Upgrading my computer

pbdr

pbdr

New Member
I have an older computer that I am in the process of upgrading. I am kind of making a project of it, I am doing to the work myself (hopefully nothing goes "boom") and taking my time (read slowing monetary outlay). The system is used for gaming (Total War series, Civilization, and mostly strategy games) primarily, with some photo editting as well.

I have already pruchased a new hard drive and case, which should be arriving soon.

The current specs, including the new case and drive are:
Raidmax Sagitta case (new)
Seagate 160 gig, 8 mb cache Hard drive (new)
PC Chips K7SEM MOBO
Athlon XP 2000+
1 (2 x 512) gig PC133 RAM (168 pin, maxed out I think)
NVidia GeForce FX 5200 128 mb Video Card
Older DVD ROM and CD R/W (both work fine)

My question is what should I upgrade next and what compatability issues might I run into?

I am thinking that I will add a better video card, somethng in the 256 mb league, next. This is where the issue of compatability comes up; will I run into problems due to the older MOBO and/or will performance increase be limited due to the older MOBO and limited emeory and CPU ability?

The reason I am holding off on replacing the MOBO is due to cost. Since I want to go with an Athlon 64, 939 pin, I will need to purchase MOBO, CPU, and RAM at the same time, which will be a significant cash outlay. However, if it makes no sense to upgrade other components, or if I will run into compatability issues, I can make the MOBO bundle my priority.

SO, basically, I'm looking for advice on what to do next and recommendations on what to purchase. For video card, maybe some thinginthe sub $150 range and for the MOBO bundle I'm hoping to get away for <$400.

Any advice is appreciated (as you can guess, I'm not that learned about this stuff).

Thanks.
 
So the current MOBO is AGP and hooking a new GPU (hey, at least I'm learning the lingo..) up would require an AGP version of the card. When I do upgrade the MOBO and CPU and such, will that then cause me problems? Are the new MOBOs mostly PCI with no AGP?

Basically, if I get a new MOBO, will a GPU bought for my current MOBO be obsolete?

If so I may get something cheapish to tide me over (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1776106&Sku=P450-8568), although I hate buying things twice.

Needing to replace the GPU when I get a MOBO would definately argue for either buying it all at once (ouch says my wallet). If I go that route, should I go with a socket 939 or is a socket 754 good enough?
 
pbdr said:
So the current MOBO is AGP and hooking a new GPU (hey, at least I'm learning the lingo..) up would require an AGP version of the card. When I do upgrade the MOBO and CPU and such, will that then cause me problems? Are the new MOBOs mostly PCI with no AGP?

Basically, if I get a new MOBO, will a GPU bought for my current MOBO be obsolete?

If so I may get something cheapish to tide me over (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1776106&Sku=P450-8568), although I hate buying things twice.

Needing to replace the GPU when I get a MOBO would definately argue for either buying it all at once (ouch says my wallet). If I go that route, should I go with a socket 939 or is a socket 754 good enough?
Click to expand...

The current video interface is PCI express x16, which is faster than AGP 8x. You should go for the socket 939 because of the newer technologies, 754 is not used much in new computer builds anymore.
 
So I got my new case and made the switch. Everything seemed to be running pretty well at forst, unfortunately when I tried to hook up the new hard drive, the old hard drive seems to have failed (crap!). Oh well, I guess I'm going to be doing some installs today...

I have the old HDD at best buy and hopefully they will be able to recover some data and it won't be a complete loss.

I think I will be purchasing the final steps of the upgrade (MOBO, CPU, and memory) sooner than later; I don't want any more older parts going bye-bye at bad times...
 
For video card, maybe some thinginthe sub $150 range and for the MOBO bundle I'm hoping to get away for <$400.
Click to expand...
Since you dont need all the parts I picked out here, the sub500 box might be doable :)

So the current MOBO is AGP and hooking a new GPU (hey, at least I'm learning the lingo..) up would require an AGP version of the card. When I do upgrade the MOBO and CPU and such, will that then cause me problems? Are the new MOBOs mostly PCI with no AGP?
Click to expand...
Any new motherboard you buy (that is worth buying) will be using DDR memory, meaning you'll have to buy new RAM. Now if you're already buying new mobo, ram, videocard and most likely a CPU, that's essentially a new computer
 
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