Help upgrading older pc

[jyjjy]

I recently lost my pc in a fire and have had to go back to my last system which was in storage but it's video card(6800 pci) seems to be dead. It's working fine on the IGP for anything I might want to do with it other than gaming. I probably won't have the money to build a new system for 6+ months so I need some advice on making this thing an ok gaming rig in the meantime.
It's a socket 754 system with a Sempron 3000+ and 1 gig of ram. I'm thinking I should definitely add another gig of ram. After that I should have about $100 to spare on upgrading the rest(video card + cpu.)
Should I just keep the cpu and get a decent videocard(3850/9600gt/8800gt) that will be acceptable when I do build a new system?
Or should I upgrade the cpu which would probably mean ebaying an Athlon 32/3400+ and a 7900gt or something similar?
I'm leaning towards the first option but it's complicated by the case/psu. It's microATX minitower with a 400w PSU. This one specifically;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811190072
In the pics you can see both the dimensions and PSU specifications.
Which, if any of the newer cards will both fit in that thing and be workable with the PSU? Any advice would be great.

 

[jyjjy]

Oh yeah, the MB is a Biostar Tforce 6100 if it matters at all;
http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=tforce+6100

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

You may dislike me for saying this, but honestly bro, your better off ditching that. You've got 150 to play with? Maybe 200?

Hmm. Bad thing about your spot dude is the price of ram, it's 30 bucks to get 1 gb of ddr. Not bad, but 40 gets you 2 gb of ddr2.

Honestly on the ebay chip, I don't think you'll see enough difference. Maybe overclock what you have.

Or here's another option....

Celeron dual core chip for 50 bucks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116064

Foxconn board with free shipping for 44.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186139

Looks like the celeron has free shipping as well.


Kingston value ram 40 bucks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134117


Radeon 2400xt video card for 30 bucks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102699



The 400 watt PSU should be enough for that. If not, maybe something like this in a pinch.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339009

Only 20 bucks, but the specs look decent, if I had that low a budget, I'd consider it.

On a setup like that looks like 165 if you can reuse the old psu. If not, about 185. So depending on PSU, maybe 175-200 with shipping. Looked at the amperages your psu says it has, and it looks like it might be ok. So you could always try it out. Or you could upgrade ram and get a vid card as well.

 

[geofelt]

To get you by, get a 6800 pci card on e-bay. It should cost $20-$40. Add another stick of ram, and it should hold you for a while. In 6 months, it will all be about nehalem. Save up until you can build a real upgrade.

 

[IH8U]

under $100, ok.

MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135049R
$33 (onboard gfx)
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103197
$25 (single core, but can be upgraded later)
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134487
$19 (only 1GB tho)
Vid: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102763
$25 (not a nessecity but I'll count it anyway)

or instead of the Vid, and 1GB RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134635
$37 (2GB)

Total: $102 + S&H (not counting MIR's, or Specials)
or : $95 with the 2GB, and no Vid

 

[IH8U]

If you can swing $150 you can get a better CPU, and a Vid card too

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103188
$50 ( dual core retail)
Vid: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102763
$25 (needs no extra power)
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135049R
$33
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134635
$37

Total: $145 + S&H

 

[jyjjy]

Thanks for the suggestions but I don't think a whole new set-up is the way to go here. Dualcore would be nice but are those systems really better for gaming than my current system + hd3850/9600gt/8800gt? The video cards you're suggesting are worse than my dead 6800 was.
Anyways I measured the 6800 and it is 8.5 inches long and there seems to be room in the case for another inch or so. As far as I can tell from googling all 3 of the cards I'm thinking of are 9 inches long so the length shouldn't be an issue. I'm still unsure about the PSU though. Here's a pic of the specs courtesy of newegg;

The system is really quite minimal. Sempron 3000+, 2 gigs pc3200, 1 HD, 1 dvd burner and a wifi card. The PSU was used basically 24/7 for 2 years when it was my main system though.
Can this thing handle something in the range of hd3850/9600gt/8800gt? If so which?

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

You've gotta really keep it in perspective, 6800 was a good card, but cards are getting way better with each line. Dual core I prefer for multitasking. You can get a new video card and more ram, but keep in mind the CPU you have may bottleneck or limit the performance of a good video card. But it would keep till you could get better I'm sure. But I know I played call of duty 4 for a while on a 7300 LE video card and it was actually not too bad. But I also had an AMD 5200+ dual core and 2 gb of memory.

 

[geofelt]

Your PSU may not be capable of properly running a higher end vga card. AMD requires a 450watt psu with a 6 pin pci-e connector for the 3850. http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd3800/requirements.html
If a psu comes with a pci-e 6 pin connector, it should be ok for a vga card that requires one. Also, if your psu is of lesser quality, it may have lost some of it's capability over the years.

Without changing out your psu, I would suggest looking for vga cards that don't require that much power. For example, a 9500GT DDR3 for $89.99 . http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130383 The card is a many level jump in capability over your 6800GT.

I would also increase your ram to 2 gb at least if you can.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I think I'd go for this 9500gt for 65 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127372

Just to save you some cash.