Upgrade Help!

[Waylay00]

Hey guys, my system is going on 2.5 years old, and it's showing its age in some games I play. Here are the specs:

AMD 3700+ A64 S939
2GB (2x1GB) OCZ PC3200
eVGA 7800GT CO 256MB
74GB WD Raptor
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

through a 22" Samsung 225BW LCD

I don't have the funds to build a brand new system right now, but I'm thinking about upgrading a few of the components, mainly the video card, so I can keep up with the games I want to play (ArmA, ArmA, Empire: Total War when it comes out) for the ten months or so.

I'd also like to get a bit bigger HD too (and use the Raptor as a boot drive).

So I'm thinking of going for an 8800GT right now and a 500GB Western Digital SE16 HDD.

Would these upgrades be worth it? Would I be severely bottlenecked by my CPU? If so, would purchasing a second-hand higher speed S939 CPU (maybe an X2 4800+) off the forums (for under $100) be a wise choice?


Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[OLpal]

Waylay, i'd consider trying to find a buyer for the system you have now.. Seems there's always someone looking for a good 939 board system.
Then you'd have more funds to build a more updated rig & still not put a lot of money into it difference wise !!
This would solve worry about wasting money by bottlenecking you current rig !!
I have the 8800GT & that's a very good choice, especially with pricing on them nowadays.
Good Luck !!
Take a hars look @ gig DS3l P-35 mb, intel E7200, a nice 8800gt, 2 or 4 gig of decent ram DDR 2 800

Ol'Pal

 

[chinaman1472]

Depends on your budget. If your budget ends up at a secondhand X2 at just under $100, 8800GT at $140 AR, and 500GB HD at $90, it would cost just under $330.

E2160 - $60 at Microcenter B&M, $70 otherwise.
Gigabyte P35-DS3L - $85 at ZipZoomFly.
2GB DDR-800 - $30 or lower AR.
8800GT - $140 AR

$325 AR before shipping/tax. Suffer the shortage of HD space for now and you'll get a bigger boost than the X2 4800+ and 500GB HD. Sell off the old parts to offset the price of use that money to invest into the new HD.

 

[Waylay00]

OK, sounds good, thanks for the help.

Should I just wait till June 18th when the new videocards (GTX 200, etc) come out? Will they drive prices of the 8800/9800s down substantially?

Thanks,
Wade

 

[chinaman1472]

It will probably drive the prices down a tad.
If you can wait a month, then do it. The new stuff has potential and you may even want to pick up a new one if the price is right.

 

[Roguestar]

I don't think they'll knock major chunks off the current card prices, but it might help nonetheless.

When you do build it, look into the WD640GB instead of the 500GB you mentioned in the OP.

 

[Waylay00]

What advantages does it have over the 500GB?

I could get by with 250Gb in reality, just as long as it's more than 74GB! I can only have about two games installed at a time!

 

[Roguestar]

It's a much better performing drive thanks to having higher data density. Very fast drive.