upgrade advice

[Wlmer77]

Want to upgrade my system as the age of some of the parts is really beginning to show.
My system:
Athlon 1900+ xp
512 mb 266 ram
Geforce 6800

it handles most things ok. but a few games i play really do suffer.
the graphics card will have to do even though it's agp, cos it's virtually brand new. But when it comes to the processor i don't know any1 personally who plays online things like i do, so figured i'd ask u guys. I play planetside and HL2 mods and my computer at mo really struggles especially with planetside, i guess it is pretty cpu intensive, plus my ram sucks.
athlon 64 bit 3200 ( venice or something) sounds great, cos cheap and powerful. But should i consider a dual processor pc, i'm not one for multi-tasking much and even if i do the system i have at the mo handles it fine. But will newer games start using this so my processor will be struggling in say 6 months or so? Plus athlon 3200 is the lowest speed processor of it's type available should i add an extra 20 or 40 quid for a faster one, to boost it's speed? bearing in mind wot i'm running at the mo surely the improvement will be massive anyway?
no prob with the mem though prob a gig of fast ram to go with whichever processor.

just a few questions. i'm not made of money so would prefer a reasonable cheap option. thanks for readin. if i go for cheapest option, will i be upgrading again in a year??

[freakitchen]

In order for us to ensure compatibility, we'll need to know the make and model of your motherboard. As an Athlon XP system, with AGP, I'm guessing that it's socket 754. This means that dual core is out, since they're socket 939 only.

Increasing the RAM to 1GB will definitely help things.

Also please post the make and model of your power supply, to ensure it's got enough juice for an upgrade.

FK

[jfk]

Ram is cheap. I'd try an upgrade to 1 gig of ram first, it might solve a lot of your problems.

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Freakitchen In order for us to ensure compatibility, we'll need to know the make and model of your motherboard. As an Athlon XP system, with AGP, I'm guessing that it's socket 754. This means that dual core is out, since they're socket 939 only.

It's an Athlon XP, which means it's a Socket A. I wouldn't put your money on upgrading the processor - your best bet is memory. What motherboard do you have?

kram

[Wlmer77]

sorry for not being too clear. I'll be getting a new motherboard . Have seen at least one that supports new athlons and still has agp. So for about £200 i'll be gettin perhaps an athlon 64 bit, 3200 ( 90nm)or whatever, compatible memory ( maybe a gig) and new board. Will i be stuck in a situation where i'll want to upgrade in a year or so? will my system still struggle with the latest games, maybe oblivion or quake wars? and will i notice a big difference. Because 200 quid's a lot of money to spend if i'm not getting a big boost? cheers for your replies so far. Power supply is a reasonably new antec at 350 or 380 watts.

[Kareeser]

Are you sure you want to go that route? Development of AGP slots has nearly stopped, meaning you'd be pursuing a dead-end.

When the time comes to upgrade your video card, you will not have any options, since everything will be PCI-E.

I suggest sticking with your current motherboard for now, buying some extra RAM, and starting to save money for a new motherboard + PCI-E graphics card.