One final upgrade for my old PC?

Hello good people.
My old rig:
CPU: Amd 64 3800+ single core
MB : Gigabyte k8n pro sli
RAM: 2Gb pc 3200 kingston
VIDEO: ATI X1900gt
HDD: 320 gb Seagate sata
PSU: Chieftec 560W
OS : WIN XP SP2

I want to upgrade my video card in order to get some more performance untill next year when I'll buy a new pc. I don't want to spend lots of money and I was thinking at 3 models: 3850, 3870 and 9600gt. Which one will do better considering my PC.

Thanks!

If you dont want to upgrade cpu/ram then dont consider getting anything better than the 3850. Even that card will be held back by your cpu.

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Product [...] uctID=1883
I think it does support amd x2 cpu, but I do not think I could be able to find one like 3800+ in Romania

Going from a 2.4Ghz Athlon 64 single core processor to a 2.0Ghz Athlon Dual 64 dual core processor will do very, very, very little for gaming. In fact, games that cannot use 2 cores will show a LOWER benchmark. Just overclock your current CPU to around 2.6 for now and be happy until you can build a whole new rig.

A 3800 X2 is not an improvement at all for gaming over a 3800 single core.
Believe it. I have owned and upgraded/tweaked and overclocked my way through almost every 939 socket CPU you could buy. (except the Opterons)

I've tested that exact scenario in great depth and don't agree with you. If it's an old single threaded game, either has the clock speed to handle the game anyway. If it's a multithreaded game, the single core can choke and a even a lower clocked dual core beat it. But while better, would a stock clocked X2 3800+ be enough for all games? ...

pauldh... Maybe with the very newest multi-threaded games the dual core will help, but like you said, is a 3800 X2 is going to be enough anyway. IMHO, no.

And to zloginet, I am talking about Athlon 64's, and yeah, I have stashed in closets or in friends PC's now, 6 old athlon 64's both single and dual core, plus the 4600 X2 I am still running now. Went through a "upgrade my CPU" phase of idiocy about 3 years ago......till I finally figured out myself that the only way to get an impressive gain in gaming performance from a CPU upgrade was to do a pretty big jump. That is why I say you won't see much difference. My first dual core was from a 3200+ to a 3800 X2. And I was dissapointed. So I bought a 4200 X2. Okay, I see a little improvement, then I bought the 4600 X2 which turned out to overclock very nicely, that is why I have it. Finally, on my 3rd no less dual core overclocked to 2.8 was I happy with the performance over the 3200+, or at least I felt the upgrade was worthwhile. Was it worth all the money I spent?, not at all but I learned something.

I don't know about over there but in Canada thats about $60 overpriced on the 230 one.

You are right!