Another upgrade post.

[scj6771]

I know my rig is a bit of a fossil, but I don't really play any graphic intensive games (TF2 and BF), I know they could run better with some nice new shiny parts but money is tight at the moment.. so... I was hoping all you experts could help me decide on a possible investment on a better video card and maybe a memory upgrade. If you believe I am wasting my time on any upgrades for this relic I welcome any suggestions, just remember, funds are limited. I appreciate your time!

1. ASUS A8N-E 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard

2. MSI NX7600GT-VT2D256E GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Video Card

3. Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V 550W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Power Supply

4. CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWINX1024-3200C2PT

5. AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2.0GHz Socket 939 Single-Core Processor ADA3200BPBOX

[muCephei]

Mind if I ask what your budget roughly is? You'll be amazed what people can do here once there's a budget laid out.

[scj6771]

Around $250.00 maybe a bit more.

[Asmekiel]

Anything better than something in the Geforce 8/9 series will be severely bottlenecked by the rest of the system.

I suggest saving up a bit more and to get something like the $500 build from Fuzzykins "Sweet Spot" Build.

$500 Build
Case: Thermaltake V3 Black $44.99
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA-380D 380W $39.99
Motherboard: AsRock H61M-VS $59.99
Processor: Intel Core i3 2100 $124.99
CPU Cooler: Stock - Free
RAM: G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) $39.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB $44.99
Optical Disc Drive: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD/CD Burner $19.99
Graphics Card: Galaxy GTS 450 $114.99
Total: 514.92 USD

That's considered low end at the moment

[scj6771]

$500 Build
Case: Thermaltake V3 Black $44.99
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA-380D 380W $39.99
Motherboard: AsRock H61M-VS $59.99
Processor: Intel Core i3 2100 $124.99
CPU Cooler: Stock - Free
RAM: G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) $39.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB $44.99
Optical Disc Drive: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD/CD Burner $19.99
Graphics Card: Galaxy GTS 450 $114.99
Total: 514.92 USD

I suppose I could go that route, however I could stick with my case and PS (I believe mine is better at any rate) and could do without the optical drive.

[muCephei]

Yeah, I just realized what you listed is what you have now...
You have a Socket 939 CPU...I don't even think those are made anymore. Do what Asmekiel said, just save up and by a new computer.

I suppose I could go that route, however I could stick with my case and PS (I believe mine is better at any rate) and could do without the optical drive.

You don't "need" an optical drive per say (unless you're use OS disks), but they're a really good idea. Plus they're like $20.

[Skelly]

You don't "need" an optical drive per say (unless you're use OS disks), but they're a really good idea. Plus they're like $20.

You can just borrow an optical drive just for the OS install, or you could look up online how to install your OS with a flash drive

[Havermeyer]

A Venice-core is a complete dog these days (i.e. six years later). I should know, I have a running one around here. It will bottleneck any upgrade you make. If you want more performance, you need a mostly new machine.

For $250, I'd get the CPU/mobo/RAM listed in the budget build and run it off of on-board video (gasp). That should get you TF2 with medium settings or so. This would only work if you have an SATA hard drive (your optical drive will not likely work, because it's probably PATA). The cheapest motherboard with PATA on it that I found is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131711 ~$125 You could also use this for a PATA HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16812186095& If you live near a Micro Center, you can get an i3-2100 for $100. Sometimes they have bundles with an H61 motherboard for ~$125 (once it was even $100).

Here's some ideas on how games will run: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-H...0.37948.0.html

Add a (~$100) graphics card when you can afford it. At that point you may also need a power supply depending on how well it's survived. In those six years, we've also looped back to Geforce 5xx (4xx is in a nice budget zone right now, too). ;-) The Radeon HD 5770 is a really nice budget card when it drops to ~$80 after rebate.

[scj6771]

What about something like: (I can't post links yet)

1. BIOSTAR A770E3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard ~ $50.00

2. AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX250OCGMBOX ~ $60.00

3. G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT ~ $40.00

I went to the BIOSTAR website and within the specs for that board they do list the AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core CPU as being supported.

Any thoughts about that CPU? The price is definitely right.

Also, on the BIOSTAR website they list this particular model of G. SKILL as being supported: (G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-2GBNQ). I suppose I should go with what I know is supported?

So it looks as follows thus far with a total of $138.00:

1. BIOSTAR A770E3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard.

2. G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-2GBNQ.

3. AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX250OCGMBOX.

[Havermeyer]

I didn't even think to check to see if your current graphics card was better than Sandy Bridge on-board (which it should be, slightly).

The extra $40~65 spent on an i3-2100 is really well worth it. See: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=121 (uses the slightly faster 255 version of that AMD chip) Regor is already two years old.