Upgrade my comp or new one? (gaming)

S

stratosphere

New Member
Ok here goes,

I need to move into the new generation of games that have been owning my computer lately. I'm not necessarily looking to play the new gen games on max settings, but at least good settings. I want to play older games such as CS, Half Life 2, Doom 3 on max settings. I was wondering if I need to upgrade a few parts in my rig, or just start over with a whole new comp.

I have an Athlon 64 2800+, Radeon 9800 Pro gfx card, 1.5 GB RAM. My PSU is only 300 I think. My hard drive is only 70G. I have all the peripherals and optical drives. I was thinking that I have enough ram, but I don't know if it will go on the new mobos...

I know I will definitely need a new gfx card. The question though is if I can get by with my processor. If I upgrade my processor, I'll have to get a new mobo I don't know if my RAM will be compatible. Or should I just start all over and build a new comp from scratch with new everything except peripherals (I'll use a KBM switch or whatever they're called)? If I should start over, do you guys have any recommendations??

Thank you all in advance...
 
Will your existing motherboard support the x64 amd dual core chips?

If so then for under $300 you could seriously upgrade your system to a AMD 64 x2 4200 CPU and a 7600 video card. That will run all the games listed at the highest specs.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Toledo 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103053



EVGA 512-P2-N548-TX GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130021



But because I listed a OEM version of the CPU then you would need a fan to go with it. The one on your existing chip might not work with it, so you would need to buy an after market fan for around $69 or less.

If your board has a AGP slot instead of PCI-e, then this is my suggestion.

BFG Tech BFGR76512GSOC GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143069
 
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You should probably get a new comp altogether. Any upgrades made to that won't last long. That motherboard leaves you stuck with the least-proffered processors (AMD) and the least-preferred GPUs (ATI). You might be able to re-use the ram in a new comp, but the hard drive is very small, so you might wanna replace that too.
 
paratwa said:
Will your existing motherboard support the x64 amd dual core chips?

If so then for under $300 you could seriously upgrade your system to a AMD 64 x2 4200 CPU and a 7600 video card. That will run all the games listed at the highest specs.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Toledo 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103053



EVGA 512-P2-N548-TX GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130021



But because I listed a OEM version of the CPU then you would need a fan to go with it. The one on your existing chip might not work with it, so you would need to buy an after market fan for around $69 or less.

If your board has a AGP slot instead of PCI-e, then this is my suggestion.

BFG Tech BFGR76512GSOC GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143069
Click to expand...

And the PC wouldn't even power up without an better PSU. 300W won't cut it. :cool:
 
paratwa said:
Will your existing motherboard support the x64 amd dual core chips?

If so then for under $300 you could seriously upgrade your system to a AMD 64 x2 4200 CPU and a 7600 video card. That will run all the games listed at the highest specs.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Toledo 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103053



EVGA 512-P2-N548-TX GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130021



But because I listed a OEM version of the CPU then you would need a fan to go with it. The one on your existing chip might not work with it, so you would need to buy an after market fan for around $69 or less.

If your board has a AGP slot instead of PCI-e, then this is my suggestion.

BFG Tech BFGR76512GSOC GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143069
Click to expand...

No, my chipset maxes out at the AMD 64 3700+ or something like that. Nothing faster.

Yeah, I'll probably have to build a new comp; that's what I expected. I was just hoping otherwise.

Thanks paratwa, I'll look into those items. So any other recommendations for CPU, gfx card combos or entire setups? I prefer AMD and ATI. Nothing extremely top of the line/expensive, I want that market sweet spot, maximum power to value ratio. Max budget for the whole comp, (minus the peripherals) is probably around 800$.
 
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If you want best bang for your buck right now, you are gonna wanna forget about AMD and ATI and instead go with Intel and nVidia
 
best bang for your buck is intel? i have to disagree. the intel does not have a processor that beats the AMD 4600 for LESS then 100 dollars. the AMD 6000 is only 170 dollars, and the only intel procs that beat it are the 6600 and up. best bang for buck=AMD best bang no matter the price=intel
 
Do you know what motherboard you have now? There might be a bio's upgrade to your motherboard that will allow you to go past the 3700.

I know I had to flash my bio's to use the newer chips.
 
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