Need Hardware Advice.

[Satch_Boogie]

Due to some major life changes in the past 5 years (went from 0 to soon-to-be 3 kids, and dropped to one income), I haven't upgraded my PC with the exception of upgrading my old P3 733MHZ to a whopping new 2.26GHZ :? , and replacing the mobo (Soyo Dragon) during these 5 years.

I am on a tight budget, but always build my own machines. I need advice on what to buy. Here's what I'd like to upgrade:

1) Hard Drive - I bought a Maxtor ATA100 80GB back in 2001, it was new back then, but frankly the response time is awful, and I think it's just a matter of time before this thing dies. My Motherboard has SATA available, but I don't know what that does (RAID possibilities?). Other than playing video games, and downloading MP3's, I don't anticipate using a lot of disk space. What brand, size, speed would y'all recommend?

2) Video Card - My current card is a Radeon 9000 Pro AGP, I think it's 64MB.

3) Memory - I have 512MB of 2100 DRAM.

4) CPU - As stated above I have a P4 2.26GZ (Prescott). It is on the low end of most games now. What could I buy at an economical price and still have it be relevant for the next couple of years?

Thanks in advance for any advice provided.

Cheers!

 

[clue69less]

I am on a tight budget, but always build my own machines. I need advice on what to buy.

Be more specific about the budget and your expectations.

1) Hard Drive - What brand, size, speed would y'all recommend?

WD or Seagate, size depends on needs but 250s are dirt cheap so that's my min. Speed? 7200 RPM unless you need a 10K or above.

4) CPU - As stated above I have a P4 2.26GZ (Prescott). It is on the low end of most games now. What could I buy at an economical price and still have it be relevant for the next couple of years?

Is that socket 478?

 

[Pompeii]

1) Get a hard drive only if you are worried about your data's safety. Otherwise, spend the money on a different part.

2) If you can, upgrade to a gig of pc3200 ram. Corsair Value ram is pretty decent for cheap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

3) Video card is the most important factor for gaming, your processor really isn't holding you back much. If you want to get a new video card, try to get a x850xt or a 6600GT. Both cards game well for the money.

I would give you links to both cards, but they are getting hard to find. Here is a good alternative, albeit more expensive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143045

 

[Satch_Boogie]

I'd like to spend under $600, yes it's a Socket 478 (Flipchip). Thanks.

 

[fainis]

try to get a x850xt or a 6600GT.

haha you`re funny man.....comparing the 6600gt with a x850xt...

the only nvidia gpu that can cleary outperform the monster x850 is an 7800gtx....

6600gt can be compared with same x700 cards....i think you can find them at a verry good price nowadays...

if you want to go for same more ..try an 7600gt .. it`s a very decent card..or gs(agp version......)...

 

[clue69less]

I'd like to spend under $600, yes it's a Socket 478 (Flipchip). Thanks.

Hmmm, with $600 to spend, have you considered going to a PCI-e mobo? If your case, optical and PS are adequate, I'd be tempted to keep your current HD for the short term and step up. If you could find a few more bucks, it would be a no brainer and just go for a E6300 Core 2 Duo. Have you considered just selling your current rig to free up a few extra bucks? I'm just struggling to recommend a S478 CPU and AGP GPU considering how huge a performance increase you could get by jumping to a Core 2 rig.

 

[Heyyou27]

the only nvidia gpu that can cleary outperform the monster x850 is an 7800gtx....

What about t he 7800GT, 7900GT, or 7900GTX? You'll probably quote a F.E.A.R. benchmark showing how the X850 XT runs as fast with Shader Model 2.0 as the 7800GT does with Shader Model 3.0. :roll: