upgrading video card

[eggrolls]

I'm currently using this:

s754 sempron 2800+
1 gb ddr400
evga 7300gs 256mb
antec new aria 300w psu, 6 months old

The psu is rated for 18A on the +12 rail. Meets evga's requirement for their 7600GT. Psu calculator thinks the system would require ~200-250w. Is it worth the $100 to upgrade? Will the cpu bottleneck the system? Should I be concerned about temperatures (currently cpu 45, vid card 70 under load)? Will there be a noticeable difference in games like HL2, Oblivion, etc?

Thanks

 

[bX510]

I think you should just save up the money. How do you game with semprons? When I had a Sempron 3000+ S754 with ATI 9800 ATI, the system always chokes.

 

[lobbyone]

Half Life 2 with a 7600GT? a big difference, Oblivion? you'll probably need a faster CPU, maybe more memory as well, as Oblivion can be stressful to most systems. Whats wrong with gaming with Semprons? I've played with a Celeron D clocked at 2.8GHz coupled with a 7600GT, and Doom 3 was a breeze, i'm pretty sure a Sempron can do a much better job than a Celeron D.

To OP, you can upgrade to an Athlon 64 3000+ and find an AGP card, 7600GS/GT or X1650Pro/XT if you don't want to replace your motherboard yet.

 

[eggrolls]

Originally posted by: lobbyone
To OP, you can upgrade to an Athlon 64 3000+ and find an AGP card, 7600GS/GT or X1650Pro/XT if you don't want to replace your motherboard yet.

The motherboard is PCI-E actually. Also, is the A64 really that much better?

 

[CurseTheSky]

If it's PCI-E, it's worth throwing some money into. You can always port the card over to a new system when you rebuild.

My suggestions:
7600GT
7900GS
X1950 Pro

 

[moosey]

There'll definitely be a difference over what you have and the 7600GT goes for around $100 which isn't bad at all.