Hi

My Local game station is doing xbox 360 for £159 for the core system.

I have the following spec PC amd 64 3200 socket 939 and board can take all cpus on dual core.
1gb ram xp home and xfx geforce 7900GS 256mb 80gb hd and 400gb hd

the thing is the pc can do older games really fast and smooth.but new games like need for speed and dirt are only doing around 15-35 fps the 35 been dirt and thats not high details
It can do demo of COD 4 which i like at good frame and high details?

I know xbox 360 has been out a few years but i want cheap games as i can get most from £15+ from cex

or would i be better getting faster CPU for pc and better card PCI express video or get a xbox 360
I can do i can get a Athlon 64 X2 3800 for £45.00 so that would leave me with £114 for card. I have only just got the 7900gs from ebuyer for £70.00.

I have laptop and a emac so i can doing boring stuff like internet and letters on them if i need to. LOL

Cheers

It is really more down to the type of games you like to play, personaly I'm a mouse and keyboard player (zboard). I also think the PC games are better as an adult (read big Kid) player since you spend time on Team speak and forums outside the game itself.

No console out there can beat a 8800GT and a middle of the range CPU like the E6600 or Q6600 and a few Gigs of memory.

The choise is howerver yours.

(1) If all you want to do is play games, then buy a Console and dump the comp.

(2) If, besides games, all you use your computer for is mail, surfing the web, and a place to store your MP4's, then buy a console and maybe an external HDD if you need the extra space.

(3) If you use your computer for other intensive apps (video encoding, etc), then upgrading your box makes more sense.

I have swapped back to my sons pc so I could drop in a quad core cpu if needed.

Only other problem is I get Paid 4 days before xmas LOL

Dirt is a system hog.

The new need for speed needs at least a dual core cpu to run the game smoothly.

Your ancient cpu is probably really bottlenecking your older video card. Your looking at new mobo, cpu, minimum 2gb or ram, probably a new power supply and a new video card. Your looking at a minimum of $500. If you just want to play games, get the console.

This is my completely biased opinion(I will always say PC over console). All you really need right now is new motherboard, CPU and RAM. A decent C2D or AM2 will run you less then $200. A motherboard can be as cheap as $50-$100 and 2GB RAM for $50-$75. For $300 - $400 dollars thats right on par with with an XBox 360. Also by going this route you'll have the left over CPU, motherboar and RAM which are still pretty good for non-gaming uses. Either sell them as is or build another system around it and you could easily make back another $100, which could go a long way towards an eventual new graphics card.

Purple, you forgot the video card, its gonna be tough to use a AGP card on a new pci-e mobo. He probably needs a new ps too!

If you just want to game, get a console.

Meryy christmas.
www.upgold.net

Actually I don't see where his video card is AGP. Based on the specs he does give I would guess that it is probably PCIe. Even if it isn't, it's really no big deal because it could easily be sold and for just a little extra he could at least get an 8600. And I don't see why he would need a new PSU. His current specs probably draw more power then a C2D system and would only need more if he eventually went to a bigger video card. Even then his current PSU may very well be enough (once again no specs makes it hard to judge). Anyways I just wanted to offer up a different opinion. When it comes to console vs PC gaming cost is often times very misunderstood. I've been able to maintane a fairly highend PC for years for much less then keeping up with new consoles by selling old parts either in whole systems or by themselves to pay for new upgrades. A console game losses it's value very fast and once a new generation comes out it's pretty much worthless. However with PCs todays gaming rigs still make great machine 4 years later.

Your right dude, I wasnt aware the old 939 boards had pci-e slots. Ive never owned a 939. Assumed it was AGP, my bad.

Really depends what you need.... jsut gaming? Then 360. Faster apps and more gaming then PC

It all depends on what type of games you like to play.
The console is cheaper but you pay more for games unless you wait 4-6 months and buy the games used.

I like gaming on the PC cause you can play mods and other stuff you can't on a console system.
We already pay for internet so why should we have to pay microsoft money to play online.