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Best Upgrade Path for $800

A

archevilangel

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 15, 2003
Messages
1,824
Well here I go again, I'm looking to upgrade my computer and I have $800, preferably I would like some left over to pay for doom 3 and hl2 when they come out. I play tfc and ut2k4 the most, but I am expecting to play a lot of hl2/doom 3 :D. Based on my system below what do you recommend me upgrading.

I was considering the following things: a 200 gb 8 mb cache western digital serial ata harddrive to compliment my rapidly filling 120 gb one, getting a matching stick of mushkin pc3500 level II 512mb ram, getting a water cooling kit from frozen pc, upgrading my sound system with some logitech 5300 thx cert, 8x dvd +/- rw burner, an enermax noise taker 470 powersupply with active pfc(Hopefully it will stop my vcore from fluctuating so !%@% much from 1.92 to 1.98.) and/or a radeon x800 pro.

What combination do you guys suggest. I will probably be buying everything at newegg since I've ordered about $1000 worth of stuff from them before and I love their service.
 
Definetly a vid card.......you already some pretty descent settings goin on but IMO you current graphic card is holding you back......
 
maybe a newer and faster processor\
check out the amd altlonxp 3200+ and OC dat
 
I would immediately get a different video card as well, wouldn't nessecarily go for a x800, maybe just a 9800XT. I wouldn't get such a big hard drive though, would you think of getting another 120, and running it as a slave, that might work pretty well, a 200 gb is a bit more expensive. Now after a video card and a 120 gb hard drive u'd still have quite a bit left over from that $800, I really can't think of how much though cause i'm used to canadian funds.
 
Well here are some prices of stuff I'm looking at

radeon x800 pro bestbuy.com $399
Westerndigital sata 200 gb 8 mb cache newegg.com $136.50
Mushkin Pc3500 Level 1 512 mb newegg.com $158
Watercooling kit frozencpu.com ~$200 to $400
Enermax Noisetaker 470 W/ Active PFC newegg.com $105
Logitech 5300 THX Certified newegg.com $139
8x dvd burner newegg.com ~$100

Right now I'm leaning towards the powersupply + the radeon x800 pro and saving the rest.
 
the thing is, with an x800, your CPU will be a bottle-neck.

You can get a 9800pro for around 249. And a 9800xt for a bit more. Try looking at those since they would better suit your CPU.
 
I'd say grab the Ram, an X800 and a Raptor for your OS and games.
By all means do not buy a watercooling kit because they suck. I have a custom built set up and my temps are 22/23C under full load. You'll see the biggest improvement from a GB of Ram a next-gen VPU and a 10K HD. :cool:
 
youd think that would be a bottle neck but that xp-m has more power than a p4 3.0 .so an x800 would certainly not bottleneck much if at all. and what does it matter if it bottlenecks or not? He would still be getting better scores by far then with a 9800xt.
 
Video Card) Definetly get a video card, Radeon 9800xt or x800. Some more RAM would help a lot. The CPU will be fine for awhile, upgrade it if you want. Possibly get another 120GB HDD instead of a 200 If you want it. It's pretty much a pick-n-choose situation, you pick what you want to get...
 
If I was you, I would sit on it until the games come out.

If you must spend some money, I would get a diff video card for now, but, like I said, if I was you I would sit on it and wait.
 
About that $170 9800 pro on pricewatch........it's only 128bit. You can't find the 256bit under 200 anywher(side ebay).

Anyways, I'd recomend an athlon 64 2800, an SiS chipset mobo (I believe it's SiS 755), and another stick of any RAM(it's single chanel, so I don't think having matching sticks will help you at all, and level II is pretty expensive stuff). Then you can get a Radeon x800 pro, and you'll still have enough left over for a DVD Burner(LG ones are 80 at newegg, and I think they're 8x speed).
 
I think you should get a new video card and another stick of ram. Maybe instead of the X800 you can get a 9800 Pro for around $200. Then get the Mushkin Pc3500 Level 1 512 mb for $158 from Newegg. You will have about $400 left, so with that you can pick up another hard drive and have money to spare.
 
IMH if you get a X800 Pro get a new Mobo+CPU. Otherwise get a 9800 pro 128mb they're fast and cheap.

I would also get: - 36GB WD Raptor
- 1 GB Ram (total i mean)
- 9800 Pro 128mb
- 22" NEC FP2141-SB Monitor
 
well it's already been done, I've ordered a radeon x800 pro and that enermax powersupply with around $260ish left(There will be more money added when I sell off my 9000 and old powersupply to some friends), which I might spend on another stick of mushkin pc3500 level 1 ram, but definately itll go toward doom 3 and hl2(I also have a $20 coupon from ebgames which should help)

Thanks to all for the advice, if I didn't take it, just remember it is my money :)
 
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