Upgrading XP2600 to AMD64+PCI-e

[rapidisimo]

Hello everyone

I'm wanting to upgrade my budget pc I put together about 1.5 years ago.
Kinda tired of seeing BF2 on low settings... It's like I'm not getting what I paid for you know..(the visual quality of the game).

I see this as a solid upgrade, not to cheap not too expensive but it will give me good performace with the option of upgrading in the future.

Here is the info...

(Possibly buying the stuff this weekend via http://www.newegg.com)

Current Specs:
- A7N8X-E (Asus Mobo Nforce2 AGP)
- AMD Athlon XP 2600 Barton Core (1.9Ghz)
- 1GB Corsair Value Select RAM
- ATI All in Wonder 9600PRO 128MB
- On board 5.1 Sound

Upgrading to:

- ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
- AMD Athlon 64 3700+ L2Cache:1MB ~ Core:San Diego 2.2GHz
- OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Platinum
- XFX Geforce 7800GT Video Card
- Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Platinum Sound Card
- Antec PERFORMANCE TX640B Black Computer Case

Keeping:
200GB WD SATA HardDrive
80GB WD IDE HD
Aopen DVD/CDR Combo drive

What do you guys think?
Any stuff I should change in your opinion?
I'm hoping the 400W Power Supply that comes with the case is enough for the setup.
Is it really worth getting that new sound card vs the integrated sound card?
I use headphones and a 2.1 Altec lansing speaker system.
Thanks

 

[paulw86]

sounds to me your sound card is an overkill
it looked great, until i saw this ---> TX640B
man, that case is ugly =.=

 

[rapidisimo]

Well I wasn't going for exterior looks. Just trying to get something solid. Eh.. something to replace my current $40 vanilla case... yeah...

So how much more amazing can stuff sound with that new Creative sound card... vs the integrated sound... Dunno
Maybe take it off the list and get a better case?

 

[paulw86]

My ears aren't that sensitive, so I don't want to mislead you.
Definitely get a better case though..something like Antec Sonata 2? Comes with a 450w True power

 

[Atheus]

Keep in mind it's probably only the 9600pro thats holding you back in BF2... If you bought only an AGP 6800GT 256MB you would see massive improvements in that game. But, if you've already decided to upgrade ditch the sound card and get a better power supply.

 

[Greenman]

Originally posted by: Atheus
Keep in mind it's probably only the 9600pro thats holding you back in BF2... If you bought only an AGP 6800GT 256MB you would see massive improvements in that game. But, if you've already decided to upgrade ditch the sound card and get a better power supply.

While I agree thats a good idea, the OP has been running Sound Storm, isn't plain old on board audio going to sund pretty weak after that?

 

[rapidisimo]

Dropping the SoundCard and getting a better PSU and or Case sounds like a better investment.

In respects to putting more into the AGP... Dunno I want to play at 1280x1024 resolutions so AGP ain't really going to give me that eh... there might be a card that does it but with the upgrade I could easily in the future get another card and do SLI.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Yeah, if you got a PSU and case for $40, the PSU must be a POS. Replace it with a decent PSU. My recommendation would be the 450W Fortron for $50 if you're on a bit of a budget. If you're willing to spend a bit more money, the Sparkle 550W can't be beat for the money, with 36A on a single +12V rail. It's a monster that can handle anything you throw at it, but its efficiency is slightly low. It's only $100 though, and it's really strong. If you want more efficiency and quietness, the Seasonic S12 series can't be beat.

You could save money on lots of parts by taking out the things you don't need. The motherboard is pretty expensive, and it's not that good. The EPoX 9nPA+ Ultra is a great board that overclocks very well. If you want the best overclocking board, the DFI Lanparty Ultra-D is the choice overclocking board of enthusiasts. Both will run you less than the SLI-Premium. Also, the RAM is pretty overpriced too. You don't need premium RAM. Value RAM will be just fine. There's not much of a performance increase by getting premium RAM, and you can always run a divider when overclocking. Oh, and I suggest looking into the Opteron 144/146 Socket 939 CPUs. They're underclocked San DIego cores, but with a decent overclocking board, you should be able to get them up to FX-55/FX-57 speeds. You don't need an X-Fi Platinum either. An X-Fi ExtremeMusic should be good enough. Whwat speakers do you have? It would be kinda useless getting an X-Fi with sub-par speakers.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: rapidisimo
In respects to putting more into the AGP... Dunno I want to play at 1280x1024 resolutions so AGP ain't really going to give me that eh... there might be a card that does it but with the upgrade I could easily in the future get another card and do SLI.

The AGP bus does not limit performance at this point, it has way more bandwidth than any card needs. PCI-E is the way of the future though... i guess it's all about initial cost vs long-term savings. Personally i'm not going to upgrade until i can afford some dual-core SLI RAID5 insanity.