Best upgrade for old computer

[holodude]

Here's what I got:

Asus K8N4-E Deluxe motherboard
AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3000+
2 x 512mb Corsair Value Select RAM (VS512MB400)
GeForce 6600 (256 MB) PCI-E video card
SAMSUNG SP2014N (200 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
ST316002 3A SCSI Disk Device (160 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
ST380021 A SCSI Disk Device (80 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
(less than 9% free on each drive)


I'm looking to upgrade, and want to know what to spend my money on. I could get:

Asus 8600GT Magic 512M $89
OR
Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 3.5IN Hard Drive $85
OR
AMD Turion 64 MT34(WOF) Lancaster 1.8GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket 754 Single-Core Processor - $159.99
OR
Corsair Value Select PC3200 512MB DDR400 CL3 184PIN DIMM Memory $65
OR
MSI K9MM-V Motherboard - Via, Socket AM2, MicroATX, Audio, Video, AGP 8x, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA, RAID and AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 2.0GHz Socket AM2 OEM Processor - $109.99 + Crucial Ballistix Dual Channel 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz EPP Memory (2x 1024MB) - $50 = $159.99

I like to play the odd game like UT3, but am not hard core by any stretch of the imagination. I just got a 32" lcd TV so I'll probably play more games now. I'm open to other suggestions, but what I've listed above is sourced locally. So which upgrade would you recommend?

 

[Roguestar]

Save your money for another month until you have around $300 and you can get yourself a nice Core 2/9600GT/DDR2/P35 motherboard combination and you'll notice a world of difference between that and any of the upgrades you're considering now.

In fact, seeing as this is my 5000th post, I will come up with a little list for you:

e2180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116052 $70
9600gt http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814500038 $120AR
2GB Mushkin DDR2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146773 $38
Gigabyte P35 DS3L http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128059 $90

