About 200$ what should I upgrade?

lethalforce

lethalforce

New Member
You can see my specs in my sig.

I have about 200$ total, (i can scrap up a bit more if need be).

I really wanted to do a complete overall since just about everything on my pc is dated for gaming, but i dont have an extra grand lying around. What do you think is my best option with this limit of money?
 
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The video card, IMO. AFAIK you can get a Radeon 4750 for under $200 after rebates, and that thing would destroy any nvidia 7-series card.
 
I'd go for the memory first-then processor-5000+ BE would be great choice-but remember that you'll need heatsink and fan for it also
 
Ram is cheap, follow my upgrade instead, because you should already have a Fan since your using an X2 series CPU, that's your best overall upgrade, but yea...
 
Fritzjavel said:
Ram is cheap, follow my upgrade instead, because you should already have a Fan since your using an X2 series CPU, that's your best overall upgrade, but yea...
Click to expand...

Of course everyone thinks their suggestion is the best... but...

1.Most games are GPU-bound, not CPU. A 2GHz dual-core will do fine for now, maybe it can be OCed a little. I doubt a new AMD CPU would see a huge improvement.

2. 8600GT won't be a massive improvement over 7900GT, even when OCed. A new 4xxx from ATI will be much better for the money.


@OP - IMO you should get a Radeon 4850, and use the leftover money for extra RAM. What kinda games do you play? Some games (several strategy&wargames, for example) rely more on CPU than GPU, in which case Fritzjavel's suggestion sounds good (Though there should be better stuff for the money out there), but for FPS and such a decent GFX card would be a priority.
 
lethalforce said:
You can see my specs in my sig.

I have about 200$ total, (i can scrap up a bit more if need be).
Click to expand...

Get another gb of memory, think your board has support for DDR 400, dont know what you have now but match it up.

Get something like a Nvidia 8800GT or AMD/ATI 3870

Can probably get both for around 200 bucks.
 
Fritzjavel said:
Ram is cheap, follow my upgrade instead, because you should already have a Fan since your using an X2 series CPU, that's your best overall upgrade, but yea...
Click to expand...

That's why you should get ram in addition to another upgrade, I recommend a graphics because the processor isn't to bad and the gpu like hackapalete says would be more beneficial for gaming.
 
here is a link to the specs of the motherboard(socket 939, 2 slots of drr400, pcie x16)
http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?detailid=506&CategoryID=1&DetailName=Specification&MenuID=1&LanID=0

ram - gskill 2x1gb - 69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231047
GPU - MSI 8800gt - 134.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127329R
total 213.23 with shipping

or you could buy this video card - asus 4850 -194.99 with 30 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121253
and use the money from the mail in rebate and sellling old video card on ebay to buy the ram above
 
simpletron said:
or you could buy this video card - asus 4850 -194.99 with 30 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121253
and use the money from the mail in rebate and sellling old video card on ebay to buy the ram above
Click to expand...

+1

The card is a kickass, and even if you don't manage to sell your current GFX cards $30 should buy you another 1gig stick of ram, so you'd be able to run it in dual-channel (I assume you currently have 1gig and 256mb sticks? And you only have 2 slots?).
 
hackapelite said:
Of course everyone thinks their suggestion is the best... but...

1.Most games are GPU-bound, not CPU. A 2GHz dual-core will do fine for now, maybe it can be OCed a little. I doubt a new AMD CPU would see a huge improvement.

2. 8600GT won't be a massive improvement over 7900GT, even when OCed. A new 4xxx from ATI will be much better for the money.


@OP - IMO you should get a Radeon 4850, and use the leftover money for extra RAM. What kinda games do you play? Some games (several strategy&wargames, for example) rely more on CPU than GPU, in which case Fritzjavel's suggestion sounds good (Though there should be better stuff for the money out there), but for FPS and such a decent GFX card would be a priority.
Click to expand...

LOL... you make me sound EEEVVVIIILLL... LOL.. hey lethalforce put it this way, you now have two options to choose from..:D they are both good options, and it all depends on what your planning to do with your computer... Also a flaw in my option is that you must know how to O/C the 8600 GT to have your money well spent...
 
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