Small upgrade

[Packin]

I have a 5 year old computer -

P4 1.8GHz (will no longer o/c as it once did with only raising the FSB, and I don't want to raise voltages for fear it will die)

Gigabyte GA-8IRXP
TI4400
768MB RAM

The motherboard allows for socket 478 CPUs (Intel Northwood it says) and it says something about a 400MHz FSB, but I'm not sure if that's the max. It also supports an AGP 4x (1.5V only) video card. I'd be mostly interested in upgrading the CPU and video card for as cheap as possible for good playability in Source games. I don't want to upgrade the entire computer because frankly I doubt I'll many other games other than these. If there's another upgrade path that may be cheaper and give good performance (aka AMD) I'd be willing to do that too. Thanks.

Edit: Just for reference, my current rig gives ~25fps in CS:S which is playable, but not very fun.

 

[MarcVenice]

wow, why not just upgrade man, it's a 5 year old PC ? To get some 'decent' performance you need at least a REAL agp slot, and AGP cards are allready more expensive then pci-e cards, let alone dinosaur AGP cards.

You could go cheap, with a x2 3800+, a biostar tforce mobo, and a 150$ videocard. Throw in 2gb of ddr2 667mhz ram for 50$ or so, and the total set back will be 350$ or so. BUT, you probably need a new PSU as well, a 430w antec earthwatts should come for 50$. You can always reuse your old case and your old HD. But upgrading the rig you've got, I wouldn't even dream about it. It's almost antique, parts will be hard to come buy, you'll prolly have to buy used parts.

 

[Packin]

I don't want to upgrade right now because if I upgrade I'm going to want to do it right and spend around $1500, but I can't justify spending that much when I really don't game that much anymore. So what do you mean about a real AGP slot? I really just need a little boost so I can play HL2 and it's ilk.

 

[MarcVenice]

A real AGP slot is an AGP slot x8. I suppose I kinda put it wrong. And there's nothing wrong with a cheap amd mobo, x2 3800+ and a xt1950pro or a 7900gs for 100-150$. That 'cheap' mobo and x2 3800+ @ 2.5ghz and a 8800gts 320mb in my PC are really kicking ass, I've been playing pretty much every game @ 1680*1050 at the highest settings. If I take it down a notch, to 1280*1024, any game plays at the highest settings. And with what I recommended, you'll be able to play HL2 and it's ilk. I think the money would be worth the framerates and eye candy you get in HL2 and HL2: Episode 2 and other Source games.

Btw, if you buy an AM2 mobo, you can always upgrade for 'real' when phenom comes out, and throw in a qaudcore. It's ddr2 as well, so you're not really shooting yourself in the foot. It will allow you to play those games in a respectable manner though