Question: Would an Upgrade do much for me?

[Kalgren]

I have been reading these forums off and on for awhile, thought most my time is spent in the Hot Deals section. I used to work in a computer store and kept very abreast of hardware, but since my new job I can honestly say I don't know very much anymore (doesn't take long to be left in the dirt). I have done research, but nothing has really given me good answers to my question. So I beseach those who keep in the know to help me make a decision.

Should I upgrade? Or should I give it some time?

Current Rig:
Abit IC7 Max 3
1 gig Patriot DDR 500 ram
2 x 250 gig Western Digital IDE HD
9800 pro AIW 128mb
Pentium 4 3ghz Hyperthread CPU (first gen)

This will be mostly for gaming, any other applications I would run should be fine on a pentium III.
I have been thinking of getting a Sata Drive and the Raptor has been what I been wanting for a long time. Also my Video Card seems to be having problems (I think it overheats as a AIW) and with my CompUSA tap warranty I can return it to get another card (about $300.00 to spend on a new card).
I am not interested in Over clocking, as my experience with OC has been minimal improvements over lots of system instability.

Thank you ahead of time for any helpful responses (I did try picking the brain of the sells clerk at PCclub but got a lot of crap info).

Will

 

[fierydemise]

AGP 6800GT would be a noticable speed upgrade, just under $300 on newegg

 

[imported_Tick]

Originally posted by: fierydemise
AGP 6800GT would be a noticable speed upgrade, just under $300 on newegg

Yup.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: fierydemise
AGP 6800GT would be a noticable speed upgrade, just under $300 on newegg

That will give you a fair performance boost in GPU based games.
If you've got the extra money for a Raptor, go for it. You won't get too much of a performance boost though. You might have a load time just a few seocnds faster but nothing extreme.

 

[Kalgren]

Thank you for the info.
What I was really wondering was if I should look into moving into an AMD 64 or wait till my hardware gets a bit older. If i buy a new Video Card, moving to a PCI Express is very tempting.

 

[fierydemise]

moving to PCI Express would be more then a $300 upgrade, you'd need a new MB, new CPU and new video card, my suggestion is buy 6800GT (or not upgrade at all) now then save up for a major upgrade in the future.