suggestions on upgrading computer

[iskim86]

Hi I'm planning on buying a new video card for my little brother who is graduating middle school this summer. He currently owns a Radeon 7200 32MB video card and desperately needs an upgrades.

His computer is as follows:

P4 2.4ghz
256MB RAM
Radeon 7200 4X AGP 32MB
motherboard with 4X AGP

maybe upgrading both the RAM and the video card would be good?

what do you think? what video card would suit his needs? he plays lots of games like CS, half life, stuff. I would be best if it's under $300, but any suggestions are welcome

thanks

 

[imported_Kensai]

Wow.. Push up the memory to 1GB and stick a 9800 Pro or something of the likes with 8 pixel pipelines in.

 

[Boztech]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Wow.. Push up the memory to 1GB and stick a 9800 Pro or something of the likes with 8 pixel pipelines in.

QFT.

You can get 1Gb of Corsair Value Select PC3200 for $78 and a Saphire 9800 Pro (256-bit) for $129 from http://www.zipzoomfly.com.

 

[imported_rod]

Originally posted by: Boztech
You can get 1Gb of Corsair Value Select PC3200 for $78 and a Saphire 9800 Pro (256-bit) for $129 from http://www.zipzoomfly.com.

1GB of corsair VS and a 9800 would go great in that system. Anything more than a 9800 would be bottlenecked by the CPU. Also, if his MoBo is dual channel, remove his old RAM.

If you still want to spend $300, you could buy him a copy of Half-Life 2 to go with the new hardware. 🙂

RoD

 

[iskim86]

would an x800 pro fit nicely?

 

[iskim86]

Originally posted by: rod

Originally posted by: Boztech
You can get 1Gb of Corsair Value Select PC3200 for $78 and a Saphire 9800 Pro (256-bit) for $129 from http://www.zipzoomfly.com.

1GB of corsair VS and a 9800 would go great in that system. Anything more than a 9800 would be bottlenecked by the CPU. Also, if his MoBo is dual channel, remove his old RAM.

If you still want to spend $300, you could buy him a copy of Half-Life 2 to go with the new hardware. 🙂

RoD

what's dual channel? the computer is about 3 years old I think

 

[biostud]

you could also go for a 6600GT for AGP instead of the r9800, if the price is close.

 

[imported_rod]

Originally posted by: iskim86
what's dual channel? the computer is about 3 years old I think

Dual Channel is where two sticks of ram are used together to increase the effective speed of the ram. If the Motherboard is three years old, I doubt it will have dual-channel ram.

Also, the X800 would work, but it would probably only perform as well as a 9800Pro/6600GT, since the CPU will actually be limiting the graphics card. Although the X800 would be a good choice if there is a CPU upgrade likely in the future. Still, I'd stick with the 9800Pro or the 6600GT.

RoD