I want to upgrade sometime soon

[StevenNevets]

Like the title says I'm looking to upgrade, probably not until summer though.


Current Specs:
CPU: Dual AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 3800 2000MHz
Motherboard: DFI INFINITY NF ULTRAII-M2
Memory: 2 x 1024 MB of Patriot DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)
Video Card: MSI RX1900XT PCI-E 512MB Radeon
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (32-Bit)
OCZ GameXStream 600W Power Supply



Here's some questions I have. Any other suggestions or things you'd like to point out go for it.



-What happens if I pop in another 2x1gb of ram? I know that my motherboard supports it but what about my OS? I've googled it and gotten results saying 2.5gb, 3gb, and 4gb.

-Is there supposed to be any AM2 cpu's coming out better than the X2 6400+?
I see this new quad-core stuff is for AM2+, does that work on regular AM2 mobo's as well?

-My motherboard supports both soft and hard-modding for SLI. Would s dual-gpu or 2x cards be better if I went that route?

-Do you think my power supply is even fit for upgrading? If I got say an X2 6400+ would I be alright getting some type of 9800?

 

[MarcVenice]

You're cpu is a bit slow, you should try overclocking it, I bet you can do 2.6ghz EASILY, 3ghz if you try harder. If you throw in another 2gb of ram you'll see 3.25gb or so.

No you should not consider dual gpu'sm stick with a single 8800gts 512mb for 200$ instead. It will be so much faster then your current videocard.

Your powersupply is just fine, even if you got a x2 6400+ and a 9800gtx or 8800gts. Not two videocards though.

 

[StevenNevets]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
You're cpu is a bit slow, you should try overclocking it, I bet you can do 2.6ghz EASILY, 3ghz if you try harder. If you throw in another 2gb of ram you'll see 3.25gb or so.

No you should not consider dual gpu'sm stick with a single 8800gts 512mb for 200$ instead. It will be so much faster then your current videocard.

Your powersupply is just fine, even if you got a x2 6400+ and a 9800gtx or 8800gts. Not two videocards though.

You're right about the cpu not at it's full potentiol. I've never overlocked though and don't want to right now. People have gotten the x2 6400 to 4.2+ anyway.

Hmm, ram is so cheap now. When I bought this kit it was $180 which was a good deal at the time. Ram does up and down in price a lot but I can't really picture it going any lower than it is now for awhile. Maybe I buy the ram now and just keep it at 3.25gb till I decide to update my os. Any problems with that plan?

Alright, I'll get the best single video card in the $200-$300 range. That won't be till summer. Hopefully that'll end up being reasonanly better than what I could get now. I could test the power consumption of my rig then too and mod for sli later if it would handle it.

 

[MarcVenice]

Getting more ram now is an option yes. You can carry ddr2 667mhz over to a new build without a performance loss, so it's not really throwing money away. You should look into overclocking though, it's easy and almost 100% save if done right. And I don't think anyone has a 6400+ X2 stable at 4.2ghz hehe. Your x2 3800+ will most likely top out at 3.0ghz ...