Best boost of performance

[oznerol]

I used to play PC games a lot in high school and such, so I used to spend all of my cash on computer parts. Then I guess I grew out of it (or ran out of money), so it's been some time since I've seriously upgraded. I used to build PCs but my current one is a Dell.

Recently I got back into games, nothing serious. Some HL2, Civ 3, CS:S.

Anyway, here's my current system (Dell 4500):

P4 2Ghz
768Mb PC2100 Ram
3 HDD - 80, 120, 160
DVD Burner - Nec 2500a
Radeon 9600xt
Dell Stock 250W PSU

Now, I'm looking to buy a 2005fpw in the near future and I'd like to run games at the native resolution. I'm not too picky about AA and AF and high quality settings and whatnot, I'm just looking for a decent framerate.

So my problem is, I could upgrade the video card, but my PSU is fairly weak (although Dell has top-notch PSUs). Plus I'm being told my CPU would bottle-neck the system anyway (although in my mind 2Ghz is still blazingly fast. I played CS Beta 3 on an old 400Mhz system.)

Anyway, I'm looking for the cheapest quick fix for this. Should I spend any money at all or just deal and lower the resolutions? Or look into a new PC altogether? Thanks.

 

[Tiamat]

my 9800pro overclocked to 420mhz did very well for me in HL2 @ 1600x1200 no AA, AF.

These go for about 130$ now.

6600GT or 6800 might be a better buy at only 30-50$ extra for more performance.

 

[oznerol]

I was looking at both the 6600GT and 6800's actually, but I'm weary about my PSU.

Think it can handle the higher loads?

Edit: And will my 2Ghz CPU bottleneck the new video card?

 

[dnuggett]

While your CPU will give you some bottleneck, you will see a large improvement by just merely upgrading your vid card. If you do decide to upgrade it I'd go with the 6800 series, and spend as much as you can justify. If your PSU can't handle it, lose a drive.


If you do have the coin for a new comp, I'd go that route though. Your proc is aging and programs won't be any easier on it in the future.

 

[Tiamat]

hard to tell. I have no clue what the OEM for the dell 250W psu is. Sometimes the psu by dell or other companies can take a bit more than you think, other times, not so :/

If you combine your storage into 1 larger harddrive, you might be fine. You probably want to harvest the opinions of other users though.