There is no way my computer is outdated... or is it?

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wems

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Apr 10, 2008
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I have a 2.4c ghz pentium 4proc.

I have the IC7 max3 motherboard

with 2gb of ram.

an nvidia 8600 vid card

Now what i would really like to do is upgrade to a geforce 8800GT, but that seems impossible given my mother board. I was thinking of buying a new one, but my current one is great and why drop 1k on a new computer when its really not needed (and in my situation where money is falling off trees)

So is there a cheaper solution to upgrading my computer without having to buy a new one?

Basically upgrade my vid card so I can play games like Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, TF2, and CoD4 with awesome graphics?


thanks.
 
Yes, it is technically outdated. That doesn't mean it needs to be replaced, but updates could help.

From what I understand, an 8800GT is a big improvement over the 8600 line. You could also see if you can overclock your processor or upgrade that.
 
the problem is that virtually nothing is made for AGP anymore, and IIRC that is what you need.
 
Unfortunately thats the way it usually is...:( our best defense is future proofing the builds...
 
wems said:
Basically upgrade my vid card so I can play games like Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, TF2, and CoD4 with awesome graphics?
Click to expand...

That's the cheapest option you have. Upgrade to the HD3850 AGP card. it's significantly better than the 8600GT. It's about $190 IIRC.

With that said, that 2.4Ghz P4 is a bit slow for today's games. TF2 won't have a problem with it BUT the other games you mentioned will. And you do NOT need to spend $1000 these days on a new gaming PC. If you look through the General Hardware, you will see MANY excellent PC builds for $700 and less if you reuse some hardware.

So while upgrading to the HD3850 AGP is the cheapest option, it's not the most cost-effective option. A whole new PC is the expensive option but it's more cost-effective or in other words "best bang for your buck".
 
Heres a decent Mobo/CPU/GPU upgrade:

GPU: GeForce 8800GS Superclocked 384MB
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P31-S3G LGA
CPU: Intel Pentium E2180

Total: 265

That mobo is compatible with quad and i believe intel's new release, wolfdale(??).

The GPU should be more than enough to play those games on good settings, if you want to spend more i'd go with a 9600 GT or an 8800GT.

Im not sure if you want to OC, but that processor should easily reach 3.0ghz, thats what i have mine at, but i purchased a different HSF. You probably could even step it down a bit to an E2140 or E2160.
 
wems said:
Now what i would really like to do is upgrade to a geforce 8800GT, but that seems impossible given my mother board. I was thinking of buying a new one, but my current one is great and why drop 1k on a new computer when its really not needed (and in my situation where money is falling off trees)
Click to expand...

Since money is falling off trees, why not spend the $1k? :p

In case that was a typo, you could also sell your old parts to help offset the cost of new parts. Your IC7 MAX is still a very popular board and would get quite a bit of cash on eBay. As mentioned above, all new parts doesnt have to cost $1K. An $80, 1.8Ghz Core2 chip will outperform your P4C 2.4Ghz greatly.
 
Toast mentioned an aftermarket HSF, I'd recommend the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 - $37 w/ free shipping atm. It can match a TRUE(depending on the TRUE's fan), it a couple mm shorter in height than TRUE so it might not fit in your case. With this HSF, OC the proc to @ least 2.7-2.8ghz to get plenty game performance.
$90 Mobo that may last through many builds: Gigabyte P35-DS3L.
+1 to the CPU and 88GS Toast mentioned, that thing kicks ass for $130 before $30 MIR. 80% of 88/96GT performance imo(depends on AA/AF levels).
 
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