complicated....need advice

[Destinova]

Howdy folks,

 

I guess it would be best to start with my current system specs, for the system i lovingly refer to as "Boat Anchor"  Not sure if this link is allowed but here goes....

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/15330526

 

I have to give some backstory so bare with me..

 

Went into the USMC straight out of high school, Medical discharge in 1993.(they tend to frown upon you getting shot too many times)..

Went right into CS, and Business admin classes at UT Austin. Was hired by IBM during my freshman year, was coerced by Dell the next year...Worked there as Tech support ,and product group until April 18th 2000 (personal tragedy... Step AWAY from the violin).  While i was at Dell, i was always working on the bleeding edge.. (Most are probably too young to remember "missing or corrupt VMM32.VXD out of the box with the first shipment of systems with Windows 95)  I developed the first program to make a boot disk deliverable through email to fix this issue..(the "engineers" at Dell and Microsoft were at a loss as to how to resolve this... so still proud of being the guy still in college to create a workaround to fix their issue) ANYWAY.. For many years i floated around the country trying to find myself again.. i fell behind on tech, now i'm like a duck out of water..I did not find myself, i did however find cancer, beat it back with a dead raccoon and some altoids.. Unfortunately all the chemo and radiation exacerbated an unknown diagnosis of MS..(history lesson over, pencils down)  SO after all that babble, onto the questions.... I know i can buy 2k worth of new parts and build a decent system, If i had those funds the parts would be on the way already..

What i'm looking for are recommendations for upgrading the boat anchor.  I know a better GPU is always a solid upgrade, however i can not seem to grasp all of the different options available and i the max of 4 gigs ram (which is max per specs?) and the dated motherboard and CPU would cause enough drag on the system to make a GPU upgrade wasted money.... Also as a side question, i find that grasping anything makes my hands shake (behave) it is an effect of the MS.. So i considered a trackball again, i had one in my heyday.. the ball was massive (replaced the factory one with an actual 8 ball from the pool table in Round Rock 1)  ANYWAY i have tried 2 so far and the ball is so small and has so much drag it is almost impossible to use,,  As far as usage, i am not trying to challenge Linus in CSGO, i wouldn't mind playing a little Everquest or WoW again..I use my machine currently hooked up to my TV  (easier to read, and budget desks don't work well with my electric wheelchair)  I use a wireless keyboard and mouse combo on a lap desk..Keyboard is fine, however the mouse runs out of room quickly.  So any recommendations would be appreciated.  If the consensus is a new system, i can do that i just have to budget for it over the next few months.... thanks in advance

[LukeSavenije]

that's quite old already, if you do want to upgrade, you can get a core2quad and something like a 290(x)

 

but you can also get something brand new, how much would you want to spend?

[Razor Blade]

First of all I want to thank you for your military service!

 

Putting the pieces together here, I would not suggest trying to upgrade the old system. The LGA775 (while there are things you could do) is incredibly outdated at this point. A few questions if you don't mind...

 

1. Do you know what resolution you would play games at and what your TV could handle?
2. Currently does your TV use HDMI input on your PC or is it using the VGA input?
3. What was your budget and besides Everquest and World of Warcraft, what other titles might you want to play?
4. Do you still plan to do other productivity tasks on the PC?

[Destinova]

9 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

that's quite old already, if you do want to upgrade, you can get a core2quad and something like a 290(x)

 

but you can also get something brand new, how much would you want to spend?

Thanks for the reply, i am thinking i can squirrel away about $500.00 in the next 4 to 6 months. 

[Shreyas1]

As others have said, your best bet is with a new system.

 

If you do not have the funds yet, I would suggest waiting until you have them, as ryzen 3 is just around the corner and GPU prices will go down soon.

[Firewrath9]

4 minutes ago, Destinova said:

Thanks for the reply, i am thinking i can squirrel away about $500.00 in the next 4 to 6 months. 

I'd wait 3 months, as there will be new things, out, then make a new post, and then save up in the next 1-3 months, the build.

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, Destinova said:

Thanks for the reply, i am thinking i can squirrel away about $500.00 in the next 4 to 6 months. 

right now i would say something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$164.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard	$64.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$79.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston - A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$31.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	MSI - Radeon R9 290X 8 GB Video Card	$100.00
Case	Fractal Design - Focus G (White) ATX Mid Tower Case	$44.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$38.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$560.74
	Mail-in rebates	-$35.00
	Total	$525.74
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-09 10:50 EST-0500

 

but things change in 3 months time, so come back at that time

[Destinova]

13 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

First of all I want to thank you for your military service!

 

Putting the pieces together here, I would not suggest trying to upgrade the old system. The LGA775 (while there are things you could do) is incredibly outdated at this point. A few questions if you don't mind...

 

1. Do you know what resolution you would play games at and what your TV could handle?
2. Currently does your TV use HDMI input on your PC or is it using the VGA input?
3. What was your budget and besides Everquest and World of Warcraft, what other titles might you want to play?
4. Do you still plan to do other productivity tasks on the PC?

Thank you,  I could never think of anything i am prouder of than my military service.  I used th run a radio station on this machine, still miss doing that.  As far as the TV it is ancient, TCL 32in 13 years old, no hdmi  on my system so i am in the VGA. I may one day fire up the station again, game wise i used LOVE first person shooters, but i have been out o the games so long i have no clue...I think i squirrel away $500.00 in the next 4 - 6 moths.  I wonder if i should upgrade my TV first...not sure which way to go.... so more questions LOL

[Destinova]

17 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

right now i would say something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$164.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard	$64.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$79.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston - A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$31.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	MSI - Radeon R9 290X 8 GB Video Card	$100.00
Case	Fractal Design - Focus G (White) ATX Mid Tower Case	$44.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$38.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$560.74
	Mail-in rebates	-$35.00
	Total	$525.74
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-09 10:50 EST-0500

 

but things change in 3 months time, so come back at that time

That looks great, thanks for taking the time to put that together.. i will defiantly check back before i plunk down the cash.  thanks again

[Razor Blade]

4 minutes ago, Destinova said:

Thank you,  I could never think of anything i am prouder of than my military service.  I used th run a radio station on this machine, still miss doing that.  As far as the TV it is ancient, TCL 32in 13 years old, no hdmi  on my system so i am in the VGA. I may one day fire up the station again, game wise i used LOVE first person shooters, but i have been out o the games so long i have no clue...I think i squirrel away $500.00 in the next 4 - 6 moths.  I wonder if i should upgrade my TV first...not sure which way to go.... so more questions LOL

I would have to agree with the above suggestions, waiting until funding is available for a replacement system would also be my suggestion. Your current setup has some nostalgic value so even more reason not to rip it all apart right?

 

Also yes I would also suggest looking into a newer display device. At least something with an HDMI input. Newer systems may not even have VGA as an option which means you would have to get an adapter box...which (in my experience) will make the video lag and look grainy.

[LukeSavenije]

15 minutes ago, Destinova said:

That looks great, thanks for taking the time to put that together.. i will defiantly check back before i plunk down the cash.  thanks again

you can also look into the build guide megathread, we're busy on updating it with many helpful guides and more info