Dell Overhaul for gaming on a budget

[WhAtIsMoUsE]

Currently ive got a dell dimension 8250. everything is stock except for a ATI 9700 pro which i promply found did nothing to my gaming performance. (i play americas army, running on the UT2k4 engine, mostly CPU based) so the stock 2.4 Ghz intel and 512 mb of ram arnt cutting it. i figured id just add a stick of ram but nooo, sdram or w/e it is would cost nearly as much as a whole new mobo and 1 gb of ddr(1,2,3?) would. the stock 250w powersupply will need to be upgraded first i imagine, i figure ill just get a fortron 350-450 psu. after that im sort of clueless about the cpu, mobo, and ram. im sure i cant make a mistake going with any forum suggestions, so ill just go with what you think. i dont have too much cash, but im sure i can really boost my gaming performace without splurging $500.

 

[fishmahn]

8250 - how old is that? Well, at 2.4ghz it shouldn't be that old so it should be a standard sized case.

Your PSU is the best thing in that system (even over your 9700 which isn't a bad video card - well, not for today, but ...) Its likely equal in power to a quality 350-400w.

So now all you really need is mobo/cpu/RAM/video.

You could use your existing 9700 by limiting your upgrade options with an AGP motherboard, or get the ASRock Dual939 that has both AGP and PCI-E... but look at this first: (prices are approx - shop around and find better )

Mobo: nForce 4 Mobo by Chaintech, Epox, Gigabyte, whoever... $75
CPU: A64 3200+ Venice core $175
RAM: 2x512MB Value Ram $80
Video: 6600GT $125
So, 455 will get you a current system if you reuse everything you possibly can (case/psu/mouse/cd/dvd/etc.)

If you want to save $100 get the ASRock 939dual or whatever it's called - it has both AGP and PCI-E so you don't waste money on a throw-away mobo. So, 350-ish will get you a fast machine you can use your existing 9700 on for a few months until you get 200-300 saved when you buy a 6800GS or 7800GT (or similar). (by then you'll probably need a new PSU - 7800 pulls a lot of juice)

Mike.

 

[WhAtIsMoUsE]

well a little background info, im 16 and im talking about upgrading the family computer. once i leave in 2 years, noone is going to care/know how to upgrade anything. i have to convince the parents for every upgrade that is done, and even $350 is steeper than id imagined. the 9700 pro was just bought a few months ago so ill get nowhere trying to upgrade that. any upgrades i do right now will be the last thing i do until i buy my own computer. i dont have to worry about buying a "throw-away" mobo, basically anything that i can put some cheapo ddr ram into and will work with the 9700 pro and whatever cheap CPU i get. are there any other options in the cpu department?

another option, i was looking at cpu tests and it seems the one i have does ok in tests anyways, comparable to the 3xxx line etc. would it be possible to get a new mobo that works with my current cpu and will work with ddr ram. this would be a worst case scenario if i couldnt convince the parents to spend $300, but it would be better than nothing.