When's the ideal time to buy?

[mikapc]

With new games no longer running tolerably on my overclocked Celeron 300 to 450mhz I think it's time to upgrade but I want get the best bang for my buck. The question then is with the minimum amount of money when is the best time to upgrade that will last the maximum time before I need to upgrade again. I've read about next generation 64 bit intel cpu's etc and basically don't want to end up having to upgrade all over again as a result of the possibility of future games running only for 64 bit architecture on 64 bit os's.

 

[nausicaa]

ha...i wouldn't worry baout 64-bit processing yet, especially for games. by the time games are being released in only 64-bit code, your upgraded computer will be long overdue for another upgrade

if you don't want to spend a lot, get an athlon xp 1700+(~$50), or a barton 2500+(~$170) if you can afford it. can't go wrong with an nForce2 mobo(~$90-$120), and the onboard graphics is probably better than what you have now, otherwise a KT400(~$70-$90). 512mb PC2700 ram(~$80) from crucial.com is cheap and dependable. but for running games, you probably will want a directx 9 compatable video card. a radeon 9500(~$150) or 9500pro(~$170) maybe?

XP1700+, KT400, 1x512MB PC2700, Radeon9500 = ~$360
Barton2500+, nForce2, 2x256MB PC2700, Radeon9500Pro = ~540

newegg.com has a lot of good prices and shipping. just look around. do some research also, since there may be hidden costs (power supply, cpu cooler, etc.)

- <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=22270" target="_new">nausicaa</A>

 

[HardWareBoss]

Give us a price range you want to work with. That way we can give you lots of differant systems too chose from.

 

[mikapc]

$400 approximate max for motherboard/ram/cpu/video card.