Need some help upgrading my old PC

jyjjy777

Member
Nov 7, 2007
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I recently lost my pc in a fire and have had to go back to my last system which was in storage but it's video card (6800 pci) seems to be dead. It's working fine on the IGP for anything I might want to do with it other than gaming. I probably won't have the money to build a new system for 6+ months so I need some advice on making this thing an ok gaming rig in the meantime.
It's a socket 754 system with a Sempron 3000+ and 1 gig of ram. I'm thinking I should definitely add another gig of ram. After that I should have about $100 to spare on upgrading the rest(video card + cpu.)
Should I just keep the cpu and get a decent video card(3850/9600gt/8800gt) that will be acceptable when I do build a new system?
Or should I upgrade the cpu which would probably mean ebaying an Athlon 32/3400+ and a 7900gt or something similar?
I'm leaning towards the first option but it's complicated by the case/psu. It's microATX minitower with a 400w PSU. This one specifically;
Athenatech A3603BB.400 Black Steel MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case 400W Power Supply
In the pics you can see both the dimensions and PSU specifications.
Which, if any of the newer cards will both fit in that thing and be workable with the PSU? Any advice would be great.
 

jyjjy777

Member
Nov 7, 2007
28
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That's basically what I was thinking. My dead 6800 is 8.5 inches long and it looks like the case can handle another inch or so. Like I said earlier the cards I'm considering are the hd3850, 9600gt and 8800gt and from googling those all seem to be 9 inches long so length shouldn't be an issue.
I'm still not certain about the power supply though. Here's a pic of the specs courtesy newegg;

http://c1.neweggimages.com/New...mage/11-190-072-10.jpg

The rest of the system is minimal really. Sempron 3000+, 2 gigs pc3200, 1 HD, 1 dvd burner and a wifi card. This system was running 24/7 for almost 2 years when it was my main system however. Should this thing be able to handle an HD3850? What about a 9600gt or 8800gt?