minimalist system upgrade suggestions

W

westsrides

n00b
Joined
Dec 3, 2007
Messages
30
Folks,

My poor ol' lass just can't cut the Stalker: Clear Sky mustard. She's a 3.0Ghz P4 on an ECS PF4 (Socket 775) w/ a PCI-E 256MB Radeon 1950 & 2GB of RAM. I only have $200, maybe $300 to blow at this (f*ing economy...), so Bang for the Buck is very important.

I'm not sure what my weakest link is, nor do I know if only buying a new vid card or a new processor will solve the problem. I suspect both are needed, but I'd like some reassurance. Is there a program I can download to test my machine and tell me where the bottleneck is?

I don't think my Mobo can support these new fangled dual- and quad-core processors, so I think the 3.6Ghz P4 660 or 661 (why is the 661 so much cheaper, according to pricewatch?) is the only reasonable CPU upgrade.

Since my Mobo isn't SLI, I was thinking of following arstechnica's recommendation of a Geforce 8850.

What do ya'll think?
 
8850? WTF? There's no 8850 video card.

Anyway, a P4 CPU upgrade is not a worthwhile upgrade IMO. The speed increase isn't substantial and you could get a faster dual-core CPU for that price.

Please answer these questions:
- What power supply do you have?
- Do you have a Fry's or Microcenter nearby?
- What size monitor do you have?
 
well based on his gaming expectations that budget isnt the worst i have seen.

Try this on for size(assuming he has a decent psu)

cpu E2180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116052

mobo: BIOSTAR TForce TP43D2A7 LGA 775 Intel P43
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138122R

ram: A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066

gpu: EVGA 512-P3-N971-TR GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130397

Total after rebate $269 + shipping
 
dur, I mean Geforce 8800 (specifically, PNY Geforce 8800GT 512MB)

oh- sh*t, i just saw hossdaddy's post- I can't believe the price he quoted- I'm going to have to look into that!

I'll have to look at my PS when I get home. I actually have an old 19" CRT, but what difference does that make? Fry's is not too far away, but isn't newegg or tigerdirect cheaper?

i'm not a noob, but I sure feel like it these days. i used to be all over my rig's stats and sh*t when I was in college, but these days I'm just a working architecture professional who loves to game at home after work, but doesn't have the time to dedicate to all the new uber-tech.

thanks for the reality check.
 
lol np at all! There is different routes to go here based on budget, preference or gaming expectations.
This is all based on you being able to re-use your current case dvd drives psu etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top