Looking to upgrade my system at budget price...

[Ninjatsu]

Been looking around on TGforumz and tomshardware for awhile. Only been prompted to start purchasing now because my 6800gt just died. I already have a system, what I want to do is upgrade it over time as I am not very capable of saving up alot of money ;p

Already got :
P4 3.2
MSI 915 Neo-V PL
6800gt....well, had...
1Gig Corsair DDR 400 (2x512)
Couple HDDs, 2 DVD Writers

Looking to get :

1st upgrade:

GFX
The only MUST for my pc, the rest of the stuff can just be cheapish. Should be able to max everything on my 19" lcd.
8800gts 320mb
Price for any of them is $300

Case
Was thinking of getting a full case, but this comes with 4 fans and is quite cheap.
Sunbeam Quarterback IC-QB-SVBK Silver/ Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$60

PSU
Looking for one in the 50-60 $ price range, this one looks good.
FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.2, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 450W Power Supply
$50

2nd upgrade:

Mobo
GIGABYTE GA-945P-S3 LGA 775 Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM
2x1Gig DDR2 667
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=T667UB1GV
Quite cheap... might have to change this to a better brand.

3rd upgrade:

CPU
E4300/E63xx
Should be around the time the prices drop, so i'll make a choice around then. Might want to do stock voltage overclocking to get just a bit more out of the cpu.


It ends up being a whole new pc at the end, but like I said before, I just don't have the money to get it all at once. Just want to know if you think its a bad setup and if I should change anything?

 

[GherkinPekul]

I would replace your video card with something not too expensive for now. Then you will have a usable machine while you build the new one piece by piece. I'd start with the case, psu, and any other parts that aren't likely to drop in price much. Video, cpu, and ram (to a lesser extent) have volatile prices. That is why I save those purchases until the end- you might be able to get a better one than you budgeted for in the beginning.
Good luck

 

[Ninjatsu]

Thanks.

I was thinking of going with a cheaper video card in my current system, but where I live its stupid to get anything electronic as a 7600gt costs the same for us as the 8800gts for you. So I am ordering it online through family members who will then send the stuff down, which will take awhile... so I want to get that video card first. Also once i've got this card there wont really be a need to upgrade it again for a good while cause I can only use 1280x1024.

edit : forgot to add that this machine is only for gaming...and lots of it which explains the need for a good video card.

 

[mr_fnord]

I assume you want an e43/63 for overclocking. That motherboard is not a stellar overclocker due to the 945 chipset. It has problems with PCIe bus, so you'll end up overclocking your video card and all other PCIe peripherals as well. It sucks to have to pay $120 for a mobo in a 'value' build, but to get good overclocking you would need to. Also, I think that board doesn't have RAM voltage control, so you will also lose OC on that front as well. With an e4300 you might get a little more leg, due to the lower FSB, but this mobo won't overclock anywhere near as well as the P965s.

On the video front I'm inclined to agree with gherkin. The 8800 is at a premium price right now because it's the only DX10. In a couple of months there will be integrated DX10 solutions, and eventually ATi's DX10, which will lead to a precipitous drop in the 8800, esp. the 320MB version. I personally would hate to spend $300 on something just to see its price fall to $100 in a few months. Also, at your res do you need an 8800 to do what you want to do?

 

[Ninjatsu]

Thats exactly what I needed to know about the mobo, I don't want to push up the speeds of the pci-e with the fsb, so i'll have to look around for another one then.

I understand that the 8800 have a monopoly right now and that the prices are a bit much...
Well then, anything good that can play any game available decently at 1280?
Which cards now have the most Performance/Price?

edit: was busy playing quite a few games, those being GR:AW, Dark Messiah, RS:Vegas... all of those being truly horrendous on the 6800gt

 

[andybird123]

I have an 8800GTS 640mb and love it, it plays all my current games at 1280x1024 with everything on high (e.g. R6 Vegas, GR:AW, BF2142), completely smooth

I didn't see the point on spending £120-150 on a card that in 2 months will be obsolete when I could spend £220 on the 8800 and have kick ass gaming now, with DX10 support (and looking at Crysis benchmarks, 1280x1024 @ 60-70ish FPS)

if you work on the "but in 4-5 months X will be out" theory then you'd never buy anything, I just use what I have till it doesn't cut it anymore and then buy the best I can afford when I can... if it was a case that in 2 weeks you could get ATI whatever for the same price then it would be worth waiting, but May is too long for me

 

[mr_fnord]

You will easily hit 3.0ghz on that board with stock voltage, but not sure with that ram.

That's a 945 S3, not a P965. Don't you have to overclock the PCIe bus to get the FSB to overclock past 300 on that board? 3GHz would require 428 FSB.

 

[Ninjatsu]

like andybird123 said, i might as well get what I can now that will benefit me the most. So i'll stick with the 8800gts.

mr_fnord : i'll try looking through other review sites what they say on this motherboard and overclocking.

 

[Ninjatsu]

Checked alot of sites for overclocking and such and decided to change 2 things.

Changing Motherboard to Gigabyte P965-S3 which alows better overclocks, and is still quite cheap.

Need help with changing ram though :

Either
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

OCZ S.O.E 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Heard there was problems with this Motherboard and most Ram, but reading through the reviews at least 1 person got each to work on the same Mobo.

Basically its just changing the second upgrade i'll do so that I have more chance overclocking.