Upgrading my computer...

[Qoppa]

Hey all
I'm noticing more and more lately that my computer is no longer as awesome as it used to be. I've got 200GB of hard drive space(80GB+120GB), 1GB of RAM, and I'm running XP. That's all fine. BUT, I also have a 256MB Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 2600 Pro, and an AMD Athlon XP 2600+. Kinda dated now. So, I'm looking to buy a new graphics card and CPU, which would mean a new motherboard too (I don't know exactly what mine is, but it's Socket A).

I don't need some crazy state-of-the-art gaming machine, but I'd at least like to be able to play some newer games coming out without having to run them on the lowest graphic settings (if at all). I figure replacing these 3 parts should do it. I'd be willing to spend ~$400 tops, but cheaper is definitely better.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[b.i.o]

It'll also mean new RAM, most likely.

[x-Swamp]

Some more with your current setup would do wonders

[Emu*]

Have you worked out a budget for this, or will it be "how much can I justify?"

[Felstaff]

It sounds like you have the same wrig as my old computer. I got tired of lowered resomolutions and constantly sliding graphical effects to nil too.

Some suggestions:

• Socket AM2 motherboard, which I guess will be between - $60-$120 (I'm working from £'s here) I go with ASUS, they seem reliable/trustworthy
• AMD Athlon⁶⁴ 4600+ X2 Socket AM2 Dual-Core OEM Processor - $80-$120ish? (You can get 9500 phenom quad cores for about $200)
• GeForce 8's can be acquired for anything from $40-$200, and can play pretty much any modern game at a good pace.

You may need more coolers, larger voltage and newer memory (DDR 667Mhz+) for the extra demand, so shop around for this too, and factor that in. I'd spend $70 on the mothership, $100 on the CPU and around $120 for the graphics card.

[b.i.o]

GeForce 8's can be acquired for anything from $40-$200, and can play pretty much any modern game at a good pace.

Anything below an 8600 GT is not worth it though.

[FACM]

A Core 2 Duo and 8800 GT are probably going to be the best stuff you'll be able to get for a reasonable price. The Geforce 9000 line is only a minor improvement in clock speed over the 8000 line, so I wouldn't suggest those unless you're looking for the highest end machine you can make.

[b.i.o]

A Core 2 Duo and 8800 GT are probably going to be the best stuff you'll be able to get for a reasonable price. The Geforce 9000 line is only a minor improvement in clock speed over the 8000 line, so I wouldn't suggest those unless you're looking for the highest end machine you can make.

You're not going to get a nice c2d, an 8800 GT, a new mobo, new RAM, and possibly a new PSU you'd need to run that under $400

[Qoppa]

I haven't checked how big my PSU is currently, but if I do need to upgrade it (and I probably will), how many watts should I go for? 450W? And is buying additional coolers really necessary? I don't plan on overclocking or anything.

[mosc]

Look, you don't have much of your old system left at this point. A pair of old slow hard drives? Maybe a CDROM you don't hate? (I doubt it's a 20x DVD burner though which you can get for a whopping $25 now). Just saying, you should change your focus and look at this as a system replacement rather than an upgrade. Maybe you can re-use the drives or maybe the case is one you really like but most of it's gone.

So then like any new system (or mostly new), your budget becomes the key driving factor. The "mainstream" PC for enthusiasts who build their own these days is usually a core2-duo with the appropriate intel chipset. Personally I like to maximize FSB and ram clocks but there are different schools of thoughts on picking different flavors of core2s and mobos. Next you are going to hear people recommend some flavor of geforce8 along with 800-1066mhz DDR2 (mattering on your mobo) with 2GB (XP) or 4GB (vista) of memory. Tack on a nice 250-750GB 7200RPM SATA drive and a 20X dvd burner (so cheap why wouldn't you) and you have a nice system. Antec sells some nice cases to throw it in that come with their world renowned branded power supplies already in them. 400-500 watts would work fine for a system like this, even if you went with a higher end video card. Mattering on which flavors you pick, this system is ~$750-$1000

It seems like you don't want to spend that much in which case you maybe aught to look into just upgrading the graphics alone for <$100 and saving your pennies to replace the whole system. On the other side going whole hog leaves your old system in a working state in case something goes wrong with the new parts or you just want to network them together to move files easily. With the price difference of the case and HD essentially, you're buying a fully functional system (your old one) in a known working state all set up. That's a huge value to overlook.

