upgrading question, looking for opinions!

[colinseven8]

hey guys!

just wondering what your opinion is on the following upgrade:

i currently own a :

-Compaq AMD athlon 64 3500+
-2.20 GHz
-3 Gigs of DDR ram
-radeon x800 256 meg card

i bought this just before the dual-cores were coming out, and i'm looking to upgrade. i went to the local computer shop and got a quote on the following:

-AMD athlon 64 x2 4200+ 64 bit Dual Core (for the AMD socket 939)
(2 x 2.2GHz, 512 cache x2, dual channel, DDR) = $109.00 (CDN)

-arctic cooling alpine 64 heatsink = $18.00 (CDN)

in your opinion, am i going to get a decent increase in speed for what i'm getting? i used to understand what i was getting back when pentium II 400's were big, but i haven't had a ton of time to keep up with the trends!!!

also, if you think this is only a minimal upgrade, would you just recommend me getting a new motherboard w/ dual core support (AM2) and get DDR2 ram?

my purposes for this upgrade are faster processing for Photoshop, and playing the newer generation of games. i played the call of duty 4 demo and had really good results, just need that little extra oomph to push me over the edge!!!

any opinions you guys would have would be much appreciated!

colin

 

[paratwa]

Going from single core to dual core will increase your fps some, but it will be that video card that will slow you down on the newer games the most.

If (like me) you are still using AGP slotted video card, then I would suggest replacing the motherboard and cpu. Go with a Dual core ATI chip and motherboard, and replace the video card.

Increasing the ram to 2 gigs is highly suggested for todays games and programs.

I don't know what you are willing to spend, but spending anywhere from $600US to $400US will give you a system that will do very well on any of the newer games.

Thats reusing all of your hard drives, cd/dvd, case and such will save you some money. Unless your old system was from one of the big builders, then you might have to replace the case as well. You might have to replace your power supply as well, depending on what you currently have.

If that is to much, then replacing the CPU and your video card would be the best bet.

But if you need to replace an AGP card, you are limited on how fast of a card you can upgrade to.


My suggestion? Rebuild to more modern specs.