___
$318


~~~5000~~~

 

[magreen]

Congrats rogue. Good advice on the upgrade... Don't throw money at a dying horse. Just put it out to pasture.

 

[holodude]

Thanks for the advice. I agree I need to totally start from scratch rather than simply make an 'upgrade'. I just want to get the biggest bang for the buck and see improvement in my gaming.

Fixing the IDE drive with SATA would remove the hitching issue I got right now and probably generally speed up things a bit overall. Fixing the video card would certainly help a whole ton. Fixing the cpu/mb/ram would be great too. Just I don't want to spend the money for a whole new PC all at once, but about $200 I could see myself spending. Would upgrading my cpu/mb/ram really make more of a difference in gaming than upgrading my video card to a 9600GT? Below is another option I got.

XFX MG-610i-7059 Motherboard CPU Bundle - Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 Processor 2.20GHz OEM $158.99
Crucial Ballistix Dual Channel 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz EPP Memory (2x 1024MB) $50

 

[Roguestar]

Don't go for that RAM set, the 2GB I linked is not only cheaper but is one 2GB DIMM and not 2x1GB DIMMs, so when you want to upgrade to 4GB you'll still have two free slots left. The CPU bundle isn't too bad, but I'd definitely consider the motherboard/CPU combo I linked; not only are they great performers but together you'll be able to overclock that little CPU to around 3GHz, maybe 2.6 or so on the retail cooler.

 

[holodude]

Actually that RAM set was $20 after MIR, but has since out of stock. I reside in Canada, so buying stuff on newegg isn't as easy as sourcing locally. (I'd rather pay $10 in gas than in shipping ) Plus I'm not looking to overclock this thing. I mean, the rig I got now isn't OC'd though I'm sure I could. I'm technological savvy (I work in IT for a living!), so I'm definitely capable of doing it. I've even OC'd my video card on occasion, but it is easier to just leave it as is and live with the decreased performance than have stability and/or heat issues.

I can source that MB for $100.46 locally, the CPU for $79.99 from a different store in the area and I can get Buffalo Select 2GB 1X2GB PC2-5300 DDR2-667 CL5 240PIN DIMM Memory for $40. That's a total of $220.

I guess the question I have is would upgrading the MB/CPU/Ram give me more FPS in games than upgrading to a 9600GT. I'm not really prepared to spend the money for both at the moment.

 

[magreen]

Hard to say just how bad of a bottleneck a Sempron 3000+ would be to a 9600gt. Very bad, that's for sure. But would you see some significant gains over your gf6600? Maybe. Hard to say.

We're flying blind here (sorry... just watched Lorenzo's Oil... great movie!)

 

[0roo0roo]

omg..just wait till you can buy a core 2 AND a video card. else you are throwing your money away. both your video card and cpu are bottle necks. replacing one without replacing the other is just wasting your money and time. do NOT buy another agp board.
just suck it up and wait a little longer. and yes overclocking an old video card is rather pointless. its just horribly obsolete either way.

anyways, you can always play blockles
http://www.iminlikewithyou.com/

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: holodude
Just I don't want to spend the money for a whole new PC all at once

If you want to do this upgrade piecemeal so that you can enjoy it as you go, then I'd suggest keeping an eye towards carrying parts to a future system and selling old parts as they are replaced to help fund the next part.

For instance, get a single 750GB SATA drive (Samsung, available around $115-125US). This would give you a little speed boost (or rather, less waiting/lag from old hard drives), will resolve the problem with lack of disk space and will easily carry over to any new system. I believe this to be a "no brainer" upgrade, since you are already low on disk space and there are really no downsides. Once you get it installed and copy all your data over, sell off your old hard drives (ALL of them) and put that money towards getting...

A video card upgrade would be nice. No matter that you have your Sempron, or the fastest Core 2 Quad, but your Geforce 6600 is pretty slow by today's standards being that it was the midrange choice several generations ago. If your power supply is up to snuff, get a new 9600GT, 8800GT or even 8800GS. Any of these would be a nice upgrade from your 6600 and would carry over nicely to a new system/motherboard.

If your PSU is not up to snuff, then invest in a nice quality midrange unit, such as a Corsair 450W/550W/650W. The 450W is regularly available for around $55US after rebate and is sufficient for most single video card configurations.

Beyond this lurks the big upgrade of motherboard/CPU/RAM. I see these three as going together. Sure, you can upgrade CPU or RAM on your existing motherboard, but those can't carry over to a new motherboard so they are not as worthwhile IMO. Since you sound the type to keep your system a long time, I'd actually suggest going with a bit better CPU, such as the E7200 ($135US). Couple that with a cheap-but-decent motherboard (maybe P35 chipset, around $90US) and some cheap 2GB DDR2-800 (around $40US).

 

[themisfit610]

Your system is all last-generation technology

DDR1 vs DDR2
AGP vs PCIe
Socket 754 vs AM2 / 755

You can't upgrade one component (except adding storage) without wasting the money for that upgrade.

You're tight on storage (under 20% free space = slow drives), so get a new hard drive, and re-distribute your data as necessary to bring those free space percentages up to a healthy number. You will see a significant boost in system responsiveness by doing this.

Wait until you can afford the E2180 / DS3L / 9600GT / 2GB combo that was previously recommended. It will literally be 3-4 orders of magnitude faster than your current setup, and is in all honesty STUPID cheap

~MiSfit

 

[magreen]

How come people keep overlooking that the OP's current sytem is PCI-e, not AGP?

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: magreen
How come people keep overlooking that the OP's current sytem is PCI-e, not AGP?

I did not.

 

[themisfit610]

Hah, my bad... I guess I read what someone else had posted.

Okay - so if you've got PCIe, then you can definitely buy a new video card. And you will see siginificant improvement over a 6600. Newer titles will still be slow as hell, but it's worth it, and will be even more so when you can afford to do the rest of the system.

9600gt is a real killer deal ATM.

~MiSfit