Should I get a new computer or keep this one?

[Compudet]

I've been checking out this site for a few months now and without even personally posting any questions I've learned so much and have found the solution to several gaming/computer problems. Now I was wondering if I could get some advice. I just purchased a Dell Inspiron 530 with 2 g. of memory and a 2.2 ghz processer with an Intel G33/31 graphics accelerator and 133mb of graphics memory in use. The games that I play are mostly pre-2008 releases. My question is, since I just purchased this computer and I could exchange it, should I exchange it for another computer that cost a hundred or two hunded dollars more (specifically either an HP A6813 or a Dell 546323) or use the money to upgrade the computer that I have? Thanks for taking the time to read my question and offering any advice.

[CFM]

That's a tough call, Compudet. You'd really have to sit down and compare specific details of each computer for what the better answer would be. I for one am not familiar with the detailed specs of a Dell This or an HP That (or whatever).

You seem able to educate yourself using info available online. If this be true, then next time you should consider building you own computer. I think it's the way to go. You buy all the components separately, then build it. Then as the years go by, you can upgrade individual components as needed, instead of buying a whole new computer all over again. (Video cards, for example, tend to have a short lifespan when it comes to keeping up with the newest games.) And when you buy everything separately, you can read reviews online to ensure you're getting the most reliable, highest quality components that your budget will allow.

Pre-built computers, from companies like Dell, HP, and Best Buy, are usually not as easy to upgrade, and usually contain cheap low quality components (memory, hard drives, power supplies). Not too long ago I helped a friend with her Sony PC. As it turned out, the PC had a cheap little power supply that went bad. I bought a new power supply from newegg.com, but the power supply screw holes in the Sony metal computer case didn't match up with the screw holes in the standard "non-Sony" power supply. Dell and HP and Sony and Best Buy don't want you fixing or upgrading computers. They want you buying whole new computers.

If building your own computer is an option that you think you'd consider in the future, then I'll list some bullet-points for each of the main components that will get you thinking in the right direction. You'll be surprised at how easy building a computer is. (And if your unsure on anything, there are many online resources to turn to.) You'll get a better computer for your buck, and you'll spend a minimum keeping it up-to-date in the years to come.

And if you're a nerd like me, you'll have a pride in your computer that you just can't get from a Dell. I had a TON of fun researching and building my PC. (Nerd-Alert!)

[Loki[D.d.G]]

I concur that when it comes to desktops, building your own is the way to go. But in this case, if you are indeed considering an upgrade, perhaps posting the exact specifications of your current desktop and those you are thinking of changing to would be helpful for us to provide assistance.

P.S. Welcome to GB

[dragon wench]

I would definitely concur with those suggestions of building your own PC. I'm not so technically savvy as to be able to build a computer myself, but I did have one built for me at a local shop around a year and a half/ two years ago.
After researching the components I was able to have a mid/upper end gaming rig (for that particular time) built for substantially less than what a name brand gaming machine would have cost.
I'd imagine that if you built your own PC by hand the savings would be even more significant.

Another advantage with this approach is that, should you feel so inclined, you'll have a much easier time kitting your PC out with XP instead of Vista...

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Another advantage with this approach is that, should you feel so inclined, you'll have a much easier time kitting your PC out with XP instead of Vista...

That wouldn't be wise, imho. With windows 7 so close to an official release, good ol' XP looks set to finally get discarded. Hence the driver support and other updates will be hard to come by for XP in the future. I base this on what ive seen on other forums. Besides if you do make your own pc in the future, do throw in at least 4gb of ram, that should be more than sufficient to handle vista home premium.

[dragon wench]

@Loki,
that's a fair point. However, if Compudet wants to get a new rig now, and it's a choice between XP and Vista...
IMO, the former is a better OS to use as a stepping stone while waiting for 7...
Honestly... There's a a very good reason Windows 7 is following so quickly on the heals of Vista... anybody recall how quickly XP came out after ME?

[fable]

@Loki,
that's a fair point. However, if Compudet wants to get a new rig now, and it's a choice between XP and Vista...
IMO, the former is a better OS to use as a stepping stone while waiting for 7...
Honestly... There's a a very good reason Windows 7 is following so quickly on the heals of Vista... anybody recall how quickly XP came out after ME?

I recall reading an article in the NY Times Technology section some months back about numerous companies that have literally uninstalled their many Vista installations, and returned to XP, while awaiting the final word of Windows 7's quality.

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Honestly... There's a a very good reason Windows 7 is following so quickly on the heals of Vista...

Not fast enough for me.

Back on topic, there are many guides that detail how to build a pc online... heck even wikipedia has one i think. Those guides are quite useful even when buying a new pre-built rig, because they give good advice on hardware and software. Reading through them might provide some assistance if you are still thinking of changing.

[Compudet]

What I have is

total score - 3.4
physical Memory: 2036 MB
Minimum Graphics Memory: 8 MB
Maximum Graphics Memory: 286 MB
Graphics Memory in Use: 133 MB
Processor: x86 family 6 Model 22 Stepping 1
Processor Speed: 2194 MHZ

Accelerator in Use: Intel(R) G33/G31 Express Chipset Family


Celeron D processor 2.2 GHZ
512 KB cache
800 mhz fsb
integrated Intel graphics X3100


I wouldn't be able to get my money back, exchange only, so building one myself right now isn't an option.

