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Thread ID: 60421 2005-08-01 05:31:00 Budget upgrade for gaming - what to get? bkf11 (8573) Press F1
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377212 2005-08-01 05:31:00 Hi
I've got a 3 year old system which still runs Far Cry at a usable speed but slows down sometimes and has pauses at other times (ie the game stops for a second or two, then carries on). I'm thinking about upgrading for gaming purposes but am on a tight budget of no more than about $400 preferably much less. I have thought about buying new but once I get a half decent new MB, CPU, RAM & graphics card that would burst my budget to about $600-700+.
My question is: What gets me the most bang for my buck? I see on Pricespy.co.nz that I can get 256MB RAM for $35 which would be a good start and then perhaps a faster Socket A processor - Athlon XP or Sempron - not sure how fast my MB can go... I can sell my Duron 1300 CPU on trademe for $30-50 so a new 2600+ Sempron for $110 would only cost me about $60-80. A new graphics card is also wanted but I only have a 4X AGP slot - will that limit the speed or does that not really matter much? I saw a 9800PRO with TV tuner :thumbs: for about $300 at C1 SHopping mall but could get a newer GeForce 6600 GT 128MB AGP for that money. I tend to prefer nvidia cards.
So the question is - will my MB slow me down (& how much), where should I spend my money & remember that I don't want top of the line, I want reasonable & cheap :2cents:.

Thank you! :rolleyes:
Benjamin Franzmayr

Here are my current specs:
Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name FAMILY (bob)
User Name Demelza

Motherboard:
CPU Type AMD Duron, 1300 MHz (13 x 100)
Motherboard Name ECS L7VMM (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR, 2 DIMM, Audio, Video, LAN)
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT8375 ProSavageDDR KM266
System Memory 256 MB (PC2100 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award (04/08/02)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 (64 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440
Monitor Likom D703X/L703X/LD7 [17" CRT] (1211202038)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller

Storage:
IDE Controller VIA Bus Master IDE Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive Maxtor 4D040H2 (40 GB, 5400 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
Optical Drive ATAPI CD-R/RW 24X10 (24x/10x/40x CD-RW)
Optical Drive TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-6102B (24x CD-ROM)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 39083 MB (4165 MB free) 		bkf11 (8573)
377213 2005-08-01 06:22:00 Lets see whats to upgrade for gaming.........everything!!!!

Save your money for a real upgrade,sell that machine and get the money from that plus the money you have saved and get a better computer while there are still some people who may buy your old one still at this time.(Hopefully).

If you keep that machine for much longer you wont get much for it later on when you do sell it.

There is not much of a point upgrading it when people are leaving that chipset and going to the 939 cpu.

You would be wasting your money trying to keep that machine going and then later on having to upgrade again anyway and wasting more money on another one,so in effect spending twice first on the old one and then on the new one.

If you get a good computer now it will last longer then upgrading your old one would.

If you maxed out the old motherboads cpu that it will take thats it no upgrade path,If you got a 939 mb and a 939 cpu you still have a upgrade path as that chipset is still going and has plenty of them to upgrade to as you can afford to and will last you longer and will be able to to sell the cpu on trademe and upgrade to another 939 cpu when you can afford to. 		memphis (2869)
377214 2005-08-01 06:58:00 Save up and get a new machine. Sell your current one while there are still people wanting it. techie (7177)
377215 2005-08-01 07:17:00 Congratulations on getting Far Cry to run on that system. You don't know what you are missing though.
For sure - save up and upgrade properly. DOn't forget by the time you have saved for todays nice components, tomorrows nice components will be the same price so in all will be a better solution.
If you do a bitsa upgrade now you will still have a bottleneck and will just regret it. Better to do one good upgrade less often than spending here and there all the time. 		pctek (84)
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