Help me choose an upgrade path!

[jdwright]

Hiyas =)

I'm a gamer, and I think the time has come for me to upgrade my system. Take a look at my system specs if you would, and help me decide what parts I ought to replace. Iwould like to spend less than $500. My plan is to purchase anything I get from newegg.com (I've had pretty good luck with them so far), but I'm open to suggestion. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

Enlight Case w/235 PS
BH6 mobo
256 meg pc100
Cel2/566@850
Radeon 32DDR
13gig WD 5400/33
SB pci128

Thanks again for any help!

 

[AMDPwred]

Antec SX1030 (300 watt PS) -$100
AMD 1ghz AXIAR -$100
Epox EP-8K7A -$120
256MB DDR PC2100 -$53 from crucial
WD 30GB 7200RPM -$100

Total of $473

 

[Thyme]

Replace the p/s with a 300W
AC97 on-board sound might be better than the SB pci128, so get an Socket A motherboard with on-board sound.
Put in a 266Mhz FSB Athlon Tbird and overclock if you want.
Get 256MB of Crucial Cas2 PC133.

My suggestion

 

[NelsonMuntz]

<< Antec SX1030 (300 watt PS) -$100
AMD 1ghz AXIAR -$100
Epox EP-8K7A -$120
256MB DDR PC2100 -$53 from crucial
WD 30GB 7200RPM -$100

Total of $473 >>


I think this upgrade sounds pretty good, but he didn't put a fan in. Or is it a retail boxed processor? I might suggest the boxed 1.2 GHz Athlon w/266 FSB instead for $126. The hard drive is only $97 and the RAM is $47.18 with the webpromo here.

 

[Thyme]

OK, AMDPwred, you win. DDR makes better sense with the price parity.

 

[mithrandir2001]

You want to upgrade your Cel2@850 already? I don't think it's really necessary. A good rule of thumb is: if your CPU is still being made, you don't need to upgrade. If you had a P3 Katmai or something, go ahead and upgrade, but the Cel2 is still &quot;good enough&quot;...especially when lots of neat stuff is coming out early 2002.

Toss the 5400rpm HDD and get a 7200rpm ATA100 and controller card. Unless you really like your Radeon, also get a 64MB GF2 Pro.