What I'm looking at is
Dell Inspiron 546s Desktop
AMD Phenom 64 X3 Triple-Core 8450 processor
8GB Shared Memory SDRAM at 800MHz
ATI Radeon® HD 3200 integrated graphics

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Since customizing or upgrading pre-made models is harder and trickier than a custom built rig, i'd definitely recommend the exchange. Better than tinkering around in your current rig and risking damage or voiding the warranty. That's just my opinion however, you may want to see what others say too.

[DesR85]

I wouldn't be able to get my money back, exchange only, so building one myself right now isn't an option.

What I'm looking at is
Dell Inspiron 546s Desktop
AMD Phenom 64 X3 Triple-Core 8450 processor
8GB Shared Memory SDRAM at 800MHz
ATI Radeon® HD 3200 integrated graphics

Well, since you're opting for an exchange, I just want to ask a question. Does this option allows you to customise that PC you are planning to get? Because that graphics card is rather low end for a PC that powerful. I admit that I have never exchanged a PC for another, but I did buy a laptop from Dell before and it allows you to choose the components you want fitted into your machine before continuing the purchase.

[Compudet]

"Well, since you're opting for an exchange, I just want to ask a question. Does this option allows you to customise that PC you are planning to get?"

Nope, no choice.


If I kept the Inspiron 530 model, I was thinking of upgrading it with 2 more gigs of memory ( 4 total) and getting either a
Nividia 9500 gforce
or
ATI 3650 512 mb
Any other upgrade suggestions? It looks like that even if I got the other computer I would still probably end up upgrading the graphics card someday anyway.

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Those are decent upgrades. But first, are you running a 64bit os? If not, your computer wont be able to utilize anymore than 4gb of memory, RAM and VRAM combined. Any extra is wasted...

[Compudet]

My system is a 32 bit, so I guess the extra memory won't help after all.
How about this: how would the above computer, the Dell 530 memtioned, work with a newer game such as Fallout 3? Would it even play with an Intell G33 graphics card?

[Loki[D.d.G]]

My system is a 32 bit, so I guess the extra memory won't help after all.
How about this: how would the above computer, the Dell 530 memtioned, work with a newer game such as Fallout 3? Would it even play with an Intell G33 graphics card?

Sorry, but i'm not very familiar with intel integrated graphics solutions. But they generally perform very poorly when it comes to gaming and are easily outperformed by discrete cards. Perhaps some research into the capabilities of your integrated card might shed more light on your question

[Kipi]

My system is a 32 bit, so I guess the extra memory won't help after all.
How about this: how would the above computer, the Dell 530 memtioned, work with a newer game such as Fallout 3? Would it even play with an Intell G33 graphics card?

You can always run Can You RUN It? to check if your computer runs game you want. It also details which is too low and gives somewhat accurate specs for each game on the list. It's accurate enough, haven't found any conflict what it claims and what the reality is thus far.

[DesR85]

My system is a 32 bit, so I guess the extra memory won't help after all.
How about this: how would the above computer, the Dell 530 memtioned, work with a newer game such as Fallout 3? Would it even play with an Intell G33 graphics card?

Don't think it'll run. According to [url="http://www.vgrequirements.info/index.php?s=Fallout+3&search.x=0&search.y=0"]VGRequirements[/url], it requires a minimum of a Geforce 6800/ATI X850.

As for that integrated graphics card, you can run the Sims 3, but other games both last year and this year might have problems running on it.

[sinbad71]

Does your current pc have a pci express graphics slot spare? My current pc had integrated nvidia 7050 which was very poor for playing games. But buying a cheap low end card like ati 4350 allows me to play fallout 3 at 1024 x 768 and looking prettier than my integrated graphics card.

The 4350 was only £39!!!!!!


Are you wanting to play games at extreme resolutions with all the detail on???

If not buy a cheap discrete card like the 4350

[CFM]

My system is a 32 bit, so I guess the extra memory won't help after all.

I must respectfully disagree.

I have Windows XP 32-bit with 4GB of memory installed. Because of 32-bit limitations, the operating system will only read a little over 3GB of the installed memory.

But 3GB is 50% more memory than 2GB. And that is a significant difference imo.

Since customizing or upgrading pre-made models is harder and trickier than a custom built rig, i'd definitely recommend the exchange. Better than tinkering around in your current rig and risking damage or voiding the warranty. That's just my opinion however, you may want to see what others say too.

This goes back to my first post in this thread about my experiences helping friends out over the years with their pre-built PCs. The Sony PC with a bad power supply was but one example. I've had other headaches with what should have been easy fixes or upgrades with Dell, HP, and Best Buy computers too.

Sorry, but i'm not very familiar with intel integrated graphics solutions. But they generally perform very poorly when it comes to gaming and are easily outperformed by discrete cards. Perhaps some research into the capabilities of your integrated card might shed more light on your question

I too can't imagine any motherboard's on-board video that can compare to an anywhere-near-recent PCI-slot video card. But if you disable the motherboard's on-board video and put in your own video card in the motherboard's PCI slot, I wonder if this will compromise the Dell warranty, or what support they'd be willing to provide on a Dell computer with a non-Dell video card.

(Or any non-Dell component, for that matter. Remember, Dell doesn't want you buying an upgrade for newegg.com prices. They want you buying an upgrade from them at their prices.)

I've even heard in the past that they sometimes remove the option of disabling on-board video from the bios of their Dell motherboards (or maybe it was another company like HP, I can't remember). You may need to check with Dell to see what you can and can't do...

...Are you sure it's too late to return the Dell and build your own PC?

[fable]

I'm running XP, with 4 GB RAM. 3.5 GB gets used by XP, and .5 goes to my video card. Everybody's happy.