Best $ value upgrade or get a new system all together

[furious99]

Hi, please see the link for my system configuration.

http://www.d-a-l.com/hardware-scanner/app/results.php?id=56421b5a67ffd1aabc8835b75517d190

I am thinking about getting additional 1 or 2 GB of ram and upgrade the video card. Would the CPU became the bottle neck since it's only single core. Considering the current price of all the new pc out there, does it make sense to upgrade at all?

 

[tecmo34]

It really depends on your budget... If you can budget in $500 to $800, an new computer would be your best route. If you are looking at under $150 upgrade, I would look to upgrade you GPU. I won't worry to much on RAM, since it requires DDR400, which is no longer carried or will be at a high price because it is obsolete.

 

[WR2]

Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ 2Ghz CPU on Socket 939 MSI Radeon XPRESS 200 motherboard. 1GB DDR 400Mhz RAM

-> Does have PCI-e X16 slot and support for Athlon 64 X2 4800+ CPU.

Video card and RAM upgrade would be OK.
Since you can take a video card upgrade into your next, new system that type of upgrade would be OK.
Going to 2GB of RAM would cost about $30 and you'd not be able to take it into the next system.

Yes; you'd probably end up with a CPU bottleneck - but you would have considerable better gaming performance with the new video card.

For some reason the 939 CPUs are a LOT more expensive than the AM2 versions (prices checked on Pricewatch.com:
AM2: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4800+* (2.5GHz) $108
939: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4800+* (2.5GHz) $514

AM2: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4200+* (2.2GHz) $47
939: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4200+* (2.2GHz) $224

 

[WR2]

Pricewatch: DDR PC3200 RAM
Also check Amazon.com and Ebay. You might be able to find a good deal on a used X2 4800+

 

[furious99]

Thanks for the response, found something for AMD athlon 64x2 AM2 for reasonable price and will probably add 2 512 ram to make it 2, 1 GB just doesn't cut it nowadays. What GPU would you recommend with the new CPU and 2 GB of ram. I would like to run smoothly for the upcoming Diablo III and Starcraft II if possible.

 

[WR2]

What kind of budget do you have to work with?

 

[WR2]

Probably need to mention what power supply you have to power a new video card as well.

 

[furious99]

Another thing, would I have problem if I go 2 1GB ram with my 2 512 set up?

 

[furious99]

Power supply is 300W.

 

[furious99]

Just to double check AM2 CPU will have no problem with Socket 939 motherboard?

 

[WR2]

AM2 CPU will not fit in a 939 motherboard.

300W PSU thats a couple of years old (four? five?) will not be able to put out 300W of power anymore. That greatly limits any replacement video card you can use.

I think 2x1GB RAM chips would work but you can easily get by with 2x512MB since you're using WinXP.

MSI RS482M4-L motherboard

 

[WR2]

Except for an extra 1GB of RAM most of the new stuff could move to a new PC if you're going to build one yourself.

What kind of budget are you looking at for an upgrade?

I think a CPU upgrade into that motherboard is out of the question because of the high cost of the 939 CPUs. You could get a AM2+AM3 motherboard and AM3 CPU with new RAM for less than the cost of the 939 CPU itself.

There isnt much point in getting a new video card without a new PSU to power it. The 4+yr old 300W PSU limits you to video cards not much more powerful than the 6600GT

 

[furious99]

Thanks for your great response, they have been very helpful. I don't really have a strict budget to follow and I don't really "build" my computer either. This computer is about 3 years old and I just want to see what more can I get out of it since it's still functioning and can play games such as warcraft 3. The bottom line is, I want to spend the least (most cost effective) amount of money to keep this computer somewhat up to date for maybe a year or two. I don't play graphic intense games such as first person shooter and Blizzard (D3 and SCII) are the two upcoming game I care about.

what about upgrading it to 2GB ram total or would you recommend 3, not much more expensive and the system is running on Windows XP. and with a new PSU (any recommendation?) and a new video card, total around $150? Would that be enough to run somewhat smooth for non first person shooter games?

 

[furious99]

and how much more are we talking about here if we have mobo+cpu combo and new ram, again, no where need to be top of the line stuff, but most bang for the buck.

 

[snakej]

check that out, good price, sorry man, dont really know how to upgrade yor pc, if you change the cpu and mobo, add ram and a new gpu., it wont be your old pc anymore, rather a new one, so this is what recommend:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.278230

Combo Price: $690.96
$20.00 Mail-In Rebate Card
Price After Mail-In Rebate(s): $670.96

plus this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150369

it will be around $780