Here are my present specs...

   
DSO-49827     Digital Storm Desktop 49827     1    
    Case: Digital Storm Twister PRO (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish)
Power Supply: 560W SilverStone Strider (Model: ST56F) (Silent)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz (1066MHz FSB) (8MB Cache)
Motherboard: nVidia 650i Core 2 Quad (By: eVGA) (nForce 650i Ultra)
Memory: 2GB DDR2 Corsair at 800MHz XMS2 (Dual Channel) (Performance)
Floppy / Card: Digital Media Card Reader (Black)
Hard Drive 1: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive 2: - No Thanks
Raid Option: - No Thanks
Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-ROM/CD-ROM (DVD Reader 16x / CD Reader 40x)
Optical Drive 2: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800GTS 512MB (By: eVGA) (PCI-Express)
TV Tuner: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE (Up to 7.1 Channel)
Physics Card: - No Thanks
Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 2 (Silent Artic Cooling Heat-sink (Copper Heatpipes)
Case Lighting: - No Thanks
Round Cables: Enhanced Interior Air Flow (Optical Drive & Floppy Cables (Black Edition)
User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs/Manuals)
Overclock Processor: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my processor
Overclock Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Overclock Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Includes Service Pack 2)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Protection: McAfee Internet Security (Includes: AntiVirus, FireWall and AntiSpyware)
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Pre-Install Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: Acer 19 inch (Widescreen) (Black Edition) (High-Value Display)
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Desktop 2.0 (Multimedia Keyboard + Optical Wheel Mouse)
Mouse: - No Thanks my keyboard comes with a mouse
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty        
MISC     balance Fix By: Randy 3/31/2009     1    


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My motherboard died on me and I want to upgrade it but I'm told in order to do so I'll also have to upgrade my cpu and psu and I'll probably end up upgrading my graphics card, too.
Soooooo, what do you guys think? I want to be able to play the newest edition to the Elder Scroll series when it comes out next year (skyrim) and I think the specs to play that will be kind of demanding.
I seriously love the ES series so much that I'm upgrading my computer just so I can play the newest edition SKYRIM.
I have Windows XP. Do you think I should also upgrade to Windows 7, too? Will I need to?
Please give me your thoughts, suggestions,, advice and wisdom.  My budget is about $1000.

you can do a motherboard change, no need to change the CPU or PSU. The 775 socket motherboards, EVGA boards were not very good, and pricey to top it off. There is a ton of much, much better mother boards out there for under $100.00 brand spanking new.

I have to upgrade my motherboard first because the one I have now has died but it's outdated.  To upgrade my motherboard I'm probably going to have to upgrade my PSU because it's only 560 W.
The GPU is a video card or something that supplements the video card? I've read mine was outdated so I kind of expect having to replace it.
By the way, what do I do with all of my old hardware when I replace it? The ones that still work?

Lol. I know. I'm getting carried away. 

Well, actually, it'd be cheaper for me just to upgrade my system instead of getting a new one.  I figure if I spend about $1000 in upgrades than my computer will last for another 3 years without getting too outdated.  Beats buying a new computer that will end up costing me $2000 plus.


Edited by Pineapplerum - 19 Dec 2010 at 12:58pm

The entire point of having a custom sys is that you have the modularity to swap parts. You can keep your case, fans, CD-drives, some components, and sometimes your cooler. Saves around $400 or so flat. Save some other parts that's more stuff you don't have to get. Heck, you can also sell off your parts used on eBay and maybe make a little dough off that too.

For a standard i7 build now, probably the mobo/cpu would cost $500 or so. PSU would be at max $150. For an i5 build, maybe $420 or so for cpu/psu. RAM needs to be upgraded as well to match the new DDR3 standard, $100 to $150.


Edited by ablahblah - 19 Dec 2010 at 5:33pm

Oh, I see, I need the ddr3 memory ram, I gotcha'! Please recommend a not so complicated brand for me. I just read that you'd need to change something in your bios to use a certain kind of ram and I really don't want to have to do that. I'm very low tech and just want to install the hardware and then play. :D

Lol, I am so in over my head, I have no idea what the heck everything means but I'm having fun. New platform? You mean changing my windows?

platform is not windows.

ok look, you see how you posted the i7 cpu in your post, lets go over it:

Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366 Desktop Processor

intel chip

the chip's name is core i7

model 950

the speed of this chip is 3.06GHz

the amount of L3 cache for this chips is 8MB

the socket that this chip will fit into is 1366, this means that motherboard needs to be a socket 1366 to fit this chip in.


now what I'm saying is that your current pc is a socket lga775, your q6600 is socket lga775, any motherboard that is socket lg775 for core 2 quad, will fit your cpu.

why don't you instead of upgrading now, just change your socket lga775 nvidia 650i motherboard with a say lga775 nvidia 750i motherboard, this will cost you like $80 or something like that, and since its a socket lga775, it will fit your cpu/ram and etc, then you can upgrade next year when you actually need the pc.

as far as the parts you listed, they are fine, just change your ram to this its faster both on speed and latency

if you don't care much for the latency and want to save some money then get this

latency is important but not that important in your use.

That's the only one I can find that's not out of stock but it costs close to $300. :(

Ok first I want to make sure that you understand that I'm just giving you ideas of what you can do, please don't think I'm trying to tell you what to do, so make sure you do what you like to do at the end.

now as for the 750i mobo, I like amazon like you but another good place to get pc parts is newegg, creditable place.

here ou can find many 750i mobos but don't order any, pipic the one you like and let us make sure it will fit your current setup.

so now go to the link I provided couple of lines up and see which you like.

looking at most of them, looks like the cpu atx is a p4 (4 pin)

My pleasure and good luck besure to keep us up to date.

Ya that was my whole point, why buy this year if you need it next year, get it next year, then you get newest stuff and newest technology.