I am on my wife's Macbook Pro right now because I don't have a desktop to use...

My processor finally died due to fan failure (I'm a smart one sometimes...I knew it was crapping out but didn't want to spend a few bucks on a new one)...oh well...good excuse to upgrade...so while I'm looking at my options as to what i want to do, I will not be able to play...I might only be gone a week or I might be gone a month...not that anybody here cares, but I thought I'd let you know why I'm not playing.

I have a craptastic HP a1630n with an Asus MoBo and AMD Athlon 64 x2 4600+ dual-core....I'm looking at going to a 6000+ processor with new heatsink/fan and case fan. I'm also considering a new MoBo and CPU with heatsink/fan and case fan.

Now is a good time to upgrade to a new graphics card as well and possibly upgrade my RAM. I have 3 gigs of RAM and I'm running XP, so I'm not sure if it's worth it to upgrade that just yet. I am running an ATI x1650 Pro 512mb graphics card and would like something newer.

Any suggestions for what I should look at? Should i just upgrade the processor or should I go with a mobo/cpu upgrade? The heatsink/fan and case fan will be upgraded no matter what. The graphics card may be updated if the funds allow it. The memory doesn't matter, but since I'm using a stick of factory ram and 2 sticks of aftermarket, I was contemplating upgrading to a higher speed RAM that's all the same speed and same brand.

Or, would it be worthwhile to just look into getting a new computer and transferring the hard drive and graphics card into a new computer? I don't want to go this route, but it is a possibility as well if it happens to be more cost effective.


Thanks for any help.
Mike

Truthfully from a non computer tech perspective, if you fried your CPU , you might as well replace the entire MOBO setup minus the vid card. you could in theory get a new processor assuming your boards still compatable, and that might be the cheapest option, but if I was in yoru shoes Id get a new processor (a beast of one at that..) get a new mobo to go with it to ensure that everything can keep up and then buy new ram to ensure it really works to its optimal

why would you upgrade all those parts and keep the hp case...?

i think its time you just built your own computer man, dont be skurrd. go to newegg.com, pick out a nice case, cpu, mobo ram HD etc and post it all here and we can tell you if youre doing alright. there are plenty of build threads around here also. you can build a pretty decent amd based computer for around 500 bucks.

^This
A new case could help airflow so you won't have a thermal problem as much next time.

I've got no problem building my own...a couple of my buddies used to build them all the time and they'd have no problem helping me out...I do know the basics so it wouldn't be bad, but I just figured I've got most everything in this case so I would just keep it there for now...

I really just want the processor and while I'm at it, a better case fan and hsf...I don't need memory, video card, or any other upgrades...just though depending on what I have to work with money wise and what things cost, maybe I would do more if money allowed.

My main concern at the moment is whether it's worth it to stick with the MoBo I have and just max out the dual-core processor (6000+ is what I've found for $65 on Newegg). Or if I should go ahead and upgrade the MoBo and CPU together to get better performance all around...I'd really rather not go through all that...I think a 64 x2 6000+ would be more than enough..I don't really do much with the computer besides CS:S, web browsing, a little photo editing, and I'd like to turn it into a HTPC somewhere down the road. I have 1.75 TB of HD space for movies and shows.

Anyway, just curious what people would suggest for the CPU...

I'll play around on Newegg and else where to see what I can price out...I'll check out Craig's List as well for things like the case and what not if I go that route...really would like to keep it below $300 if possible, but I'll have to be really stingy with what I upgrade.

Thanks for the responses though...I'll search the forums for build threads.

Point: If you go putting any nice aftermarket parts in your HP case, they're potentially as good as done. Although it depends on what kinda case you have.

get a new case FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BUILD A COMPUTER DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY

NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811146025
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811146025
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

-$20.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate11-146-025

$89.99
$69.99

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Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136073
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136073
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy



$56.99

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HIS H467QS1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

HIS H467QS1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814161287
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161287
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy

Protect Your Investment (expand for options14-161-287|hide options14-161-287)

Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan

The product will be replaced and shipped directly to you at no charge(more info14-161-287.0.18)

* 1 year: $10.99
* 2 year: $16.99

-$5.00 Instant


$79.99
$74.99

select item 4 quantity of item 4


Sunbeam PSU-BKS580-US 580W ATX Power Supply

Sunbeam PSU-BKS580-US 580W ATX Power Supply - OEM
Item #: N82E16817709011
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Protect Your Investment (expand for options17-709-011|hide options17-709-011)

Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan

The product will be replaced and shipped directly to you at no charge(more info17-709-011.0.18)

* 1 year: $6.99
* 2 year: $11.99

-$1.25 Instant


$19.99
$18.74

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Patriot Viper II 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory w/Futuremark 3DMark Vantage Bundle Model PV224G6400LLKB

Patriot Viper II 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory w/Futuremark 3DMark Vantage Bundle Model ... - Retail
Item #: N82E16820220425
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220425
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy



$73.99

select item 6 quantity of item 6

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX250OCGQBOX

* http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDeal ... mbo.273664

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128394
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

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Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan

The product will be replaced and shipped directly to you at no charge(more info13-128-3941.0.18)
o 1 year: $10.99
o 2 year: $16.99

*

AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX250OCGQBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103681
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy

Protect Your Investment (expand for options19-103-68110|hide options19-103-68110)

Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan

The product will be replaced and shipped directly to you at no charge(more info19-103-6811.0.18)
o 1 year: $10.99
o 2 year: $16.99

-$5.00 Instant
-$22.00 Combo


$160.99
$133.99

Subtotal: $428.69

a very decent computer for under 500. go buy it. now. do it.

Most of those items aren't even needed...

At most I would just buy a new case to house what i already have...

I have 3 gigs of DDR2 memory, I have an x1650 pro video card, a 500w power supply, 250gb internal hd and 2 externals...total 1.75 TB of space.

Here's what I am picking up for sure...

hsf: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835114039
cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103772
fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811999613

I can find a case for less if I decide to buy one. I was actually just going to "modify" my case a bit for better airflow.

Again, I'm cheap. The processor died because the fan failed and I never replaced it...not because of a lack of ventilation in the case (yes the ventilation sucks in retail computer cases, but that's not the point).

Now my only question is will the thermal paste that comes with the hsf be sufficient or should I buy something like Arctic Silver 5 for a whopping $7 more?

If I buy a case it's going to be something cheaper than the one in the last post...I have no need for a side window to show anything off and I won't be putting LED's in there. I'm not looking for an ultimate gaming computer...I only play CS:S which doesn't use much and the upgrades I'll be making will give me a couple extra fps already.

Thanks for the help everyone...hopefully I'll be able to afford this stuff soon. House payment and car payments come first....have to support the wife and child before I buy fun things.

i use arctic on all mah shit.. for no more than it costs.. you cheap F*CKER :P

OK, so I have decided for sure that right now I am only upgrading the processor and hsf and case fan. The total from Newegg is $112 shipped. I hopefully will be up and running within a few weeks...still need a few more bucks. Once bills are paid off or I find a part-time job to help out, I will be able to start planning a new computer to replace this one. I probably wouldn't replace this one for at least a year or two, but if I were to replace it now, here's what I am thinking I would go with...what do you think? Is it worthy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103681

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131367

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119068

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146785

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161252


Again, this is just a quick build..I believe it's all compatible, but let me know if I'm wrong...I would just swap the power supply, hard drive, optical drive from my current setup over to this. Later on, I would upgrade both the optical and the hard drive (would run 2, 1TB drives in RAID 0...I would use my external HD's for back-up of anything important to me as I have 1.5TB of external HD's).


I was looking into doing a bit of upgrading on my current system and it would be about $375 to upgrade the processor, hsf, case fan, 4gb of PC 6400 memory, Windows 7 (x64), and a 9500 GT graphics card...unfortunately, that's way too much for way too little. The build above (plus Windows 7) would be just a tad over $600 shipped to me (I'm sure I could find some combo's or something rather than piecing it together that would save a few bucks too).

Thanks for the info you've all given me...I just want the computer running again for now as I think it's got a good couple years left in it...so it will be the basic parts I need for now and later I can build something better/newer.

wtf do you honestly need 1.5TB of HD space for... i have 500 gigs and fraps shit and make videos all the time and i havnt come close to filling it..

yeah, keep your on board HD a decent size (mine is 500 gig) and keep an external HD with all your important files (pics, vids, documents, etc.) so when your computer goes boom you don't lose anything important.