How does this look?

[wreckonized]

Thermaltake Mozart case
ASUS P5N32-Sli premium motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.66GHz
ATI HD 3850 256MB video card
500W Ultra PSU
Razer Barracuda ac-1 7.1 gaming sound card
dvd burner
150gb hhd
2gb ram

this is what is currently running, any thought or suggestions for upgrades?

 

[Outlander_04]

A big fat cooler for the cpu and clock it to 3 + GHz

a 4850 with a nice double slot cooler . I like the palit , but the sapphire is fine and the HIS HD 4850 IceQ has the best cooler

 

[daft]

^agreed^

 

[wreckonized]

well i am kinda new to this, cuz this was my brothers, he had blue ray and a tuner on it, but he left with some of the parts when he moved out, so i just used some older parts to get it running. like the ram and hard drive

i wanted to know if what he had was anything i can build on to use for some moderate gaming and perhaps hook it up as an htpc.

 

[Dekasav]

Well, definitely don't go with the HD 3850 256Mb, if you want that kind of performance, grab a 512Mb HD 4670. It's cool, quiet, takes little power, and is roughly equal to the 256Mb HD 3850, a little ahead IRC.

 

[CmdPT]

Consider upgrading the RAM and the video card.

RAM is getting cheaper and cheaper so it wouldn't be a problem buying a 4 or 6 GB of RAM for a decent price.

Video cards you can go with a 9800 GT or 9800 GTX, or if you want an ATI card go with the 4850.

 

[wreckonized]

so this is something i can build on to be used for moderate gaming and as an htpc if i upgrade the ram and video card?

cuz my brothers friend offered him 200 dollars to take it off his hands.

 

[DXRick]

I wouldn't upgrade it unless you have a need that the current rig cannot meet. Is there a game you cannot run on it now at the settings you want?

 

[CmdPT]

so this is something i can build on to be used for moderate gaming and as an htpc if i upgrade the ram and video card?

cuz my brothers friend offered him 200 dollars to take it off his hands.

You can upgrade those two things to make your computer run extremely well. Upgrading it would be your choice and yours alone, it's just a suggestion on the ram and video cards. Everything should still run extremely well, look at my rig 3 years old and running like it's brand new.

 

[wreckonized]

should i sell it for 200 and start a new build myself??

 

[CmdPT]

No cause those parts are still good. It's worth well over 200 in my point of view. You can probably sell it for $400-$500. IMHO just upgrade it. Unless you want to spend another $1000 or so for a new build then go right ahead.

 

[curnel_D]

The procc alone is going to cost you 180 dollars to replace with the same exact thing. That, along with the motherboard, and other various eq makes it worth a little more than 200 dollars.

 

[wreckonized]

ty so much for all your inputs=D
now back to the video card, what would be a good fit?
i want something not too expensive, but something that would be good for the money i spend on it
any suggestions would be great

 

[CmdPT]

Video cards you can go with a 9800 GT or 9800 GTX, or if you want an ATI card go with the 4850.

I would probably go with the 9800 GTX+.

 

[Outlander_04]

Consider upgrading the RAM and the video card.

RAM is getting cheaper and cheaper so it wouldn't be a problem buying a 4 or 6 GB of RAM for a decent price.

Video cards you can go with a 9800 GT or 9800 GTX, or if you want an ATI card go with the 4850.

Without knowing what operating system its foolish to recommend more RAM . Even if it is using a 64 bit system then only tiny gains come from using more . If 32 bit then adding more than the 2 gig already in this computer will add nothing except expense . More is not always better .

 

[CmdPT]

Without knowing what operating system its foolish to recommend more RAM . Even if it is using a 64 bit system then only tiny gains come from using more . If 32 bit then adding more than the 2 gig already in this computer will add nothing except expense . More is not always better .

He will be upgrading as you can tell. Besides from 2gb to 4gb RAM there is like only $10-15 price difference, not really sure how that could make a difference and what if he wants to upgrade to like vista or something at least he has it just in case.

 

[wreckonized]

ram is not going to be a problem, ddr2 ram are cheap.

 

[wreckonized]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-SlickDeals&cm_mmc=AFC-SlickDeals-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&ItemList=Combo.152375

is this a good deal?

 

[curnel_D]

It's a great deal with those rebates. Jump on it.