about to get me like a 300gb or so ssd). But i would like a decent computer.
So here is what i want to know. What can i do with the limitation of only screwing with Ram, GPU, and CPU(if i do it behind his back...) I am thinking about:
Putting like DDR2 800 mhz ram, but i want to make sure all ddr2 ram will fit, or if i will have any problems with that. I understand that i will have to take my current ram out, and DDR2 ram is freaking expensive.
Putting a Core 2 Quad in, but them are freaking EXPENSIVE to.
Getting a better GPU. But this is a problem, because it has to be low profile, to an extent. i have one slot, and no 6 pin connector. Also, its not one of those tiny cased computers, but i run into a lot of size problems as well.
What, if anything can i do to at least make it play 2002 Games BF2 and The sims 2 at high setting, cause it wont. It also must do audio work(im a musician). Am i better off to just wait tell i graduate then build a computer?
Thanks for the help.
Edit: I know my MB is locked, but would using a 3rd party program and Overclocking help me any. 50 bucks for a cooler is better the 200+ for a processor.