Got some cash, need to upgrade

My system is as follows:

A64 3500+ Newcastle @ 2.2
MSI K8N Neo2 Plat.
6600GT AGP @ 500/1000
HalfGig of Patriot XBL
Rosewill 400w PSU

I have a couple hundred bucks to upgrade, but I'm not sure what direction to go in. I could try and switch to PCI-E, or just up the RAM and get another AGP card, but I'd like to future proof a good bit. What're your recommendations?

I would buy some more RAM. Making the switch to PCI-E will cost you a little more than a few hundred dollars. You're system can handle today's apps and games. The extra RAM will keep it running clean.

How much would it run me to make the switch?

500 for an evga 7800gt pci-e and a epox nForce4 Sli motherboard. you can move your ram and your cpu to the motherboard but how much money do you have cause 2gb of memory would be nice(try the ocz gold)

-1cem4n

Just up the ram. Your parts atr good enough that the cost to do a full upgrade wouldn't be worth it IMO.

DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D Motherboard $128.00
OR
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Motherboard $97.99

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor $142.99

XFX Extreme Gamer GeForce 6600 GT Video Card $139.00
OR
eVGA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card $289.00

About $380 for the lower end componenets, Epox, XFX, 3000+.
About $559 for the higher end, DFI, 6800GT, 3000+.

Either get the DFI or Epox board depending on how much you want to OC. The DFi is the best board for OCing as far as you want. But it's also pretty unstable and has problems and stuff.
The Epox board is great for OCing as well, second to the DFI, with much less problems and tweakings.

I'd probably recommend either upgrading to PCI-E or buying a few futureproof parts for your computer. Even upgrading to PCI-E won't give you a BIG performance boost, since your getting a 3000+ and a 6600GT anyways, it may just be a little bit of a help, but a big help in future-proofing.

If you end up rather not buying PCI-E yet, then just get some better parts on the side that can be still used on PCI-E. You can get something like a Forton AX500-A or OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU, both would work great in a future PCI-E system, especially the OCZ of course.
Maybe even getting ram would be safe, since M2 and DDR2 won't be in mainstream for a while, getting something like a 2x1GB set would be great for a future system.

mybrainisawaffl said:

My system is as follows:

A64 3500+ Newcastle @ 2.2
MSI K8N Neo2 Plat.
6600GT AGP @ 500/1000
HalfGig of Patriot XBL
Rosewill 400w PSU

I have a couple hundred bucks to upgrade, but I'm not sure what direction to go in. I could try and switch to PCI-E, or just up the RAM and get another AGP card, but I'd like to future proof a good bit. What're your recommendations?

Click to expand...

thats a no no. get a fortron blue storm.

vcstrike said:

thats a no no. get a fortron blue storm.

Click to expand...

great explanation for him buying one. I'd recommend a Powerstream 520 as it is extremely stable and will provide enough power for even the most power hungry system.

-1cem4n

1cem4n said:

great explanation for him buying one. I'd recommend a Powerstream 520 as it is extremely stable and will provide enough power for even the most power hungry system.

-1cem4n

Click to expand...

sorry. i had a rosewill 500w and during cs source i would get a blue screen. i got a fortron and its much more stable now.

Yes, I agree a PSU may not be glamorous, but you will need one to do any kid of overclocking in the future. You can get a 500 watt Blue Storm shipped for $79.50.
http://www.actbuy.com/details.asp?item=FS17500-2.0
The Powerstream is excellent, but will run you another $25 or so.

Yeah I can't pull any sort of OC at all with that POS Rosewill. So I suppose I'll get another stick of my Patriot XBL and the Bluestorm for now. Anyone know of any mobo-PCIE video card deals? I was about to jump on the EVGA mobo+7800Gt for $400 but it closed out before I could go for it.