Suggested quick upgrade...

[sincraft]

Last year I purchased a system to get me back into the swing of things but kept my pricing down by going with the best cpu I could afford at the time which was a Venice core 3200+
I don't really push my system with any super new games, only playing the time tested ones but was wanting a bit more power and speed in apps and games.
The bad thing is, I ended up at the time getting a socket 939 chip and mobo with accompanying ram.
I don't think I can use the ram from my socket 939 system in a am2 system right?

So with 2 gigs of ram, a 7600 gt xfx xxx edition graf(x) card - suggested upgrade would probably be one of the only remaining 4200+ x2 chips left for about $85?

Or, just never mind it all and wait another year and upgrade?

Console systems are starting to look more enticing now! yikes. Thought I would get more life out of this.

 

[MichaelAbbott]

what specs your pc now? dual core is definately worth the upgrade for me (like you with 3200 went to 3800 x2 and 2GB ram) the 7600gt is already an older card so i wouldn't buy it, wait for a 8800gts if you can, or a second hand one.

what budget do you have, i can really help without knowing what you want to spend.

 

[rockyjohn]

Yes - please provide more details about your system please - and don't forget to include make and model on the power supply. You should be able to get a substantial upgrade for the price of a dual core CPU and however much you want to spend on a graphics card - probably $100 - $200. The card could be carried over into a new system later. The question will be do you want to spend $200 - 300 now and use the system for a year or two - and then purchase a new system, or go for more now. Frankly, if you are not a heavy gamer - I think the upgrade will be worth it - and must be done soon as the supply of 939 processors is dwindling.

 

[sincraft]

Sorry.
My CURRENT system specs are:
AMD 3200+ venice core
XfX 7600gt XXX edition
2 Gigs of Patriot ram with great timings ddr400 (pc3200)
450 watt smartpower 2
2 sata 3 hd's running in raid
Asus a8n-e motherboard (not the sli model)
Some pos cd/dvd rw
Lotsa fans in my case

nothing much more to tell.

My monitor is about 10 years old and only goes to about 85hz, was thinking of upgrading it but it's a Sony 20" and still looks great.

No idea about budget. I don't want to spend much but I have money to spend. Would rather put it toward other projects though if possible.

Was just thinking the cpu was the bottleneck - video card ok for now.

Thoughts?

 

[jitpublisher]

Check my sig, I went from a 3200+ to the X2 I have now, then grabbed a X1950pro to upgrade from from my X850XT PE. I think both were excellent upgrades. Runs the Bioshock demo, Fear, NFS Carbon, Oblivian just great. Don't really see or have the need for anything better yet.
You may need to bump up your power supply a little if you go with another video card though, that 430 is getting stretched with all you have going on there.