[b.i.o]

Look, you don't have much of your old system left at this point. A pair of old slow hard drives? Maybe a CDROM you don't hate? (I doubt it's a 20x DVD burner though which you can get for a whopping $25 now). Just saying, you should change your focus and look at this as a system replacement rather than an upgrade. Maybe you can re-use the drives or maybe the case is one you really like but most of it's gone.

Agreed...you're getting rid of the entire guts of the computer, not working with what you have.

[Qoppa]

Hmmm, you make a good point. I have two internal HDs, and the 160GB one (not 120GB like I said in my original post) is relatively new, so could probably be transfered over, but you're right, it seems like everything else would need to be upgraded anyway.

I guess perhaps I'll wait a bit more and see about creating a new system entirely.

[mosc]

if there's a game in particular that you're getting frustrated with, there's good gains to be had in a "temporary" video card. Something to hold you over till the whole system goes...

[enk]

A pair of old slow hard drives?

Quoted for emphasis. Hard drive speed has a lot to do with how fast your system feels and newer drives are a lot faster (even though they're all spinning 7200 RPM).

[mosc]

platter density effects speed. Essentially two identical technology HDs where one has 4x as much data density (newer), the more dense drive will be considerably faster. RPMs help, but that's not the whole story. Also, it's silly to upgrade the faster bits of a computer and neglect the hard drives. I am often confused by what people actually associate with what is slowing them down. I hear "my processor is old" when it's taking a while to load a large file to which I must say "no, your Hard Drive is slow. Your processor has little to do with it". Most people I know replace computers "because they're old" mostly out of hard drive bottlenecks.

This, of course, is why I recommend RAID so fervently. The additional cost is minimal and it makes a large difference in so many areas. It keeps your computer feeling... lighter?

[enk]

platter density effects speed. Essentially two identical technology HDs where one has 4x as much data density (newer), the more dense drive will be considerably faster. RPMs help, but that's not the whole story.

Exactly my point.

Also, it's silly to upgrade the faster bits of a computer and neglect the hard drives. I am often confused by what people actually associate with what is slowing them down. I hear "my processor is old" when it's taking a while to load a large file to which I must say "no, your Hard Drive is slow. Your processor has little to do with it". Most people I know replace computers "because they're old" mostly out of hard drive bottlenecks.

Yeah.. the Windows start up time of my new rig is almost unchanged when I use my old P4 instead of my new C2D. Not what most people expect!

[Berengal]

if there's a game in particular that you're getting frustrated with, there's good gains to be had in a "temporary" video card. Something to hold you over till the whole system goes...

I second this. My old slow-as-hell computer suddenly turned into a faster-than-lightning computer when I switched from an old 6800 something to a 8800 factory-overclocked Ultra.

[Axman]

Go Micro-ATX, you'll save some scratch. AMD is the price:performance king for both processors and video cards. 780G+HD 3000 is nice and green, too. Antec cases with included PSUs are cheap and the power supplies are, with very little exception now, manufactured by Seasonic, and they're usually super-quiet--case in point, no pun intended: NSK3480. Asus is slipping, quality-wise, but all the companies are rushing products this year, it's a casualty of the price war; Gigabyte, DFI, Biostar, Sapphire--much more appealing, if you're not a feature-hound (which, well, you're not).

[Ptolom]

dated? I'm struggling with a 128mb ATI X300SE

['; DROP DATABASE;--]

True about hard drive speed, I upgraded from a ~4500RPM to a 7200 a few years ago, and WHOOOOSH. Everything was noticeably faster.

[Qoppa]

K, I'm probably going to be getting this new machine right quick. Here's what I plan on getting:
MB: Intel DG33FB
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2.53GHz
Memory: Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400
Video Card: BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB
Hard drive: SEAGATE 500GB Barracuda 7200.11 SATA II + the 160GB one I mentioned earlier
PSU: Antec Earthwatt 500W

Thoughts?

[b.i.o]

Looks good to me.