A $200 Upgrade Question

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PokySharpy

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Dec 26, 2004
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I just bought a house and don't have the scratch for a new machine, but my old gaming PC is really showing its age, particularly with F.E.A.R. and Quake4. I'd like a little bit of feedback from all of you gurus, since you really know your stuff.

Current relevant specs:
Athlon XP 2400+
Radeon 9800 Pro
768MB PC2100 RAM (3 slots, all filled with 256MB)
Gigabyte mobo on KT266A chipset

(See, it's pretty creaky)

I can get a Geforce 6600GT AGP and a 512MB stick (to take me to 1GB) for $200.

In your opinions, is this a worthwhile investment? Would I see a noticeable improvement in my system's performance, or would I be better off saving that $200 until I can afford a complete new system sometime next summer?

For a little more background, the games that I currently play the most are WoW and HL2, which both run acceptably on my rig. I love shooters and was really looking forward to F.E.A.R. and Quake4 but they make my computer weep, even at 800x600.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!
 
I would suggest you to save the $200 and wait for a complete upgrade. You're not only limited with memory and vid card, but your motherboard and CPU just won't cut it.

Wait and save a little more to do a complete new upgrade. If you really want, I think you can upgrade your motherboard and memory for under $200 right now. Try selling off your 3x 256meg DDR266 and get a mobo that supports DDR400 and get yourself a gig worth.

You should see an improvement.
 
Zidoas said:
I would suggest you to save the $200 and wait for a complete upgrade. You're not only limited with memory and vid card, but your motherboard and CPU just won't cut it.

Wait and save a little more to do a complete new upgrade. If you really want, I think you can upgrade your motherboard and memory for under $200 right now. Try selling off your 3x 256meg DDR266 and get a mobo that supports DDR400 and get yourself a gig worth.

You should see an improvement.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Thats probably the best idea right now.
 
Thanks for your input, guys. I was kinda thinking the same thing. I don't think I'll replace the mobo and RAM for now, because I'd have to get a board that supports AGP in order to keep my 9800 going, and that's no good for upgrades.

Time to save! =)
 
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