What to do next?

[FrozenYak]

Well, a long long time ago - when my voodoo 5 was top of the line and my computer first came into being, I came here for some advice on putting it all together.

Currently my computer will run virtually every game I care to play, but the games I want soon, dont look like they'll get along with my computer so I would like anyone who wouldnt mind, to look at my computer specs and tell me, if it was you, what do you see as the most important parts to upgrade for the best results. (and what you would upgrade them to, preferably)

Asus a7v
Soundblaster live
Voodoo 5 5500 pci
Thunderbird 800
384 Infineon pc 133
13 gig hard drive 7200
16x dvd

I could give more accurate info, but as it is I spend much more time at U than at home - and this is all off the top of my head info, I'm no genious when it comes to puttin this all together, I had my brother to do most of it last time, but hes gone now and I would appreciate any help I could get, thanks😕

 

[FrozenYak]

If it happens my info isnt good enough, plz tell me and ill get the accurate stuff as soon as is possible

 

[Electric Amish]

Depends on your budget.

Processor/Motherboard/AGP Video card would run you ~$300usd for something in the AMD 1.4ghz range.

That's probably your best bet. Soon after that upgrade to DDR ram.

amish

 

[AnAndAustin]

😱 Well Athlon 800mhz will seriously hold you back and they'd be far less point upgrading anything else until the CPU is more capable. Your mobo is almost certain to use at least an Athlon 1.4ghz or Duron 1.2ghz ... do you know what chipset the Asus a7v uses? AthlonXP are very cheap but you'd need 266FSB (2x133) support and the ability to handle the XP core, older mobos will most probably have neither.

😉 Your gfx card would be the next priority, if you stuck at Athlon 800mhz you could still go for a GF3, Rad8500 or Rad9000PRO for $80-100. If you get an AthlonXP then it would make more sense to get a GF4TI4200 which is $120-150.

😀 384MB of RAM is more than enough, certainly no need to get more. If you go AthlonXP then DDR would boost your perf about 10%, some mobos support both SDR and DDR slots so you could reuse your PC133 if only in the short term, although this obviously limits your choice of mobos and chipsets.

🙂 Mobo, $50-60 should net you a very fine mobo. VIA are very popular and very tweakable (esp KT266A, KT333 and KT400) but known to be problematic with SB Live cards, both are very quirky. SiS offer great stability but lack tweaking options, chipsets are SiS735 and 745. NForce1 mobos are much like SiS but offer great o/b 5.1 sound and great LAN, plus the 420 and 220 also have GF2MX gfx which are okay in the short term. nForce2 are very new and should bring it all, great stability, compatability, tweakability, perf, o/b features and along with the VIA KT400 offer the best future proofing.

😱 13GB HD must be seeming a little limiting, and since 60-80GB are so cost effective it makes a lot of sense to get this sorted too, certainly in the long term. Also CDRW drives are incredibly useful, cheap to buy and run and should be a big consideration too.

😉 So to sum it up, CPU and gfx card are the 2 key factors, buy them in either order. PC133 is fine esp if your current mobo can take an AthlonXP or you can find an Athlon 1.4ghz cheap. You may find with all these upgrades you need a new case (mostly for ventilation and airflow) and prob a new PSU too, 350W would be a good PSU to go for, brand makes a diff (Antec and Enermax tops) but if you can get a good case+PSU deal then cool!

 

[FrozenYak]

wow, thats alota helpful info, thx