Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!
Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!
-
Congratulations derfloh on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!
Upgrade my Dell Dimension 4600
- Thread starter rawle24
- Start date
goombawaho
MIS
At that point (new memory, new processor, new motherboard) you're much better building a new one and selling the old on Craig's List or another outlet.
Or just get some extra memory and keep it as a backup.
Or just get some extra memory and keep it as a backup.
- Thread starter
- #3
Can I just ask if you have any experience in building a PC or is this a venture into the unknown?
If you are building from scratch you will need a quad-core capable motherboard that will fit into a mini-tower form factor chassis (ATX). Also make sure you get the correct motherboard for your processor, eg. AMD or Intel.
You may also need a new power supply. Then you have to think about the amount of RAM you want, if you are using x86 XP (32bit) then 3Gb is all you need as more than that has little to no benefit.
For your video card it really all depends on your budget & how much gaming you actully do?
Not trying to be a killjoy but if you have little or no experience in building PCs I would suggest getting a good book, checking out forums for advice, taking your time & being extremely careful with things such as ESD, otherwise you could find yourself with a toasted motherboard & down a lot of money.
If you are building from scratch you will need a quad-core capable motherboard that will fit into a mini-tower form factor chassis (ATX). Also make sure you get the correct motherboard for your processor, eg. AMD or Intel.
You may also need a new power supply. Then you have to think about the amount of RAM you want, if you are using x86 XP (32bit) then 3Gb is all you need as more than that has little to no benefit.
For your video card it really all depends on your budget & how much gaming you actully do?
Not trying to be a killjoy but if you have little or no experience in building PCs I would suggest getting a good book, checking out forums for advice, taking your time & being extremely careful with things such as ESD, otherwise you could find yourself with a toasted motherboard & down a lot of money.
goombawaho
MIS
If that Dell case requires a micro ATX motherboard (dimensions of the actual motherboard) vs. a standard ATX motherboard, it will limit the number of boards you can choose.
If it is Micro, I might just go with a new case to give you all the possibilities for motherboards and the fact that Dell cases aren't anything super to start with.
Agree with the above poster, you have to have a list of everything you need, everything needs to be compatible AND fit in the case. And that's not even considering the quality or performance of the components - it's just a "will it fit in the case and work together" analysis.
Building a PC is like cooking from a recipe. You have to have all the ingredients, follow the directions, execute correctly and even then you might not LOVE the taste, even if done correctly.
Make sure you have all these ingredients covered and choose the motherboard and processor after careful research.
Motherboard
Processor
CPU Fan
Ram
Video Card
Hard Drive
Case
Power Supply
Floppy
CD/DVD drive
Network Card
RAID Controller
Monitor
Sound Card
Speakers
Operating System
If it is Micro, I might just go with a new case to give you all the possibilities for motherboards and the fact that Dell cases aren't anything super to start with.
Agree with the above poster, you have to have a list of everything you need, everything needs to be compatible AND fit in the case. And that's not even considering the quality or performance of the components - it's just a "will it fit in the case and work together" analysis.
Building a PC is like cooking from a recipe. You have to have all the ingredients, follow the directions, execute correctly and even then you might not LOVE the taste, even if done correctly.
Make sure you have all these ingredients covered and choose the motherboard and processor after careful research.
Motherboard
Processor
CPU Fan
Ram
Video Card
Hard Drive
Case
Power Supply
Floppy
CD/DVD drive
Network Card
RAID Controller
Monitor
Sound Card
Speakers
Operating System
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
- Question