My current PC is a P4 2.53Ghz with 1GB of RAM and an ATI 9700 Pro video card. The motherboard is an Intel D845EBT, nothing too fancy, but nothing too shabby either.
I play games (Battlefield, Unreal, Star Wars stuff, Warcraft etc) casually. I like eye candy, so i try to crank up all the games' display settings as high as possible.
Now with the newer games i feel like i need to up my system a bit. In Battlefield 2 for example i can't really crank stuff up anymore without getting low FPS.
I don't need top-of-the-line stuff. I want a good bang-for-the-buck compromise.
I think that the video card is probably where i should spend most of the upgrade bucks.
I came across a deal where i can get a hold of a refurb ATI X800 XT Platinum Edition AGP 256MB with 3yr ATI warranty for about $226 shipped, which is not bad at all (they go new for $400 or so). So i figured i'll jump on that deal.
My current mainboard's AGP slot is only 4x. So i should really upgrade my mainboard to something a little more suitable as well. Question is though: what should i upgrade to? And if i upgrade the mainboard, i probably also need to upgrade the CPU.
Problem is, i only casually kept up with the hardware developments over the past 2 years or so. So i don't know the ins and outs of the different sockets and chipsets and brands etc. I've tried to read a lot on THG, but it's a bit overwhelming.
So this is where your infinite wisdom comes in
My budget is probably about $250 or so. I was hoping that for that money i can upgrade to a decent mobo + CPU and perhaps some new RAM as well. (I'd like to use my current mobo+cpu+ram to upgrade another computer in the household.)
What would you recommend i upgrade to? (I'm not married to Intel. AMD would be fine with me.) Is my choice to jump on that ATI deal and then upgrading my mobo+cpu to match a good way to go, or can i do better? (Like buying a Dell or something..
Barebones kits are ok. If possible, i'd like GigE LAN on-board. Would you recommend any of TigerDirect's barebones kits? Are there other stores i should look at instead? I don't mind ordering through Pricewatch.com for example. I just don't know which sockets and CPUs i should even look at / consider.
Thanks for your suggestions!
I play games (Battlefield, Unreal, Star Wars stuff, Warcraft etc) casually. I like eye candy, so i try to crank up all the games' display settings as high as possible.
Now with the newer games i feel like i need to up my system a bit. In Battlefield 2 for example i can't really crank stuff up anymore without getting low FPS.
I don't need top-of-the-line stuff. I want a good bang-for-the-buck compromise.
I think that the video card is probably where i should spend most of the upgrade bucks.
I came across a deal where i can get a hold of a refurb ATI X800 XT Platinum Edition AGP 256MB with 3yr ATI warranty for about $226 shipped, which is not bad at all (they go new for $400 or so). So i figured i'll jump on that deal.
My current mainboard's AGP slot is only 4x. So i should really upgrade my mainboard to something a little more suitable as well. Question is though: what should i upgrade to? And if i upgrade the mainboard, i probably also need to upgrade the CPU.
Problem is, i only casually kept up with the hardware developments over the past 2 years or so. So i don't know the ins and outs of the different sockets and chipsets and brands etc. I've tried to read a lot on THG, but it's a bit overwhelming.
So this is where your infinite wisdom comes in
My budget is probably about $250 or so. I was hoping that for that money i can upgrade to a decent mobo + CPU and perhaps some new RAM as well. (I'd like to use my current mobo+cpu+ram to upgrade another computer in the household.)
What would you recommend i upgrade to? (I'm not married to Intel. AMD would be fine with me.) Is my choice to jump on that ATI deal and then upgrading my mobo+cpu to match a good way to go, or can i do better? (Like buying a Dell or something..
Barebones kits are ok. If possible, i'd like GigE LAN on-board. Would you recommend any of TigerDirect's barebones kits? Are there other stores i should look at instead? I don't mind ordering through Pricewatch.com for example. I just don't know which sockets and CPUs i should even look at / consider.
Thanks for your suggestions!
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