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should I build a new computer or just upgrade?

T

tjmudder

Member
I was wondering if I should build a new computer or just stay with what I have and get a new video card.
This is what I have:
Athlon 3000xp
1.5 Gig ddr400 ram
Radeon 9800 pro 128mb
400 watt psu
200gb hd

thats about all that may matter

I wanna be able to play the newest games such as Unreal Tournament 2007 when it comes out but don't know if I buy a better graphics card if it will help all that much. I will go off to college next August with a gaming laptop but want something that will perform reasonable until then. I don't need the highest resolutions or the very hightest graphics but I do want it to look pretty. If I should get a new computer I have about $900 I'm willing to spend. What should I do? Please give me hardware advice.
 
Welcome to AnandTech! 🙂

Sell that system and build a new one. There are a plethora of threads so please take some time reading and you'll be able to make an educated decision.
 
blackrod doesn't think it will be worth selling and building a new computer, if tjmudder is going to go to a laptop next year. blackrod thinks if tjmudder is to upgrade, tjmudder should go for an 8800gts and possibly a newer cpu. blackrod also thinks a new psu might be necessary at that point.
 
Roguestar thinks blackrod's third-person-posting gimmick is getting real old, real fast.

tjmudder: We're not allowed to answer "how much is my PC worth?" questions incase it leads to auction-style bidding on it, which is forbidden on the forums. I'd say look and see what's going on ebay for comparison.

In my opinion, you should sell all but the hard drive, and get a new system. Depending on your budget, you can go for a S939 X2 and keep your RAM, a socket AM2 X2 and go for DDR2, or a Core 2 Duo and go for a complete overhaul and leap up the performance scale 🙂. You can get a great core 2 duo setup (minus monitor, operating system etc) for around $1000, and an AMD X2 system will set you back a bit less, even more less if you go S939 and keep your RAM.
 
I'm really thankful for all the help I am getting. If I decided to go a S939 and get lets say a an OEM FX-55 San Diego and get lets say 2 7900gt (1 now and then one later) then how big of a power supply should I get? Also about the harddrive, should I stay with the old PATA or move to the newer SATA for a performance boost?
 
To be honest I think you'd be better off getting an Opteron 165 instead of an FX-55. See the thread of the same name in the CPU forum: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1976089&enterthread=y

I think it's wiser to spend a little more on getting a single, slightly more powerful card now instead of getting one and waiting for another later because the performance of dual-card doesn't scale as well with moving graphics technology when you buy mid-end stuff. I think you could think about getting an X1950Pro now (should be more than adequate for gaming up to 1280*1024) and save the money to putting aside later (along with the money you'd spend on a second card) for whatever is out at the time, even if only an 8800 🙂.

You should buy new harddrives as SATA, there's no reason not to as they're practically the same price, and with manufacturers trying to phase out PATA you may as well stop yourself having to upgrade again if you buy a new motherboard in the future. Getting a S939 board with SATA and IDE makes sense as you can use IDE for your DVD drive or old hard drives, but anything you buy new you should try and futureproof by going SATA.

Edit: If you're going to leave it collecting dust in a year when you've got a new gaming laptop you may as well just stick with the x1950 pro for graphics.
 
Yeah, getting one graphics card sounds good. I'll look into ATI because I hear those cards do better by themselves than with two together. I think I may stick with my old IDE harddrive to save money. I need help with whether to get the FX-55 which is OEM at $129 and the Opteron 165 at $155. So yeah one is single-core and the other dual-core but what about the advantages over the other. I plan on gaming mostly, but will will run x-fire and teamspeak in the background while playing. I don't plan on doing much anything else exept surfing the internet and listening to music with the occasional system scan. I hear the opteron 165 is great at overclocking so should I consider overclocking it?
 
Originally posted by: tjmudder
I was wondering if I should build a new computer or just stay with what I have and get a new video card.
This is what I have:
Athlon 3000xp
1.5 Gig ddr400 ram
Radeon 9800 pro 128mb
400 watt psu
200gb hd

thats about all that may matter

I wanna be able to play the newest games such as Unreal Tournament 2007 when it comes out but don't know if I buy a better graphics card if it will help all that much. I will go off to college next August with a gaming laptop but want something that will perform reasonable until then. I don't need the highest resolutions or the very hightest graphics but I do want it to look pretty. If I should get a new computer I have about $900 I'm willing to spend. What should I do? Please give me hardware advice.
Click to expand...

You could just pop in a X1950 pro, which would give you a very hefty video boost for not a lot of cash.
 
Originally posted by: Roguestar

Edit: If you're going to leave it collecting dust in a year when you've got a new gaming laptop you may as well just stick with the x1950 pro for graphics.
Click to expand...

heh..you pretty much agreed w/ blackrod not that that's bad 🙂
Originally posted by: blackrod
blackrod doesn't think it will be worth selling and building a new computer, if tjmudder is going to go to a laptop next year. blackrod thinks if tjmudder is to upgrade, tjmudder should go for an 8800gts and possibly a newer cpu. blackrod also thinks a new psu might be necessary at that point.
Click to expand...

 
yeah I really don't think I'm just going to add a graphics card anymore. Athlon 3000XPs are too slow now. But can someone give me an idea on why I should get the Opteron 165 over the Athlon FX-55 when the FX is cheaper and better for gaming?
 
So I've probably decided on getting an Opteron 165 after doing some research and such. So if I want to hit clock speeds the same as the FX-55 then how should I go around overclocking it with air fans, not watercooling. Also, what are some good mobos for it?
 
well there are some good fans for over clocking, I have a big typhoon and it keeps my cpu even under full load rather cool, there is also the tuniq tower, a lot of people do not even have watercooling and still over clock like crazy
 
Ok so this is what i have come up with for my new system

Opteron 165 (gonna try and overclock it majorly)
1 gig of Balistix Crucial ddr500 ram that i already have
DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert motherboard
EVGA 7900gs 256mb pci-express
haven't decided on whether to keep my old IDE harddrive or get a new SATA harddrive

i'm wondering what people think of the configuration, especially on the motherboard and the overclockablility of this configuration. also i need a good estimate of how big of a PSU i need.
 
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