video card or new mobo/cpu?

[D4ng3r]

hello, i have a p4 1.5ghz with 512mb, quite an old machine. i have around $150 canadian to play with, and i want to be able to get the best bang for the buck in preformance increase.
(p.s. my current system doesnt have 3d accceleration so i cant play things like halo.. would a video card fix this?)
i was wondering weather i should get a new mobo/ cpu (i was heavely leaning towards the amd athlon 3000+, i dont need bleeding edge..) and a suitable mobo with 5.1 capabilities.
or, should i direct my funds towards a $100 videocard? it would have to run on my ancient mobo.

OR... should i get an inexpensive mobo, a decent CPU, and a $50 video card so that i can run games like halo??? i am at a loss.

any and all help would be appriciated, as well as any suggestions for things to get.
i have about 150ish to play with, i could save up a little more to get something a bit above that price if it would be worth it.

thanks,
Dan

 

[kmjohnso]

I don't think spending $150 on a computer would be really worth it at the moment and spending $100 on a video card might be overkill. I would simply get a cheap <$50 video card. Maybe a GeForce 6200 (not the TC edition), which you might be able to unlock to upgrade to a 6600 for free. Halo: Combat Evolved isn't all that taxing on the system so it should run just fine on your rig.

You should then save your money for a new system. IMO

 

[illuminatirex]

hi , im not shoor if this will help but i played halo on a pIV 1.7 with 512 ram and a 64mb radeon 7500aiw, so i gues my system is "ancient" (im planing on building anotehr one next week), honestly i would say that the most that You could get might be out of a graphic card upgrade, althou ading aditional 512 (if possible) would be good, but i think that halo doesnt need more than 512(i doubt it) i would go for a beter gpu, and if possible for a beter cpu if You can upgrade it , a 100 for gpu and 50 for the cpu, i think for that 50 for the cpu u might get a relatively mediocore/low cpu, like a 2.0 maby or a bit more (single core) ...g2g ...hope this helped a bit, check newegg, zipzoomfly and such to get an idea of pricing as well as pricegrabber, but i think the prices would be there in us dollars.

 

[toasty2]

Hmm, maybe you could buy a processor and a video card?
You can get some decent stuff right now. For $200 you could get a new processor, mobo, and video card Go for a 3200+ at $70 or a 3700+ at $90, or a 3500+, almost any AMD processor is good these days, I've never seen a flaw with any. I have a 3200+ in my server computer. You could even get a 3000+ like you were thinking, they're all good.

As for video cards, you can get some pretty cheap ATI cards right now, although I'm a nVidia person myself. I run a Geforce FX 5700 Ultra AGP, it works great still. I play CSS and Half Life 2 at Medium, and sometimes at High settings, I was able to play HL2 Episode One with no problems, and I play Halo too, my server has a 6600gt (Lol, I know it's not necessary, but it gets like 80fps in CS:S with a Athlon 64 3200+). Almost anything can benefit you.

 

[kmjohnso]

Remember he said he had 150 canadian... so he probably can get all that. A new cpu might be good. Perhaps ebay....