Budget Upgrade

[Azure79]

Hello fellow forumites.

 

I'm planning on doing a upgrade to my current computer which is becoming woefully incapable of playing some of the newer games out there.

 

I cobbled together my current computer around 4 years ago and haven't made any significant upgrades since. Right now I'm running a Pentium 4 2.4ghz on a AGP 4X/8X motherboard with one gig of ram and a 80Gig HD. The video card I am have is a Sapphire x800 GTO. I originally had a ATI Radeon 9600pro, but upgraded last year to the x800 GTO so I could play Half Life 2 a little more smoothly.

 

A little extra cash has come my way so I was thinking of upgrading my computer into something more resembling a modern system.

 

My plan is to upgrade this computer so I can play some of the newer games with better frame rates and more graphical enhancements (NWN2, Oblivion, Half Life Ep2, Dark Messiah...I picked this up for 10 bucks at Target, etc) while still having a system that is stable with older games (Infinity engine games, Fallouts, etc). I'm planning to buy a complete Vista/DX10 computer at the end of this year or sometime next year. So I'll have two computers, one for older games and one for newer games to come.

 

I did a quick scan of some parts over at Newegg and here is what I have come up with so far.

 

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819116196

I chose a single core because I've heard of some games having with the newer dual cores. Also the price is right.

 

MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813135047

Don't know much about motherboards in general but this seemed ok for the price

 

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820161030

I got this from Feng's Post

 

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814150209

This seemed like a reasonable card for the price

 

HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822148142

I definitely need more HD space.

 

Total cost right now is around $600 and I'd like to keep it around there. So how do things look? If you guys can point to better hardware or components that work better with each other, I'd be grateful.

 

Thanks a lot.

[Bokishi]

Go Intel Core 2 Duo, you won't regret it

[Sand]

Yes, but they are so expensive.

[Bokishi]

You can get an e4300 for approx $155

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115013

[Deraldin]

You can get an e4300 for approx $155

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115013

 

If he isn't planning on overclocking, it would be cheaper to get a comparable AMD X2...

[Sand]

Well, I found an AMD 5200+ X2 for $175 at Newegg. It is a 2.6 Ghz dual core. The e4300 is only 1.8 dual core.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Sand

[mkreku]

I would recommend a MUCH more powerful GPU at almost the same price:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814102067

 

This card is a beast and a steal at that price.

[Bokishi]

You can get an e4300 for approx $155

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115013

 

If he isn't planning on overclocking, it would be cheaper to get a comparable AMD X2...

 

Well if he does, he can out-class an X6800 which costs 6-times as much. Now that is value.

[Azure79]

I would recommend a MUCH more powerful GPU at almost the same price:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814102067

 

This card is a beast and a steal at that price.

 

That card looks good mkreku. I've always had good experiences with ATI cards. I think I'll switch out the Nvidia card for that.

[Sand]

My next video card is going to be a Nvidia GeForce 8600. I want to go SLI with an affordable DirectX10 card.

[Azure79]

You can get an e4300 for approx $155

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115013

 

If he isn't planning on overclocking, it would be cheaper to get a comparable AMD X2...

 

Well if he does, he can out-class an X6800 which costs 6-times as much. Now that is value.

 

I don't have much experience with CPU overclocking. Can you point me to a website that I can do some research? I'm not adverse to squeezing every little bit of performance out of hardware and all the reviews I've read seem to give the impression that the Conroes are pretty stable. If I can overclock the CPU you linked to for max performance, I'll definitely get that for a few extra dollars.

 

I get the feeling I'm gonna spend more money than I expected to...

[Bokishi]

I get the feeling I'm gonna spend more money than I expected to...

 

Don't worry i did too

Edited April 12, 2007 by Bokishi

[WITHTEETH]

Let me reccomend the Gigabyte 965P DS3 or the ASUS P5B motherboards.

[Sand]

AMD just did a dramatic price cut on their processors. You can get a AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+, comparable to the Intel E6600, for a bout $190 at Newegg.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Sand

[Enoch]

I get the feeling I'm gonna spend more money than I expected to...

 

Don't worry i did too

LOL. I'm beginning to suspect that I enjoy shopping for computer components a bit too much.

 

Last night, my girlfriend wanted me to order her a new USB flash drive. I got her a pretty simple one, then I got myself one that will work with Vista Readyboost (I don't particularly need the speed-- I just want to test out how it works). Then I bought a cheap new keyboard & set of speakers (mostly because my old ones are covered with schmutz from my student days when I would usually eat meals at my desk), and a little exhaust fan to go under my GPU, which seems to be trapping a lot of heat. The order only cost me a little over $100, but all this little stuff is adding to the already impressive cost of my new system. And I still have to buy a copy of MS Office at some point.

 

Good thing I have a reasonably well-paying job!

Edited April 12, 2007 by Enoch

[Diamond]

I get the feeling I'm gonna spend more money than I expected to...

 

Don't worry i did too

With you saying that it sounds a bit like mockery.

[Gfted1]

*watches Azure79's "budget upgrade" crash and burn*

 

Hehe, I always get the "might as well's" while speccing out a PC. Might as well get this upgrade. Might as well get that upgrade......WTF, how did it get to $2,000.00!?!?

[Deraldin]

*watches Azure79's "budget upgrade" crash and burn*

 

Hehe, I always get the "might as well's" while speccing out a PC. Might as well get this upgrade. Might as well get that upgrade......WTF, how did it get to $2,000.00!?!?

 

"This part is only an extra $50 for 25% more power. This hard drive is only 40 cents/GB instead of 50. Sure it may be twice the price, but I'm getting more than twice the storage..."

[WITHTEETH]

SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO$139 after rebate This is the ultimate sweet spot for oblivion.

 

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 $123

 

Seagate Barracuda 7200 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA $80

 

Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz$155

 

Under $500 bucks still

[Sand]

You are forgetting case, DVD drive, and RAM.

[Gfted1]

SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO$139 after rebate This is the ultimate sweet spot for oblivion.

 

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 $123

 

Seagate Barracuda 7200 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA $80

 

Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz$155

 

Under $500 bucks still

 

[nitpick]He's going to need a new mobo for that CPU and probably should look at a new PS too, no?[/nitpick]

[Deraldin]

SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO$139 after rebate This is the ultimate sweet spot for oblivion.

 

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 $123

 

Seagate Barracuda 7200 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA $80

 

Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz$155

 

Under $500 bucks still

 

[nitpick]He's going to need a new mobo for that CPU and probably should look at a new PS too, no?[/nitpick]

 

PS yes, but he's got a mobo listed there. 2nd link. However like Sand said, he's still missing case, optical drive and ram.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Deraldin

[mkreku]

RAM is very cheap right now though. It's actually the cheapest it's ever been so if you're thinking about upgrading your RAM, now is the time to do it.

[WITHTEETH]

You are forgetting case, DVD drive, and RAM.

He said upgrade, not complete new build. He had choice of ram already picked out that seemed fine. Optical dvd/cd that do rw/r are cheap, you can get one that does everything for $40 bucks at newegg, from Sony to LiteOn.

 

As for Power Supply, if he wanted one Id suggest get 600 watt PSU just in case of future upgrades, and you always want a bit more.

Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 ATX12V 650W Power Supply with Three 12V Rails $99 after rebate. Its the same one i have in my machine.

[Azure79]

Thanks for the info guys.

 

I'm not buying a case, optical drives or power supply as I'll just use the parts I already have. My plan was to have a relatively upgraded machine for older games running on XP and then buy a new system from the ground up once DX10 and VISTA were firmly established...for the newer games.

 

Whats this talk about Intel slashing prices near the 24th?

 

Maybe I should hold out a little more.

 

No need to be hasty.