You can drop the case and hdd as well, and just re-use your old ones. You might find a cheaper psu and drop the DVD too. And of course, if you're masochistic you can switch the motherboard for a 785G or 790G and drop the graphics (for now). You will have to be REALLY stingy to do that though.

I'd think using an older HDD would severely bottleneck his system. Look how much WoW suffers from bad HDDs.

And one large up-side that no one here is adequitely stressed.

If you were to upgrade your computer piecemeal (which is frankly, assinine), you would end up with 1 computer and a bunch of parts. If you buy a whole new computer you will end up with 2 fully-functioning computers. The second one can be used as a backup, put in someone's bedroom, given to a friend, sold to someone looking for a computer to do basic tasks on, etc.

Definitely just buy a new PC, don't even bother attempting to upgrade your one.

I doubt that the onboard 4200 is even close to equivalent to a 9800 Pro. I have a board with the 3200 built-in in this computer and I have another computer with a slower CPU and a 9600 Pro and the 9600 Pro easily beats the graphical performance in games I've tried on both. The 4200 isn't likely to be faster than the 3200 by a huge margin, but IIRC the 9800 Pro would be a significant step up from the 9600 Pro.

-update-

Looking at some charts, the GPU performance of the 9600 Pro might be 80% of the 4200, while the 4200 would have at most 2/3 the memory bandwidth (though I'm not completely sure of that), so on paper they might be roughly even in performance. However, the same chart shows that the 4200 has specs identical to the 3200 (except for an updated feature set) and I've already stated above about what I've seen from it. The 9800 Pro's specs would seem to indicate that it is probably around twice as fast as a 9600 Pro, so a 4200 and a 9800 Pro are not even close to equivalent.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on May 24 2010, 9:21 am by ShadowFlare.

All this discussion is moot. He needs a new computer because his old computer isn't compatible with new technology, as everyone has already explained.

Ex surely made a fine built which you can buy now through monthly billing or loan from your parents,
or you put your money on the bank until you can afford the whole thing. If it's more than 3 months in the future or some parts aren't available anymore then ask for a new build.

About the build: Why not get a mobo with onboard graphics? It should still be able to handle SC2 on decent settings and he can buy the expensive GFX later.
And yeah, the HDDs are optional for now.

Thanks every body for the help. I'm gonna start working on talking my parents around to this now. It should be too hard, especially if it's still easily upgradeable.

What we've been trying to tell you is that it is not easily upgradeable.

Your current computer is too old to benefit from upgrading. It would be as pointless as trying to put a racecar engine into a 20 year old Ford Fiesta - even if you could get the engine to fit, the performance would be severely held back by the general crapness of the car.

You need to:

1. Build a new computer. Using parts from the old one is not a viable option.
2. Follow the advice of those on here who have suggested what parts you should buy.
3. Hope that your parents will understand.

I think and hope he meant buying Ex's build would be upgradable in the future. Sinking any money into that computer would be a horrible waste of cash considering the alternative. Not only are you be trying to save a lost cause, it actually tends to be more money to buy ancient tech as it becomes more of a rarity. Supply and demand, there's no little demand for ancient tech.

Actually that GPU was at a much lower price when I did the build. When he's ready to buy I'll update it and get it nice and cheap again. Prices fluctuate, sales and all.

Still that'll be around $100 that are not immediately needed. Get him some board with onboard gfx.

Unless there's a new HD 5 series integrated GPU on the 800 series boards, I don't consider a 4200 acceptable.

Have you checked the thread, Ex? He wants to buy to buy the computer part by part, not everything at once. Unfortunately he has to buy a lot of parts at once to get a running computer, but HDDs and GFX are not necessary to get the computer running.
At no point in the topic has he said anything about immediately being able to play all games to Ex's standards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138163
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138152
then.
The 3300 is slightly worse than the 8800 GTS.

I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to get all the parts. I'm actually looking at building a new computer now, due to the overwhelming suggestions that were given here, and I think that I'll end up going with Ex's build when I do. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to get everything anytime soon, and I'll have to wait the summer before I finally get enough money together for it, so I'll probably ask back for help then. Even still, I've been able to learn a lot from this topic. Thanks

DON'T get a 8800 GTS. I know this from personal experience. School's video club had one, two years later it broke. Two burst capacitors and a burnt processor/thermal paste.

That depends on who made the card and what parts they used on it. nVidia only provides the GPU; other companies make the cards themselves, along with the other parts besides the GPU, and there are multiple different companies that make these cards.

I have 2x BFG 8800GTS 640mb in SLI that a friend gave me to sell. They're in excellent condition and still run like champs.

Well then don't buy them from XFX

XFX has double lifetime warranty.

How do you not just have like $500 saved up?

He said he has about 100$ right now. He isn't far off from it especially if his parents are helping.