Upgrade or Scrap

[flandery]

Im trying to figure out how best to upgrade my system. Likely my biggest constraint would be cost. At the moment I can spend around $400-600 on new parts.

Typically I'd be running little more than winamp, eve-online/world of warcraft, team speak, and a couple of browser windows at the same time.
My main reason for wanting to upgrade would be the near-unplayable framerate in eve-online (~9-20fps). The only other games I play are CIV 4 and a few other strategy titles here and there. Work applications are not really an issue since I can connect remotely via SSH if I need to do any heavy processing.

Right now I am considering simply considering buying a Geforce 7800GS and a good power supply. Since I think this is where my bottleneck is, it should hopefully fix my problems, right?

I've seen some arguments against buying another AGP card, mainly the lack of an upgrade path, but I saw some so called "upgrade" motheboards on newegg like an ASRock 939Dual-SATA2. Hopefully something like this would still allow me a continued upgrade path?

Here's what is currently in my system:
-AMD Athlon XP 2600+
-ASROCK K7S8XE Motherboard(AGP8x, socket A)
-1GB Kingston Memory 333DDR
-9800 ATI All-In-Wonder 128MB
-Creative Audigy 2 Soundblaster
-3 Maxtor/Western Digital Harddrives totaling 320GB
-DVD burner
-Klipsch 2.1 Speakers
-CoolMax 450x power supply

Now ofcourse instead of upgrading simply a video card, I could purchase a new system within my budget. Several of my components should still be reusable (DVD drive, speakers, case, sound card, hard drives at the least). So a system similar in specs to the "new gamer" in the Buying a new computer thread, may only run me about $550 post shipping.

However, I am worried that if I purchase a new system like that, I will only see a slight performance increase over what I already have, and make the purchase simply a waste of money.

So I guess the question at the end of the day is whether to upgrade my video card and worry about the rest later, or simply give up on this system and get a whole new rig. I welcome any help you can provide.

-flandery

 

[swifty_morgan]

Seeing how money is an issue, scrap the board and chip, get the fastest chip you can, and get the best motherboard that will support your 9800 agp card, or put the 7800gs on it that you want.

OR, you could go for an amd 3700 at 235 bucks, A Biostar TFORCE 6100 939, at 70 bucks, and a 7800gt pci-e video card for a hair under 300 bucks.

Your memory may need to be upgraded also, but you may be able to use the old until you can get 3200/400.

Power supply is adequate.

 

[Sekeru]

i say you get what you were thinking of getting the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 and get the 7800gs and upgrade later when you get the cash for a better system upgrade but yeah that will do just fine.

 

[krazyIvan]

From NewEgg.
eVGA 256-P2-N389-AX Geforce 6800GS CO SE 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: 256-P2-N389-AX
Item #: N82E16814130271
Original Price: $179.00
Instant Savings: -$10.00
$169.00
($154.00 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate)

AMD Sempron 3000+ Barton 333MHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket A Processor - OEM
(limit 5 per customer)
Model #: SDA3000DUT4D
Item #: N82E16819104216
$115.00

MASSCOOL 5F394B1L3G Full Copper Heat Sink CPU Cooler - Retail
Model #: 5F394B1L3G
Item #: N82E16835150040
$13.99

$300 and a little OCing takes home all you need to give your system the boost it needs for a few more years.