Advice on possible upgrade

[Cerberous]

Hi,

I'm in a bit of a dilemma at the moment, my current rig is over 4 years old now and starting to struggle with the latest games but I don't want to splash out 2k~ for a brand new system just yet. I'm convincing myself to upgrade my current rig just to see me through till next year. My current spec is as follows:

- Mobo: Gigabyte 8I848P-G AGP x 8 Socket 478
- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Socket 478 1MB Cache with HT
- GFX: ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256MB
- RAM: Kingston 1GB 3200 (2x512MB) DDR200Mhz
- Sound Card:Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
- HDD: 2 x 120GB Seagate Barracuda IDE 7,200rpm
- Optical Drives: Lite-on DVD Rom & DVD RW
- PSU:Tagan TG430-U15 430W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular
- OS:XP Pro
- Case:Coolermaster Stacker 830

What I'm thinking of doing is upgrading to the following parts keeping the rest the same, I'm pretty limited as my mobo is AGP based:

- GFX: Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (AGP) - £117.49
- RAM: Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 CAS3 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit - £68.14
- OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk - £70.49

I'd like to upgrade to Vista because I'm bored of XP and I think a fresh install will do wonders for this old girl and bring her back to life along with a shiny new GFX card and more memory.

The only thing which worries me is if my current PSU will be powerful enough to run the new X1950 GFX card? I'd also like to know if I can upgrade my sound card as I want to purchase the Z5500's or am I limited still seeing as I have an AGP board and will my current sound card suffice?

Would I see much of a performance gain from this new hardware or is it not even worth upgrading and just save up for a C2D PCI-express rig?

I'd appreciated any comments/opinions on this and also any other options I may have overlooked.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jak731]

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £23.99
(£28.19) £23.99
(£28.19)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2200 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.20GHz (800FSB) - Retail £45.99
(£54.04) £45.99
(£54.04)
OcUK Value IP35 Pro Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GV-RX385512H) £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86)
Sub Total : £214.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £39.06
Total : £262.27

if you can survive with xp for a bit longer that will be what i will get.

check your current psu is up for the spec first though and you may also need a sata optical drive or hdd ,depending on how many ide ports you currently use, this board allows 2 ide devices only.

 

[Cerberous]

So you think I should forget upgrading my AGP card and RAM and just go PCI-E now?

I was hoping I could just get away with a cheap upgrade till next year

 

[jak731]

when i spec'ed that upgrade route, i added up your total and used that as your maximum budget ,so my route will cost about the upgrade route you proposed.

as for getting PCI-e, i think is a good idea as you can get pci-e cards at a much cheaper rate than AGP cards nowdays.

 

[mp260767]

So you think I should forget upgrading my AGP card and RAM and just go PCI-E now?

I was hoping I could just get away with a cheap upgrade till next year

considering that you listed an upgrade likely to cost about £255, it would make more sense to go PCI-E now for similar money.


maybe go for :

Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 AMD 770 (Socket AM2/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £49.99 (£58.74)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ Black Edition 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £49.99 (£58.74)

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £23.99 (£28.19)

PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro Extreme 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £83.99 (£98.69)

Sub Total : £207.96
Shipping : £8.25
VAT : £37.84
Total : £254.05