Question for the computer savvy

[Doug R.]

I want to get my home desktop to run Second Life well. It's a 2005 Dell, running a 3.0ghz processor, so it has enough CPU speed, and I think my RAM is fine. The graphics card I think is the bottleneck. It's an NVIDIA x600 (supposedly a card for laptops, so I can't figure that one out, but whatever). My question is, how do I know if a new gpu will fit on my motherboard without opening my machine and looking at it? And if it fits, how do I know if it'll be compatible?

The obvious alternative is a new system entirely, but if I can get away with just a new gpu, I'd rather go there.

Thanks in advance.

[Sunni Daez]

Sorry.. that's all "Geek" to me!

But I have found out, what I thought was my graphics card messing up my WoW.. it is the power supply...

[Doug R.]

Yeah, that's important too, and the same problem applies - I have no idea how to tell what I have without opening it up and looking. I'm certain I'd have to upgrade that to run any new gpu.

[Doug R.]

Oh, I did download a program called PC Wizard to analyze my hardware...I just don't know how to interpret the readout. I can post that here if someone wishes.

[Mr. Bones]

Wouldn't it be based on the card slot that it fits into? Check the type of slot the graphics card fits into on it's specifications, it may be PCI Express, or even older and more rare, PCI. THen you need to confirm that you have the correct card slots on your motherboard, you can do this by finding the specifications for your computer on the internet.

If you have the right card slot it fits into, you shouldn't have any issues with being able to connect it.

If you need any further help interpreting hardware specs or whatnot, I'll be glad to help you.

[Navi]

Given that it's a Dell, and the x600 is generally an onboard chip, it may not even have a slot other than PCI, but possibly AGP also, given the age. Either of them are kind of hard to find, although one online store has the Radeon HD 3450 for sale for each of those slots, which is definitely above minimum spec for Second Life. Did they make boards other than maybe extremely small for factor ones without PCI slots?

Assuming it has some kind of slot on the board, it should definitely be able to be upgraded enough to play. Although when you can get a 6 core AMD based computer for about $100+harddrive more than that card, including a graphics chip 4 generations newer (and about 6 times the performance)... (but requires assembly)

[Doug R.]

Thanks for the replies. It sounds to me that it would be worth building a new system from scratch.

[Black Canyon]

The other thing to consider if you decide to go with upgrading your graphic card.... you'll probably need to upgrade your power supply too. And Dells are proprietary, so you have to find a power supply specifically made for Dells. There are some out there.

[Doug R.]

Yeah, I figured an upgrade would be hard on a pre-built system. I've been thinking of building my own, but ironicly, the Dell I was looking at, which is more or less the same, cost about the same, so I'm not sure where they're making their money (or the parts I was looking at were really marked up).

[Black Canyon]

Yeah, they're getting pretty inexpensive these days. To think I spent over 3000.00 on my first computer over a decade and a half ago.

[Doug R.]

Ok, I went to custompcreview.com and put together a hybrid of two of their recommended custom gaming builds:

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570k
Board: Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
Memory: 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3 Low Profile 1.5v
Video: MSI GTX 660 Ti Power Edition
Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D
HDD: 2 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM
Optical Drive: OEM DVD Drive
PSU: Corsair TX650M
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

I know, I know, windows sucks, but I have decades of legacy win-based programs I'd like to still run.

Also going to reuse my current sound card because it's just fine. If it doesn't fit, I probably don't need it anyway.

Should cost me $1300 and last another 7 years, I figure.

Any thoughts/suggestions? Any games on the market right now that this system wouldn't run?

I'm going with two HDD drives because I want to configure them for RAID 1. I've had three or four HDD failures on my current system and RAID saved my ass each time. I'll never have a system without them.

I'm not really sold on the need for a SSD drive, and they're not really RAID compatible anyway from what I read.

Also save $100 bucks not going i7. I don't think I'd need the hyperthreading anyway.

[Navi]

That should have no problem with any game out. I did roughly the same 4 years ago. I've since upgraded the graphics card in December, but only because I got a good deal on the new one. It wasn't really needed, though.

As for sound cards, there is an 8 channel one onboard already, but if the one you have is better, then go for it. That board does have a PCI slot, so it should fit.

[Doug R.]

As for sound cards, there is an 8 channel one onboard already, but if the one you have is better, then go for it. That board does have a PCI slot, so it should fit.

Oh, great! Thanks. I guess I'd have found that out when I opened the box and seen all the ports on it. Probably has a built-in ethernet also. If not, I'll just transfer my card over.

I'm getting really excited about this. I've never known what was inside my computer, and building it myself, knowing what's there and being able to upgrade easily? Just nifty

I was toying with making a Hackintosh, but it seems a bit dicey. Probably just leave it with Windows 7.

[Navi]

It does have ethernet built in too. It is rare that a board doesn't now.

I was toying with making a Hackintosh, but it seems a bit dicey. Probably just leave it with Windows 7.

On my laptop I have VMWare running OS X on a virtual machine. That way I have both when needed, and it's easily transferable to another computer if needed (just install VMware player on the second computer and copy a directory).