In need of help upgrading my PC

Tsunami.wav

Tsunami.wav

CAG Veteran
I'm looking to use this Black Friday to get a PSU and graphics card for my PC at Bestbuy (because I'm unable to buy stuff online until next year, for reasons of not owning a bank account, or credit card yet cause my birthday isn't until December and I'm only 17 >_
 
I suggest a Radeon 4670.

TF2 and L4D (i think) are source based games, and traditionally they always run fairly well even with weaker hardware (I play TF2 on a radeon 9600 pro @ medium settings).

Tom's suggests either the 4670 or a nvidia 9600 at the 80$ price point. They say the 4670 takes less power to run, so I'd go with that.
 
Sounds good. But Does anyone have advice on upgrading my PSU and how to find one that's compatible and suitable?
 
That PS should work... but seeing as how you've got a vendor PC, you never know. They might have modified the PS or maybe the case to prevent people from tempering with it.

As for the GPU, the 4670 should be a good card. I have a 3850 from a few months ago (paid $70, you can get them for as low as $50 now) and I can play most games at medium/high settings at 1680x1050. I think the 4670 is at least the same performance.
 
lol @ shopping for video cards at Best Buy... $100 could maybe get you like a Geforce 6200 or something. You would really have to find a way to buy it off newegg.com if you want a decent video card
 
get your parents to order video card off of newegg, then pay them the cash. Buying parts at BB in store unless sale or something going on is not cheap

Also, cant you buy prepaid credit cards these days? or are there still age restrictions on those?
 
lol then i guess it would be best to wait or something. I'm just getting to amped up because L4D is coming out and god knows pc version will kick the console version's butt.

Geuss I'll aim for an 8600GT, I've heard some good stuff about it.

For PSU, I'm thinking this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001

But I can't find the dimensions for it (length/width/height)

Now I'm left with an empty Black FRiday with no goal =\
 
Alright, STOP. Say no to the 8600GT and instead get the ATI 4850 this Black Friday. This car is hands down the best card you can get for your money right now and you'll likely be able to find one for $100 on BF. You can get this card for about $130 after rebate(s) at Newegg if you check often. I'm able to run EVERYTHING i throw at this thing with at least high settings and still have my framerate around 60.

EDIT: my specs are below to give you an idea of how much power you need.

Antec 430W ATX12V v2.0
GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz @ 3GHz
OCZ Vanquisher w/AS5
OCZ Platinum 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400
VisionTek Radeon HD 4850 512MB
 
Ok after looking over all the specs, and benchmarks, I would say that the 4670 is better for my budget, for now. The only thing I'm worried about, is that I've heard about many ATI cards having overheating issues, so will this be a major issue i have to look out for with this card or will it not be such a bug deal?
 
[quote name='Tsunami.wav']Ok after looking over all the specs, and benchmarks, I would say that the 4670 is better for my budget, for now. The only thing I'm worried about, is that I've heard about many ATI cards having overheating issues, so will this be a major issue i have to look out for with this card or will it not be such a bug deal?[/quote]
Honestly, you're wasting your money. For $20 more, come Black Friday, you can get a more future proof graphics card. As for overheating, that is no longer an issue. It never was an issue if you knew what you were doing. The 'problem' was that the stock fan speed was too slow so the card would run hot, but not dangerously so. Now, the new drivers ATI have out have fixed the problem and the fan runs faster, dropping the temps drastically.
 
[quote name='Tsunami.wav']
Geuss I'll aim for an 8600GT, I've heard some good stuff about it.
[/QUOTE]
Ahahahahahahahahahahaha

[quote name='SynGamer']Alright, STOP. Say no to the 8600GT and instead get the ATI 4850 this Black Friday. This car is hands down the best card you can get for your money right now and you'll likely be able to find one for $100 on BF.[/QUOTE]
If you can find one for 100$ certainly get it.
 
Newegg takes checks, just so you know. Maybe you could give the cash to your parents and have them write up the check. Or you can use a cashier's check, anybody can get those... you just buy them.

The prices for computer parts at BestBuy are ridiculous.
 
op: as for psu needs, a quick look at a tier chart can steer you away from disaster:

http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/101922.aspx

If it has to be instore and bestbuy, thermaltake is fine, they also carry antec 500w and antec 430w, both of those are fine for your needs. I'm not familiar with your hp case, but most power supplies are standard form factors. If you can buy online, $50 would net you a fine psu- although you could try getting bestbuy to price match.

Don't drop a new video card in without switching the psu first.
 
I guess I can try and get the Antec Earthwatt PSU from bestbuy, I saw one on there for $80, and it was 500w i think, the dimensions of it matches perfectly with my casing. If i can find a 4850, sure I'll get it, but if i can't then im probably going with the 4670.
 
Black Friday doesn't mean it'll have something on sale that you want AND at the price you can afford, especially when you're only looking at a specific store. I hate to be the one to rain on your parade but there is NO power supply and NO video card on sale for Black Friday at Best Buy (IF the leaked ad is real: Link to Slickdeals). You should keep your eyes out on other stores in your area instead. If you have a Fry's near you, that's another good place to check out. Ditto for Microcenter.

$80 is too much for a typical Antec 500W power supply, but at the same time you can only get better prices online. So basically things aren't looking so good unless you can save up more money (at least $200) since Best Buy is notorious for selling low end/mid range video cards for up to 150% of the average online price.

*Edit* Newegg accepts Cashier's Check and Money Order, that means you can drop by your local bank or post office to buy either one of those payments to send to Newegg after you've made your purchase, if you choose to do it that way.
 
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