Gaming PC parts compatibility

[Anoniem: 690230]

Hi

I've had the idea to finally start building my own gaming-pc since i've wanted one for a while, and have some questions regarding the subject.

I already have a pc, but it's a factory pc -an HP-pavilion P6- and i had the idea that maybe, instead of buying a whole new gaming pc, i could just buy a bigger case, and move all the useful parts of my current pc tot that case, and buy the ones i still need. Now i do know that gaming pc's require certain builds, and that not every processor, videocard, ... is compatible with each other.

So it would help me out a lot if anyone could look what parts of my pc are useful and compatible with nowadays' stuff, adding parts that i still need or have to be replaced, and if it would fit in the case i'd like to have.

Here are the specs of my current pc:

http://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c03143256
http://h20564.www2.hp.com...c/display?docId=c03350358

(^^^ : the first link seems to have more info, but it says the pc has an AMD processor, and i remember having an I7Quad core, im not 100% sure, sorry for the inconvenience)

and the case i would like: https://www.nzxt.com/prod...tis-gaming-mid-tower.html

As for the budget of the parts that i would need to buy, i don't want the best of the best, but a bit above average would be nice. I'm looking for a job to get the needed money, so i would want to spend a max of 700 euro's total.


Thanks,
Alex.

[Ardjee]

As long as you aren't sure what you currently own it's impossible for us to give decent advice. If i were you i would download either hardware monitor or speccy and give us the specifications of what you currently have.

Also: open up your case and note which power supply is fitted in your pc (at the least note how much power the 12V lines can supply).

Withouth that we can't really give any advice about a possible upgrade.

[pwillemske]

Hello,

I dont know of which country you come/came. But this forum is only Netherlands. The most people can speek English (or not so well like me...). Can you try to speek Netherlands if possible??

If you open task manager and your pc case, you can find your parts. In the task manager you can see your cpu, RAM and Harddrives/SSD. In the case you can look what kind of motherboard you have and the powersupplie. The information we need from the powersupplie is the brand, type and wattage.

But you need an own search of what you think what you need, so, what did you look at for the upgrade??

Good luck!

[MacPoedel]

As my predecessors have pointed out, we can't tell you what hardware you can reuse if you don't tell us what hardware you have. Things we want to know:

- What processor?
- What motherboard?
- What RAM (memory e.g. DDR2, DDR3), how much RAM?
- What power supply? Brand, power, current on the 12V line. It's best if you take a picture of the sticker on the power supply, usually that has all the information we need.

Those are the parts you can probably reuse if they are still up to date enough. The power supply will be tricky though, usually HP and similar companies don't use power supplies that are more powerful than necessary, but if you're looking at building a gaming pc, you're going to need a graphics card and that's the most power hungry component in a system.

We kind of expect you to have at least an idea of what system you want to have and what you want to do with it. You say you don't need the fastest equipment, but that still leaves a lot of choice, we could end up suggesting a €300 graphics card while you probably only need a €150 model. As for the component you already have selected, I think that NZXT case is way overkill for you. You're looking at spending way too much on the case which will leave not enough of your budget for the components (perhaps you might skimp on the power supply and that's a very bad idea). There are perfectly fine gaming cases for €50 or less that fit almost all hardware you can find, so only select a big budget case if you're also willing to spend a lot more on the hardware inside. Unless you really only want a pc that looks bad-ass but performs only moderately.

[TheTinusNL]

- The first thing I noticed is that your processor is very weak (when you have the AMD processor). You might want to check if you have an i7 though, as this makes a looooot of difference. I'd recommend an Intel i5 processor for gaming. You can decide whether you want the new Skylake generation (i5-6600k) + Z170 motherboard, or save some bucks and go for the previous Haswell generation (i5-4460 or i5-4690k) + B85/Z97 motherboard, which also performs very good.
- 4GB RAM for gaming is not enough nowadays. You should get at least 8GB RAM. Make sure that you choose the correct one, as Skylake supports both DDR3 and DDR4. Haswell only supports DDR3. DDR3 prices went down again (well at least here in The Netherlands), they are pretty cheap. DDR4 is also getting much cheaper, but in games there is no benefit. I would recommend a DDR4 build though, as this guarantees you won't have to upgrade your RAM in the near future.
- You have no graphics card, just integrated graphics. Depending on your budget, we will try and find the best GPU for you.
- You have 1TB of HDD storage, which is plenty. However, I would highly recommend a SSD in your build, as this will noticeable speed up your PC in general.
- Your power supply is only 300W, which is not enough. Depending on the components that you will pick, we can find you a suitable PSU.
- A new case is probably necessary as well, you chose one already, which is good.

Since this PC has only been sold in the USA, I assume you live in the USA. This makes it very hard for us, Tweakers, to create you a list of components, as we don't have the same prices and availability.

[Anoniem: 690230]

Wow i'm kinda surprised i got this much replies,

Well, i don't know where to start on answering all these questions, and the point is that i don't have the greatest knowledge about all this & pc-building... But i'll try my best.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
As for my current parts, i have downloaded speccy & this is what it says:
------
Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i5 2500 @ 3.30GHz 50 °C
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
8,00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Foxconn 2ABF (CPU 1) 44 °C
Graphics
MD32119PR (1280x1024@60Hz)
SyncMaster (1280x1024@60Hz)
3072MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 (MSI) 66 °C
Storage
1397GB Seagate ST31500341AS (SATA) 36 °C
Optical Drives
hp DVD A DH16ABSH
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Mouse & keyboard are not needed, a good budget monitor would be nice though (preferably 2) .
--
As for the pc "level" , i'd say running games like GuildWars2, GTAV, ... on high or best graphics while still maintaining about 30FPS?
--
I wouldn't mind having a case that looks like the pc is better than it actually is, but i guess i could find a cheaper one.
--
((If people could provide links to parts that i should buy that would be really helpful, or at least put them in a neat list & also a list of things i should figure out & post here, and how i would find the info))
--
sorry @ pwillemske , ik ben nederlander in belgie & had ja had idd ook in nederlands gekund /:

[Ivar19]

Just replace the NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 with something like an R9 380 and you're laughing. The rest of your computer is still perfectly fine.

#	Product	Prijs	Subtotaal
1	Sapphire Radeon R9 380 4GB Nitro	€ 235,70	€ 235,70
Bekijk collectie Importeer producten		Totaal	€ 235,70

[br00ky]

Anoniem: 690230 schreef op dinsdag 18 augustus 2015 @ 18:01:
sorry @ pwillemske , ik ben nederlander in belgie & had ja had idd ook in nederlands gekund /:

Modbreak:

In dat geval vanaf nu geen Engels meer. Dit is een Nederlandstalig forum, waar uitzonderingen mogen, maar we gaan niet geforceerd in het Engels.

Overigens gaat dit topic vervolgens ook op slot omdat het niet voldoet aan de minimale eisen voor wat betreft eigen input en onderzoek.

Het staat je uiteraard vrij een nieuw topic te openen. In het Nederlands en volgens de richtlijnen in CAA beleid .

Als je nog vragen hebt over de gang van zaken, waar de juiste informatie te vinden e.d. kan je me altijd een bericht sturen.

[ Voor 9% gewijzigd door br00ky op 18-08-2015 21:02 ]