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Whats the best/cheapest way to upgrade?

S

Sniper82

Lifer
Current system:
Athlon XP 1800+@3200+ 200FSB
512mb OCZ Performance Gold PC3200 Rev 2
Abit NF7-S Rev 2
Radeon 7200
Antec 350watt Blue

First off gonna get 6600GT AGP when its more of a selection comes. Also thinking about another stick of 512mb OCZ. What I want to know is whats the cheapest route to take to maybe get more performance? As you can see I don't care to o/c.

Or should I wait on everything else?
 
It really depends on how much your really willing to spend.

What do you use the rig for? If it's a gaming rig, I would upgrade the cpu, and add another 512MB of ram, and upgrade to at least the 6600GT if not the 6800GT.

If not a gaming rig, leave as is.

You wouldn't be posting if you really weren't looking to upgrade so.......

The cheapest route is do nothing.

I know very little about AMD (Intel fan here, but the FX-55 with the Nforce 4 SLI is looking yummy), so I really don't know if you can upgrade your CPU to something faster without getting a new mobo, but if you can, do!

The vid card upgrade is going to give you more visual but if your cpu is limited, you might not like the game play.

More mem never hurts, but I would go with the cpu then vid then more ram.

Let us know what you decide.
 
Well I know I will have to get another mobo(maybe Nforce 3). But whats the best CPU out there that o/c's well(or suppose to)? I know I will have to go with a Athlon 64 or better before I would see any difference. Which Nforce 3 boards seems stable while o/cing? Will be for gaming.
 
Gaming? MAYBE upgrade video, only if you're a diehard gamer and cannot do without your 1600X1200 AA and AF.

Normal use? Do nothing... it won't be faster... not enough to warrnt $500 which is a normal upgrade these days.
 
gaming, just video card
video editing, some ram. otherwise I would say that is good enough

I have had 256, 512, 768, and 1024 ram in my computer. I didnt notice enough of a diff to warrant a solid week of work on my part-time student salary to get the ram upgrade
 
Well the DFI socket 754 board, is a supremem overclocker, not sure what CPU to pair it with though for best results. I have also heard the 90nm socket 939 chips overclock well, but I have also heard most socket 939 boards(and there aren't too many)aren't the greatest. Not that they are bad, just not as good as they could/should have been.
 
The Raden 7200 is only a 32 bit card. The 6600gt is a 128 bit card. The 6800 series should all be 256 bit cards. So upgrading the video card is a good idea.
The price - performance of the latest video cards indicate that the 6600GT is the better buy for the price.
It does very well compared to the 6800.
 
I would look at getting a new graphics card. An OEM 9600 Pro can be had for 100$ at NewEgg, and it will easily triple your gaming performance. It's not top of the line, but it can play Half-Life 2, and it's cheap.
If you want to go for a big upgrade, consider a VNF3-250 (70$) and the A64-based Sempron 3100+ (100$). The Sempron overclocks nicely for a budget processor, and it's much faster per mhz than an Athlon XP. Re-use your old memory, hard drive, etc. This may provide up to a 25% boost in speed if you OC it properly. Another 512mb of RAM is also a good idea, but it's secondary to getting the stuff mentioned above.

 
I agree with Cheesehead. Get a 6600GT or drop down to a R9600P. Even the 9600 Pro would give you a far better gaming experience that what you have now. I'm a very avid gamer and usualy use 1152x864@32 bit (not 1600x1200). No real need to game at that res. 1152*865 is a perfect res for lower to mid end cards, and the games still look great with about 4X AA.
 
Asus boards are IMHO awesome. K8N-E Deluxe for 754 would be my choice. People had some issues with it early on but I believe they're all fixed now.

-fs
 
if you feel like an even cheaper upgrade, go with a Mobile Athlon XP and a new video card
XP-Ms essentially always hit 2.4 at reasonable voltage, and are a bit faster per clock than your tbred-b thanks to an increase in cache size. if you are lucky, you may even hit 2.6 on air.
 
my video will be the first thing I upgrade. I had a 9800 in it but sold it because I heard the 6600GT was gonna be a killer card for the price. I may look into getting a XP mobile since it would prob be the cheapest route. Maybe fine one pretested?
 
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