Trying to make use of my old computer

[Jerkstorecalled]

I have a HP Pavilion p6-2108p Desktop that my wife no longer uses and i was wondering if i could use this as a base for my desktop build? I would like to almost gut it and upgrade everything in it to possibly play wow on high settings. My budget would be around $500 preferably less though, im basically needing suggestions if i should use this computer as a base or start from scratch. Thank you for the input

HP Pavilion p6-2108p Desktop specs
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...=c03137294#N90

[Syctris]

You could reuse the harddrive and cd burner, everything else I would scrap and start fresh, just my opinion, high settings might be possible for 500, case i think will be to small to upgrade through.

[Jerkstorecalled]

with my case and harddrive could i use these upgrades?
AMD Athlon X4 760K CPU: http://bit.ly/19Baf3P

MSI A78M-E35 Motherboard: http://bit.ly/1i5hNjP

2GB EVGA GTX 650Ti Boost GPU: http://bit.ly/JMWENn

8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport RAM: http://bit.ly/19g9ejF

430W Corsair CX430 PSU: http://bit.ly/18UZgyn

[alzoron]

You're going to want a higher wattage PSU. 500 watts is the minimum recommended for that CPU/GPU combination barring any crazy peripheral setup. I would go a little higher to be safe.

[Kev2Tall]

If your going to hijack parts from a YouTube build, just follow the whole build. It does fall into your budget of $500.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n5dolXyyg0

[Eroginous]

The unfortunate part is that you only have $500 to spend. You would be much better off buying an entirely new computer. However, that won't be possible with $500.

If you want to reuse the case, motherboard, keyboard, mouse, and monitor, you can get this list for $400. Keep in mind that your case and mobo are old and will only take older parts. This list represents the best parts your current mobo can take. This list may or may enable crossfire between the APU and GPU (information on that is very limited), and you may want to go with a different CPU/GPU combo. Also keep in mind that no one makes a 3 GB ram stick so it will be impossible to find a 6GB stick to go with your motherboard.

I found the information on your computer here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...name=c03137294

Here's the list. Keep in mind you are not guaranteed anything and whatever you decide to do will be experimental. It may be possible to get high/ultra graphics in some games with a setup like this.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2o5yH

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2o5yH
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2o5yH/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2o5yH/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A8-3850 2.9GHz Quad-Core Processor ($83.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($27.73 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Elite 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($49.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($76.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7770 2GB Video Card ($125.91 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $399.57
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-22 00:57 EST-0500)

[Kyocere]

If your going to hijack parts from a YouTube build, just follow the whole build. It does fall into your budget of $500.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n5dolXyyg0

Hijack? Why else would the build video exist if not to help others build a cheap gaming pc? He already has a working HD, so he doesn't have to buy a new one. Sure the new case may be nice, but again not 100% needed.

[Eroginous]

Hijack? Why else would the build video exist if not to help others build a cheap gaming pc? He already has a working HD, so he doesn't have to buy a new one. Sure the new case may be nice, but again not 100% needed.

Hard drives are one of the first parts to die in a computer. If you're getting a used PC from someone, you don't want the HD to fail after you've spent all your money on other parts, then be stuck with a bad hard drive. TBH, motherboards are usually an item you want to get new too, but they tend to last longer than hard drives.

[endersblade]

You could always just turn it into a home firewall/server system. My dad did that with one of his old computers, all of the computers in his house are networked to it, and it's used as a firewall for getting online and such.

[TaintedOne]

AMD may give you price but it won't give you performance in WoW. An i3 will beat most AMD cpu's in wow performance save for top end ones.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-K Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($204.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $447.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-22 05:40 EST-0500)

[Jerkstorecalled]

Would the i3 be better than the amd a8 even though the i3 is a dual core and the amd is a quad core?

[Snowcharm]

Yes. But Intel Motherboards are a bit more expensive than AMD ones.

[Deleted]

Would the i3 be better than the amd a8 even though the i3 is a dual core and the amd is a quad core?

The i3 will have hyperthreading so will appear as a quad core in Windows. Those AMD apu are also terrible for gaming and are only really suited to tablets or mini pc's.

[Fluorescent0]

The i3 will have hyperthreading so will appear as a quad core in Windows. Those AMD apu are also terrible for gaming and are only really suited to tablets or mini pc's.

Mostly correct. A virtual core can only operate to about a maximum of 20% of a physical core performance due to actually sharing hardware and resources with the other physical core it's hosted on.

[Jerkstorecalled]

This may be a dumb question but if I'm replacing everything but the hard drive and case will I need a new operating system?

[Fluorescent0]

This may be a dumb question but if I'm replacing everything but the hard drive and case will I need a new operating system?

You should be able to call microsoft and get your OS deactivated on the previous machine so that you can reuse the license on your new one.

[ComputerNerd]

Would the i3 be better than the amd a8 even though the i3 is a dual core and the amd is a quad core?

WoW barely uses 2 cores properly, let alone more.
Anything that is CPU bound like wow will benefit from fewer stronger cores than a greater quantity of weaker ones.
Video encoding, and perhaps streaming is where more cores might see some benefit.

[TaintedOne]

You should be able to call microsoft and get your OS deactivated on the previous machine so that you can reuse the license on your new one.

Being a prebuild HP I would assume its a OEM license which is limited to one machine they may not be so accommodating but its always worth it to give them a call and try. I've heard playing dumb works often "my stuffs broke and I had to buy new stuffs so I can like lolcats on the facebooks"

[Jerkstorecalled]

Being a prebuild HP I would assume its a OEM license which is limited to one machine they may not be so accommodating but its always worth it to give them a call and try. I've heard playing dumb works often "my stuffs broke and I had to buy new stuffs so I can like lolcats on the facebooks"

I needz my facebooks so I can like every support Phil Robertson page that's created every 10 seconds

[Jerkstorecalled]

If I upgraded to the amd a8-3850 and got a dedicated video card would I need to upgrade the power supply?