Ugrade... or Move on...?

Thanx in advance for reading this

5 years ago I bought what I thought was a top of the line Dell Dimension 4600. I have had some problems, and while it was never worth the almost $2500 I paid for it, It has served me well until now.

The only real upgrades I ever made to the system hardware was to [bleep] a CDr Drive, and a second HD to my configuration. The hard Drives went up in size and now I have 4 ATA hard drives, a 320 gig an 80 gig, and 2 40 gigs. - (the 40 gig drives are in a usb external enclosure) I have wanted to upgrade things like my Pentuim 4 chip (2.4 GHz) to a faster one (3.2 GHz) and my Ram from a total of 512 MB to 2 GB. How ever I found out today that In order to play my new PC Game I need pixel shader v1.1? (at least) my Video card is a I need GeForce4 MX 440 and I am beginning to feel that all hope is lost.

There is no way That I can afford a New computer and While I can buy slightly newer systems from various sites like pricewatcher, or computer-show and the like, I have yet to find one that has the same number of usb ports my current one has (8) and is the right shape and size to fit the only space I have for it. Also,If I do, I may have to get rid of my ATA/IDE components since Everything is SATA now.

That would be a waste of money. Money that I don't have. As much as I would like a brand new flashy gaming PC that could handle my office stuff, as well as my incessant love of Photoshop, Video, and music making, I can't afford it. I can't afford to upgrade to Vista and I certainly can't afford to but upgrades to all my software. Also I truly Like XP and am content to stay where I am.

The question is, can I ?

Considering the upgrades needed. and my crap budget, does anyone have an Idea as to what I should do, or what I can do under these circumstances. In a perfect world I would want to keep the four dives I have now. There is a lot of info stored on them.

Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Depends how much money you are willing to spend.
Looks like you got an old PC, pentium 4 2.4 GHz, 512mb ram, GeForce4 MX 440 ..


I would say to upgrade would cost a lot as a decent PC would have a core 2 duo processor, 2gb ram and a good graphics card if it is multimedia pc.

So just buy a new PC =].

Unless of course you have the time and effort to buy a new motherboard, memory, processor , graphics card and then fit it all.

Oh and also u say u bought a new game which requires pixel shader 1.1, well my graphics card has 2.0 and most games pc games these days require 3.0, so which game are u talking about?
(You definitely need to upgrade graphics card if you are a gamer, or buy a new pc like i suggested)

I mean nvidia graphics cards these days are in the 9 series and u have some 4 series which is REALL REALLY old

Anyway I hope I have helped u,
feel free to ask any more questions.

-Dacads

 

Well, besides being a Dell, it's just plain OLD! One is as bad as the other!:-D:-D:-D

Recently, with the slowing economy, many PC manufacturers have gone all out to offer really good little PC's to the buying public for rediculously LOW prices.

Wal*Mart was selling the little emachine with XP installed, for $289. usd

While "Staples" was selling a new Compaq laptop with a 160 gig HD, 2 gigs of ram and Vista Home Premium,,,,, all for $499.

Bargains are everywhere and will probably get even better as Christmas approaches. It's a great time for someone wanting a new PC, to get one at bargain basement prices.
Some companies, like Compaq, are even offering Factory Refurbished computers at very reasonable prices. I just set one up for an old customer of mine this week.

Dell quality has gone downhill greatly in the past few years. The horror stories with the XPS series and their bad motherboards run rampant all over the internet. I wouldn't have a D'hell today as a gift. :major

Good luck!
Shadow :cool

 

I know that My computer is old. Trust me I am painfully aware of that. However, Money is tight and I have a lot of bills so its not like I have much of an option when it comes to buying a new one.

My ideal computer would be one that could handle my office needs, my gaming needs, ans Do justice to my Media, and artistic efforts. and still be small enough to fit in the space I have for it.

I know its a tall order.

I would NEVER buy from dell again. i thought $2500 Would get me top of the line - instead i got taken for a ride. -

Tha game I want to play is TMNT. It looked like a hell of a lot of fun and since it was only like 11 bucks plus tax i figured WTH?

But I also have WarHammer 40,000 - Platinum Edition. and some other things.

I am really wanting to play the new hitman game when it comes out so yeah.

 

youd probably end up spending more on buying new stuff for your old pc than you would if you bought new. save some money and buy new. like TS said, a new pc these days runs fairly cheap. under $500 will get you a really nice computer. you need a budget if you want to upgrade.