Newb with old system

[Devrij]

Hi all, apologies for my noobishness. I'm trying to get the most out of my old system while I save up to put together a gaming rig, and wanted to see what was recommended before I started tinkering around.

CPU: P4 3Ghz
Mobo: foxconn sis-661fx (socket 478)
gpu: Sapphire HD2400 pro AGP
Ram: 2Gb pc3200 ddr
Cooling: stock cpu fan + 12cm Hiper case fan + rubbish stock fan used as an exhaust

Is it worth trying to squeeze more out of the cpu? My main problem is online gaming (where my graphics card really lets me down), so is it worth upgrading to an HD3850 to last me while I save up? or should I just hold out for a new board and just deal with it for now? Thanks in advance for the advice.

Dev

 

[95thrifles]

yeah youd see quite a significant improvement from a more uptodate gfx card, however depending on your budget, you could actually do quite a major overhaul for reasonable price
new mobo, dual core CPU, 4 gig RAM + gfx card = £200 would be a massive improvement over what you have now, whether AMD or intel route

 

[Devrij]

Unfortunately I'm running IDE drives all over, so I'd really have to replace everything except the case, but £200 would be about my budget. Considering that the best agp gfx card I could get (sapphire hd3850) would cost nearly half that, what board would you recommend? Thanks for the reply.

Dev

 

[95thrifles]

No Im saying you can replace all that for £200 (Edit: plus shipping)

HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card - OEM £79.99 (£69.56)
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.8GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £45.99 (£39.99)
Gigabyte GA-M61PME-S2P nForce 430 (Socket AM2/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £39.99 (£34.77)
Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-6400C5C) £33.99 (£29.56)
Sub Total : £173.88
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £27.51
Total : £210.89

 

[Devrij]

That's pretty sweet alright, but what I meant was that all my optical drives and HDD are IDE not SATA, so I'd have to upgrade those too, which mounts up the overall price a bit. I think realistically I'm looking at £300+. Thanks for the help man, I think I'll get some cash together then come back and say "what can I get". So you think it's not worth trying to OC my existing system?