Getting a Dell GX280 close to free, Modding it.

[Eclipse7]

Pentium 4 3.2ghz, 160gb hd, 512mb DDR2 ram.

Basically, the processor is better then the one in my PC by a fair amount, and the DDR2 ram is pretty cheap. I have a 600w PS from my old PC i'll toss in it, and i'll put it in my old PC case to give it more room.

I'll be using it for gaming (Not a hardcore gamer, im "Ok" at online FPS games) and mostly for Sound Engineering (Running Pro-Tools)

I planned on picking up the Samsung 226BW monitor, 1-2gigs of ram and an XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX. I have external hard drives, for school so im not worried about running out of room.

SO is there anything I should know about the Dell ? All i've heard is that Dell are ok because they can be upgraded... The parts im getting will be inside the dell, but eventually the dell will be replaced with a much better PC.


Thanks very much, I really need the help with this, i've heard a lot of different things about Dell's not being upgradeable and, that this would be fine...

[Nagasama]

i dont know that their motherboards (if you plan on using it) will mount correctly into your case.

[ricanflow]

Well 8600gt is crap, it basically a 7600gt with dx10 support. Also,, protools can get pretty cpu and ram intensive, the p4 might not ne all that good for it, i do sound engineering myself and those plugins can be hard on the cpu. A pentium d would be a nice upgrade but im not sure if the board will recognize it.

Is it the newer model gx280 or the older one, because i know the older ones use ddr, the newer ones ddr2. All pcs are upgradeable to a certain extent, some dells dont come with an agp or pci-e slot at all, so all you can change out would be the hard drive, dvd drive, and ram.

[Blitersety]

Originally Posted by ricanflow

Well 8600gt is crap, it basically a 7600gt with dx10 support.

Actually, I've heard a lot of people say that the 8600 is on par with a 7800 GT or 7900 GS. I'm sure it will be fine for any non-hardcore gaming he wants to do.

[ricanflow]

Originally Posted by Blitersety

Actually, I've heard a lot of people say that the 8600 is on par with a 7800 GT or 7900 GS. I'm sure it will be fine for any non-hardcore gaming he wants to do.

According to this benchmark, the 8600gt is only 3 frames faster than the 7600gt
VGA Charts 2007 | Tom's Hardware

7600gt is faster in this one
VGA Charts 2007 | Tom's Hardware

Its basically the same in the other games too, avg 3+ frames faster and dx10 support for $50 more.

The 7900gs gets about 10 frames more and cost the same as the 8600gt, so its really up to him but a 7600gt or a 7900gs wouldd both be a better deal, i was gonna get one of them myself but said screwed it and opted for the 8800gt.

[Vaanish]

Get the dell, mod it, but do not upgrade it.

[Eclipse7]

Originally Posted by ricanflow

Well 8600gt is crap, it basically a 7600gt with dx10 support. Also,, protools can get pretty cpu and ram intensive, the p4 might not ne all that good for it, i do sound engineering myself and those plugins can be hard on the cpu. A pentium d would be a nice upgrade but im not sure if the board will recognize it.

Is it the newer model gx280 or the older one, because i know the older ones use ddr, the newer ones ddr2. All pcs are upgradeable to a certain extent, some dells dont come with an agp or pci-e slot at all, so all you can change out would be the hard drive, dvd drive, and ram.

Yea, I know that pro tools can get pretty heavy when you start adding effects to the tracks. But this PC is a lot more powerful then the one I had, a 1.8ghz AMD, 40g hd, 1g of ram (DDR)

This new PC has DDR2 ram, so its a newer one and this one comes with a pci-e slot.

The only upgrades id be getting for this PC specifically would be the ram, the video card will go from this PC to my next, and all the other things im buying (External hard drive, LCD monitor) will still be around when I have money to upgrade to a really good system, and of course are in no way tied to "This" computer solely.

I guess im kinda using this PC as a stepping stone, its better then what I had, but its not as good as I need

Also, on the video card. This one is overclocked from the factory. I haven't chosen this card exclusively though... if you have any suggestions id love to hear them.

Thanks all very much for the help.

[Nagasama]

usually (not always) if there is a factory overclocked card the reference card, ie the slowest one sold, will usually overclock to the specs of the xxx. not true for all. my asus 8800gt would NOT clock to the specs of the evga ssc.
my new evga, on the other hand, does and then some.

[Eclipse7]

I see.

Thanks all for the help, currently I have a Radeon X800 XL, card is old !! But its a workhorse. personally id like to upgrade the video card, but im not entirely sure what else I can pick from.

If you guys have any suggestions for cards around the $100-150 price range, id love to hear them.

[Ridlyn]

I would be hesitant with using a new PSU with that dell mobo. I know dell used to(not sure if they still do) would change the 20/24 ping connector wires around so that you wouldn't be able to change the PSU.

So just make sure you check before you trade PSU's.