I need help deciding....

Cold Dark Shadow

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Mar 24, 2003
Messages
12,720
...if i should upgrade this setup or build new?
Heres what im working with now:
X-Dreamer II Case
Lite-On DVD drive
NEC 3450A DVDRW
NF7-S V2 mobo
XP2500+ Mobile @ 2GHz
Aero Lite HSF
1GB PC2700 RAM
3 or 4 80mm fans
Maxtor 250GB HDD
6200 OC AGP Vid
Blue FSP-30060PN PSU

Goin to be using the comp for gaming and work. Kindda working backwards here, already picked up a new monitor lol
Games that i play now id like to see them played at reasonably high settings (Q3A, Q4, HellGate London (when it comes out) wife plays SIms 2 and other Tycoon cames, ect)

Would it be worth upgrading stuff i have now or starting looking for new stuff?
Suggestions on what i should look for would be great.
Thanks :)
 
What's your budget? You could probably keep the HDD(s), Optical drive(s), and case. What monitor do you have?

Low budget:
Athlon64 3500 AM2, nForce570 ultra motherboard, DDR2-800 1GB (2x512mb), 7600GT, FSP 450W

Midrange:
Athlon64 X2 3800+ AM2, nForce 570 SLI motherboard, DDR2-800 2GB (2x1gb), 7900GT
Core2Duo E6400, GA-965P-DS3 motherboard (or similar), DDR2-667 2GB (2x1gb), 7900GT, Antec SP2.0 500W

High end:
Core2Duo E6600, MSI 975X Platinum (or similar), DDR2-800 2GB (2x1gb), X1900XT or 7950GTX, OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI 600W

Other parts:
Hard Drive: Seagate 7200.10 320GB SATA300 HDD
Optical: NEC ND-3550A DVDRW or Lite-On SHM-165H6S
Case: Centurion 5 atx mid-tower, soprano, sonata, stacker, etc

For the games you play, you probably only need a midrange setup.

$152 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2
$93 - ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP
$235 - G.SKILL 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ
==============
$480 + tax and shipping

---OR---

$180 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz
$150 - GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3
$210 - pqi TURBO 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-667 PQI25400-2GDB
==============
$540 + tax and shipping

And the rest...
$230 - XFX PV-T71G-UDF7 Geforce 7900GT 256MB (470Mhz/1370Mhz) ($260 - $30MIR)
$95 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200RPM SATA3G
$70 - Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Modular PSU (w/ SmartFans)
$50 - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver w/ Side Window
$30 - NEC 16X DVD±R ND-3550A
==============
$475 + tax and shipping

Here's some reading material:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=16
 
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