• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

upgrade decisions...

tomstevens26

Senior member
Hey everyone!

Well, I'm thinking about upgrading my PC. It's been a couple of years since the last time. I'm currently running a 1.2GHz Tbird, 512MB PC133 SDRAM and a GeForce ti4200 w/64MB. I basically use my PC for surfing the net, watching DVDs and playing 3D games like UT2003 and others first person shooters. I've had my eye on the Powercolor Radeon 9600 PRO EZ w/ 256MB RAM, but would that really help my gaming experience that much? I've been thinking about the follow upgrade:

XP 2500+ "Barton"
Asus A7N8X deluxe
2 sticks of Geil 512MB PC3200 ram

All of the above (including the video card) would set me back around $560 from Newegg. I can still use my existing case (enlight case w/ 300W enlight PSU), 80GB Maxtor SE hard drive, LiteOn DVD reader and CD writer, and floppy. I have a TB Santa Cruz sound card but I thought about just using the onboard Soundstorm (should I use that or the TBSC? I'm currently using Logitech Z640 speakers).

My thought right now is upgrade the video card as $150 (if I order from XtremeGear) and see how that works in Max Payne 2 and HL2 when it gets released. I can justify $150 a lot better than $560! 🙂 At that point if I still felt the need to upgrade I could would already have the video card.

Any guidance would really be appreciated!

Tom

 
I would go for the MB/CPU/RAM upgrade now 🙂 I have basically the same rig, (though mine's a 1700+@2400+ and only 512 ram) and a 4200 and it's still pretty good in games 🙂


And I would personally save a few $ and only get the 128mb 9600 (unless the difference is like less than $10-15) because by the time you really need the 256mb memory, you will probably want to upgrade anyway! 🙂


Confused
 
XtremeGear's not a trustworthy store. They're notorious for evil :Q

Anyway, the upgrade would be a decent speed bump, though the Buffalo ram is probably a better deal than the GeIL ram.
I found my TBSC to be better than my EPoX's onboard nforce audio, but the asus implementation may be a bit better.

That $150 vid card: if you hold off, you may be able to buy a 9600 Pro for $99 sometime soon (Maybe during BB's black friday sale).
 
Back
Top