Q: 1. What is the recommended height, width and depth for a gaming computer case? 2. Could I just order a dell desktop inspiron 350 with a cheap CPU and just replace the motherboard and cpu with an Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe Mobo and AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and add a H.I.S Radeon HD 3850 video card and use the hard drive and optical drives that come with the computer. Is that a wise money saving idea or just out of the way? 3. Also can a mobo that uses serial ATA can be backwards compatible with Ultra ATA?
A: I would recommend building one yourself and it's not that difficult if you did your research. I am not sure if there is a recommended size for a case, but I would get something with more breathing room for expansion and air circulation. Keeping the cpu, HD, gpu etc... cool is, I think, one of the main issue if you are aiming at performance. But amd x2 5000+ is not really a gaming cpu... It's good, but I wouldn't brag about it in front of people. just kidding...lol I actually bought a dell for daily use and I started using it for games and it sucked!! I didn't have enough money to build a new comp, so I updated. I kept the motherboard and replaced the cpu from amd 64 3200+ single core to dual amd 64 5200+ and with GTS 8500 gpu. Temp is no prob since dual seems to run at much lower temp. With the upgrade, my dell gets 70-150 fps for games like Counter Strikes and DOD, but other more intense games require a lot more than what my comp can provide. Still, I only spent about two hundred for the update... so I'm happy about it. Still, my dell cost me $400 when I bought it. So, $600 comp that I can play several games on... I would say good enough. Now, the issue is that dell and others come in small case so you probably won't be able to put a gpu that has built in fan. I had to settle for gts 8500 since it has no fan and I wanted to keep it safe since I have no trust in my computer. Now, since I don't have a fan on my gpu, I had to buy a good fan for it to keep it cool or else it goes up and up@@ I would say think about upgrading in the future, so build your own. If you can wait, stay off until there are massive sales. You will probably be able to build one for very cheap price. A year or two later you can upgrade your cpu and gpu if you wish.. and hope that won't cost you much money. My dell is at the end of its day for upgrading. I can't upgrad any more...-.-'... So, a few years later when new games come out, I will have to go build one and it will cost me more than upgrading for sure. Your 3rd question... I really don't know...lol