What would you do?

[zeem]

I need to upgrade my computer, but dont want to spend that much money... What's the best thing to do with about $200??

Current Specs =

CPU: P4 630 (Single-Core 3 Ghz with HT)

MOBO: Asus P5LD2 Rev 1.0 (which means the BEST cpu that I can get is a Pentium D... I need Rev 2.0 to get a C2Duo)

RAM : 3 GB DDR2-667

GPU - PNY Nvidia 9800GT 1GB (I'm guessing my performance here is limited because of my CPU?)

PSU - 500 Watt Thermaltake

OS - Win XP 32-bit

Mid-ATX size case

also, I have a Seagate 750 GB Hard Drive I just ordered as well.




I want to spend the least amount as possible just to hold me over for another couple years... I've read that quad-core isn't all that necessary yet? Even with games? The main 2 things I do is surf the internet and play a couple first-person shooters... COD4, Team Fortress 2, and I am really interested in buying Modern Warfare 2 when it comes out next month...

So should I buy a budget Dual-Core w/ motherboard combo, get a cooler and try overclocking for the first time? Or go for the AMD Phenom II X3-BE? Also... is 667 RAM way slower than 800? What would you do?

 

[o1die]

Depends on where you live and which vender you can use. I use Fry's electronics combo deals, the cheapest on the planet (in store only with few exceptions). They have the propus 620 with gigabyte 6150 board for $139.99 this week. Newegg also has some pretty good deals. If you can change a motherboard, I'd go for what I use, a 6150 chipset am2+ am3 motherboard, which means that you can use either an am2+ or am3 cpu with your ddr2 memory. Newegg has the propus 620 quad core for around $99 with heatsink (though they raised the price briefly to $122). My motherboard is made by biostar and has 4 sata ports, 1 ide, and 2 ddr2 slots. Fry's sells it for around $50. Ecs and asrock also make some pretty good low end boards. For Intel, a g31 or g43 board with an e7400 will also work for under $200 at newegg.