Any life left in the old bird?

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markdienekes

Active member
I've had a dell XPS 710 since 2007, and have only upgraded the graphics card from the old 8800GTX to the (old now I guess) 560 GTX. It's handled everything I've thrown at it for years at quite good settings (high mostly), but now I see it can no longer keep up with modern gaming.

These are my pc specs:

Core 2 Quad Core Processor Q6600 (2.4GHz, 1066FSB, 8MB cache)
Memory Dual-channel 4096MB (667MHz DDR2)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 560
32-bit operating system (vista)

I was wondering if there was any chance I could upgrade a few things bit by bit and over time to give it some extra life and hopefully play something like the Witcher 3 without embarrassing itself... Or should I just start from scratch and buy a new pc?

Thanks for your time and any help you can offer. I know I should be looking at changing all the above, but what would work together, fit in the case etc? My budget is pretty bad, and was hoping I could find some upgrades for quite cheap (maybe around 300-400 altogether). I'm a family man on low wage so unfortunately getting a spanking new pc is no longer possible! This is certainly not my field, and I'm hoping someone here can help me. Much appreciated!

My apologies if this is a bit out of form - PC Specialist sells their own pcs, but I thought you guys may be knowledgeable, so hopefully it isn't too cheeky. Thank you for your time again.
 
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keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
Upgrades depend on your psu and how good the cooling is in your case for a newer gpu. You could contact dell and ask for advice on what GPUs are suitable for your machine.
 
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markdienekes

Active member
Right, I may well do that. The cooling system is just two large fans. The PSU is a 750watt one, though how much power it has lost over the years who knows! I'll call Dell tomorrow (free calls!)

God knows what motherboard I have, can't find this information anywhere!
 
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markdienekes

Active member
If it really isn't doable, what are your opinions on the The Vortex 500 Gaming PC (but with the i5 3.3 GHz processor) - will it be able to handle new games and soon to be released games like Witcher well enough to still look pretty on a 1650x1050?
 
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markdienekes

Active member
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4590 (3.3GHz) 6MB Cache
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
ASUS® H81M-PLUS: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

It would have to be purchased on finance... but paying it all back before it gains interest. Including postage, it comes to £639.
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
The case you selected is not suitable for a gaming rig, you may also want to consider upgrading the cpu cooler to the triple copper heatpipe cpu cooler and a caviar black as the main drive since it is faster than the standard drive. if you can't go above your budget you could consider an AMD cpu , it should provide better value for money
 
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markdienekes

Active member
keynes said:
The case you selected is not suitable for a gaming rig, you may also want to consider upgrading the cpu cooler to the triple copper heatpipe cpu cooler and a caviar black as the main drive since it is faster than the standard drive. if you can't go above your budget you could consider an AMD cpu , it should provide better value for money
Click to expand...


I've gone for the one they originally have selected for the Vortex.

STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA CASE + 2 FRONT USB
 
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markdienekes

Active member
I was just wondering, should I just stick with a GTX 750 ti if my monitor has only 1650x1050 resolution, rather than opt for the 960?
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
markdienekes said:
I was just wondering, should I just stick with a GTX 750 ti if my monitor has only 1650x1050 resolution, rather than opt for the 960?
Click to expand...

You need to check benchmarks online for your resolution. If you are spending more than £500 for a gaming PC seems like not a good choice to play at low resolution than 1920x1080, a ps4 would be cheaper and would perform better than the gtx 750 ti
 
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markdienekes

Active member
The ps4 doesn't have the ability to mod games (I like Beth games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim), and my tv is very small and not HD, so it's fairly pointless getting that. I could upgrade monitor. What is your opinion on the BENQ GL2250HM 21.5" LED MONITOR?
 
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