Been out a couple years and need suggestions/help please

Well I currently have a Athlon 64 3200+ with a MSI k8T-Neo.

I decided that i wanted to upgrade my video card and went down to bestbuy and noticed that all the new video cards use PCI-E instead of AGP (what my board uses).

I dont want to spend alot of money upgrading the computer. Is it worth upgrading my motherboard/cpu if all i have to spend on the two is $300?

Should i just get an older AGP video card?

Looking at all the new processors is a bit overwelming. Unfortunately I dont have alot of time to research all the differences.

I dont want to pay ~300$ for a new mobo and processor and get just a little improvement.

thanks for any help/suggestions

Thanks for the reply!

The video card i am using now is a matrox g400. It is quite old and the reason i was looking to upgrade the computer. I am also going to pick up a dvd burner and a new hard-drive.

I purchased a new 32" lcd a few months ago and my other video card wouldnt work with it. I had the matrox laying around and it worked so its what i have been using. Now i would like to upgrade it to something a little more modern.

I use my computer for mainly just everyday stuff (internet, music, video) and the occasional game.

I am going to change out the case for a htpc case since the computer sits in the living room and i use my LCD for both tv and computer.

It sounds like maybe i should just skip the mobo and processor upgrade.

What video card would you recomend from a price/performance stance? maybe ~150$?


thanks again for the help.

For what you're looking at I'd suggest looking at:
SAPPHIRE Radeon X1600PRO 256MB AGP $95 after rebate
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR PCI TV Tuner $60 & Hauppauge WinTV

I suggest getting the X850Pro like sillywabbit mentioned earlier, here.

The other question is how much RAM do you have? If you only have 512MB, I would definitely upgrade to a full gig than buying a new mobo and CPU.

Is the DVD Burner/Hard Drive part of your $300 budget.

If it isn't, you can get the AMD 3700+ San Diego OEM at ewiz for around 75 bucks and get the Arctic Cooler 64 Pro at Monarch for 23 bucks.

If you are into OC'ing, you can probably get this CPU up to 2.6 GHz minimum with the chance of it going to 2.8GHz.

I suggest this MSI mobo - $72 to stay within your $300 budget.

This leaves you with $130 for the PCI-Express card. This X850XT - $126 will do the trick.

If you want SM3, then I suggest this 7600GT - $119 after MIR.

Good luck with your endeavor.

Nice looking HTPC case. Just be sure to read all the customer reviews over at NewEgg to understand some of the issues with the case.

The 850Pro does need the extra power connector but it comes with the card.

The 350w power supply is the minimum size recommended for that video card. It would be a good idea to list everything that the PSU will be powering in your system and let others review if you have enough total power. Also list the age, make and model of the PSU if you can.