I am thinking of finally upgrading my computer. Currently I have an AMD Athlon 1.0ghz T-Bird system with a Radeon 9500 Pro video card and 512mb 266 DDR memory. This is simply not going to cut it when games like Half-life 2 and Doom 3 are released. I want to be able to play these games with a descently high framerate(as in not choppy as hell). Here is the trick: I DON'T want to spend a whole lot of money. Let's say $250. If I am pushed I MAY be able to swing $300, but let's keep suggestions in the $250 range for now.
I will be upgrading only cpu, motherboard and memory. I am currently looking at the Athlon XP 2800+. Is this a good choice? I have been out of the loop for a while so I need a suggestion on motherboards for whatever processor I pick(Last time I often read articles, the Asus A7N8X was the hottest thing on the market). I would really like to avoid overclocking for at least a year or so as I do not fully trust a overclocked system to be reliable and can't afford to have it burn up. I have heard good things though about being able to easily kick the 333fsb cpu's to 400fsb without much hassle and a stock fan. Is this accurate?
Thanks in advance for all advice.
Zach
I will be upgrading only cpu, motherboard and memory. I am currently looking at the Athlon XP 2800+. Is this a good choice? I have been out of the loop for a while so I need a suggestion on motherboards for whatever processor I pick(Last time I often read articles, the Asus A7N8X was the hottest thing on the market). I would really like to avoid overclocking for at least a year or so as I do not fully trust a overclocked system to be reliable and can't afford to have it burn up. I have heard good things though about being able to easily kick the 333fsb cpu's to 400fsb without much hassle and a stock fan. Is this accurate?
Thanks in advance for all advice.
Zach