Upgrade recommendations

[StickEGreenleaf]

So my rig is going on 5 years now and programs, specifically games, aren't running like they used to. So it's time to shell out some cash, but as a college student the most I can really afford now is about 200 without selling a kidney. Now I turn to you pcmech like I have so many times for advice. Here is my current set up:

Asus P4C 800e Dlx
1 gig of hyper-x kingston (2x 512)
P4 2.4c
AIW 9800 Pro

So I'm not really sure what to update to get the most for my money. I think most of the bottleneck is happening at my CPU, but I'm not even sure if that's worth upgrading. With my board I'm limited to 478 socket. It almost seems more logical to spend a few bucks on some fans try and oc it to 3.0.

The easiest I imagine would be to go for another gig or 2 of ram, but I don't know how much of an affect this would have on my gaming. Also, since I currently have 2 sticks of 512 with two open slots left, do I have to match those empty slots with 512 each or could I put a gig in each of those open slots? Does it have to be kingston? I recall reading once that you have to match your ram, not sure if this was specific to a certain board, so I just wanted to clear that up.

Lastly is grabbing a new video card which seems to be the best bet for better specs. To be honest, I've lost my way in knowing all the benchmarks between the new cards. I know my 9800 is a big part of the problem, some newer games won't run on this older series at all and are designed for the X series of ATi cards. I wouldn't know where to begin in choosing a card though.

I know this is a big question, so any advice or tips you can give would be very helpful. Thanks again tech gurus.

[Masaki 7-11]

For your computer there is really very little that you can upgrade that will give you a large boost in performance, however if your power supply supports it(you'll want to have a good quality power supply of at least 400+ watts to handle the video card and a PCIe connector), upgrading the video card to an HD3850 will net you a large increase in gaming performance: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102730
If you need a new power supply, here is a good one that will fit into your budget: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371019

If you can put together about $300, you would be able to get a new gaming system (assuming you have the OS already) that would be a good amount faster than your current computer with the upgrade(s).

[StickEGreenleaf]

Thanks for such a quick response Masaki! I currently have a 400w power supply that came with my Antec case. Never give me problems yet. You think this psu could handle the 3850?

This really looks like the card for me and moderately priced.

Out of curiosity, what do you recommend for this $300 rig. My girlfriend is bugging me to help her build desktop after her old laptop went out. Likely I was gonna start with some older hdd and my 9800 when I upgrade. Then 2 gigs of ram, but I can't decide on a motherboard/processor. I'm leaning towards a 64 bit atx board, but I don't know my AMD processors that well. Anyhow, thanks for all the help!

[Masaki 7-11]

Your power supply should be enough for your rig with the upgraded video card. Here is a parts list for a $300 gaming rig (if you need a rig but not for gaming, it would be better to use integrated graphics instead of using a dedicated video card and spending that extra money on a better processor and hard drive:



Rosewill R330-P-WI White 0.6mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147096
$25.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148230
$42.99

GIGABYTE GA-M61PME-S2 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 / nForce 430 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128333
$47.99

BFG Tech BFGE86256GTSOCFE GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143113
$49.99

LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-16D3S-04
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106261
$17.99

COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR 500W ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817171018
$39.99

mushkin 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model 991557
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146728
$28.99

AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640 Orleans 2.6GHz Socket AM2 45W Single-Core Processor Model ADH1640DHBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103239
$42.99

Subtotal: $296.92


If you can stretch the budget about $30 more than this, some good upgrades would be getting a dvd burner over the dvd reader: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106264
And getting a dual core athlon over the current single core: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103211

[StickEGreenleaf]

Wow, another amazingly helpful post, Masaki! She actually wants the rig for moderate gaming so I'm likely going to get the dual core and go ahead and get a burner.

Great recommendations and a ton of help!

When looking at the spec for pricegrabbers they recommend a 450w psu. Would it be safe for a short time until I install a newer psu?
http://computers.pricegrabber.com/vi...t=product_tab/

[tomtoon]

Good list...

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by StickEGreenleaf Wow, another amazingly helpful post, Masaki! She actually wants the rig for moderate gaming so I'm likely going to get the dual core and go ahead and get a burner. Great recommendations and a ton of help! When looking at the spec for pricegrabbers they recommend a 450w psu. Would it be safe for a short time until I install a newer psu? http://computers.pricegrabber.com/vi...t=product_tab/

Using a power supply calculator, I found that your system would easily work with a 400w power supply and still have a large margin of safety. You won't need to upgrade your power supply if you get the HD3850.