Should Upgrade or replace computer?

[Sicill]

I am a casual gamer and I wanted to improve the quality of the games that I could play by improving the machine that I played them on. The hardware that I'm using is fairly dated, making me concerned about how much I could upgrade before it would be a better idea to simply build a new computer system.

The system I am using now is a slightly modified Dell Dimension 4700 sans speakers and mouse.
I don't recall all of the exact changes, just additional memory and a video card with a history of problems.

Old review of computer:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4505-3118_7-30981395.html#reviewPage1

For Upgrading the PC:
I was thinking of using an ATI Radeon HD 3800 series video card the necessary power supply upgrades.
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-3000/hd-3800/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-3800-system-requirements.aspx

For Building a PC:
I would use this as a base setup.
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2009/10/the-hot-rod-october-2009-edition.ars/1.
I would likely use older monitors, keyboards, mouse and speakers.

So does anyone have any advice on which project I should do?

[Tapewolf]

What's your budget, anyway?

[Sicill]

About $USD 1,030.
Which is around 630£ or €720
Or $ CAD 971.

[Tapewolf]

If it were me, I'd probably look at upgrading, but that's mostly because I've been doing it that way since the early 1990s.
Personally I'm waiting under the AMD Bulldozer is released, I will probably upgrade then.  I guess the real question is what would you do with the original machine if you bought another?  Would you have a use for it?  Sell it on?

[Cogidubnus]

You're using a dell? IIRC, Dell machines are built so that you have to buy dell hardware in the future for all upgrades, and the upgrades they offer tend to be quite sparse. Things could have changed since I last messed with a dell, though.

[Tapewolf]

You're using a dell? IIRC, Dell machines are built so that you have to buy dell hardware in the future for all upgrades, and the upgrades they offer tend to be quite sparse. Things could have changed since I last messed with a dell, though.

Very good point.  The last Dell I upgraded was so far out of spec that it was difficult to explain (386DX -> 1GHz AMD T-bird) which required some rather interesting modifications to get it to go at all (e.g. replacing the AT power supply guts with the guts from an ATX supply).

This may well be the point at which a new machine becomes the more economical choice.  That said, the 4700 seems to be based on a microATX chassis.  You might have an interesting time with the PSU (e.g. a new one might leave a gap, or so I've heard) but the motherboard itself should be possible to replace.

What may cause you real grief is that if it's still running the Dell version of Windows, that is locked to the Dell BIOS so you'd probably have to install a brand new OS, which would be some flavour of Windows 7 these days.  Either way, you'd want to backup everything which you consider important (and preferably everything, period) before trying something like that.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19099030.aspx

[Mao]

Most of the time, it's pretty easy to upgrade the video card (as well as things like RAM or an HD) over an onboard (the bios usually has options to turn off the on board video card if a dedicated video card is available).

I didn't look into the motherboard that box sports, but as long as it has a PCI-E slot, you should be fine to use it for the card you're thinking of, with the exception possibly not being able to get a PSU that fits the case properly.

You're using a dell? IIRC, Dell machines are built so that you have to buy dell hardware in the future for all upgrades, and the upgrades they offer tend to be quite sparse. Things could have changed since I last messed with a dell, though.

I've actually never run into that myself, but I wouldn't be shocked to hear that they either started doing it, are doing it actively (and I simply never noticed), or did it at some point.  I do know about the modified versions of windows that they love to distribute (tied to the bios, though I've never actually seen it) and how they love to throw support out if you don't take their recommended upgrades, but anytime I've upgraded a box, this wasn't an issue.