Upgrade questions...

[mh44]

Hi guys,

Just come across this site and it's my first post so bear with me!!

Looking to upgrade my PC with a few new bits, and current specs are as follows

- Gigabyte GA-8I915P Duo Pro Motherboard
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=1802
- Pentium 4 3.2ghz
- 2gb GEIL DDR RAM
- Not sure if PSU is 400 or 450W
- Radeon X600 video card

Ok so a few questions...

Obviously my gear is aging! But really what I do is a lot of internet browsing, watching tv shows, playing music, recording music and the occasional game. Into FPS games and wanna get into playing games like Quake Wars and Unreal Tournament III, and if they ever come out Diablo III and Starcraft II.

So I'm totally undecided whether to do a total upgrade, new CPU, MB and RAM etc... or whether I can get away with just buying a really good video card? (Bearing in mind my motherboard appears to be one of the first generation PCI-Express Boards, so not sure if I can get a good PCI-E 2.0 video card and have it work? - Included the website of my Motherboard in case someone can tell me?).

If so, what video cards should I look at? Money isn't too much of an issue, I'd like to keep the price under $300 Australian if possible, but like I said, if I need a complete upgrade of the works I'd rather know now and bite the bullet.

Thanks!!!!

 

[particleman]

Well, PCIexpress 2.0 cards are backwards compaitable, but I wouldnt recommend that.

A new Mobo, CPU, and Ram will make a big difference ina ll the activities you listed. You will see the most gain in the FPS.

You could go with a new Vid Card, and you will see some gains, but then your CPU will become the bottle neck.

Cheers,

-PM

 

[gijoel2245]

i guess it really depends on what you can afford, but i would go for the total upgrade, but put the emphasis on the gpu and cpu, but you might not need the new motherboard if all of this is compatable with your current one, but if you upgrade that, then you can get the better stuff later. your choice.

 

[mh44]

Thanks heaps for the advice guys... Think it's been nearly 3 years since my last upgrade anyway, so figure I'm due!!!

 

[rags_20]

Total Upgrade. I'm going for one too. Have a P4 and 1 gig of RAM
Am going Quad + 4 gigs od DDR2 @ 800 MHz + Radeon HD 2600 XT + Vista HP. Get something like this. Real fast. Maybe the graphics card isn't so good, but it's ok..

 

[gamerk316]

Total upgrade. Right now, I would wait a month or two for Nehalam, and check to see if that type of system is in your price range.