Need some upgrade advice...

[Blacklava]

Hi guys and girls,

After a couple months of debating which approach to take (upgrading my AGP-based modded Dimension 8100 vs building brand new vs purchasing a barebone and adding hardware vs purchasing a used pre-built), I found a pretty sweet deal on eBay and pounced all over it:

Antec Sonata 2 Case w/ Antec 450 Watt Quiet dual fan power supply; 120MM case Fan w/ 3 speeds included
MSI P965 Neo Motherboard: 5 Sata ports, 1 IDE port, 8 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Gigabyte Lan Adapter, 8.1 Codec Audio, Serial, Parallel
Intel Core 2 Duo e6300 1.86 GHZ , 1066MHZ bus 2MB Cache
1 x 1 GB pc667 Super Talent DDR2
250 GB Segate Barracuda Sata 2 Hard Drive 7200 Rpm
Nvidia Geforce 7300 GS
Lite On 16X DVD/RW CD/RW Sata 2 drive
Fresh load of XP Pro with all updates including IE7 and Media player 11, AVG Anti-Virus and Spyware, Microsoft Office 2003, Nero 7
Logitech Deluxe keyboard and mouse
17" flat-screen Dell monitor

Everything less than 2 months old, $718, including shipping. Basically, it was a deal I couldn't pass up.

I think I should upgrade the video card and perhaps the memory. All I want to do with this rig is store music, pictures, files, etc., perform basic Microsoft Office tasks, going on the net, and playing EA Sports brand video games (MVP Baseball, FIFA, etc.). I was thinking of the following upgrades:

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609085

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102022

Any suggestions?

 

[g-paw]

If you're going to upgrade the RAM, why not go to DR2 800, in a pair rather than one stick? The 7600GT is a nice video card for about the same price with rebates.

 

[Mondoman]

Check the +12V rating on the PS to make sure it can handle a fancy new video card.

 

[alcattle]

I would get another stick of the same RAM and try out the system. If you are not happy with gameplay, then upgrade the video card.
That PSU is a good one for a packaged PSU, should handle a minor upgrade, but not an 8800.

 

[akhilles]

If he upgrade the ram & run the new 800 with the old 667, all of them will run at the slowest stick 667. So I think The super talent 1 gig isn't a bad deal for $60. 2 gigs will run any game. Now the other more pressing upgrade is the video.