Is my system upgradeable?

feenster99

feenster99

feenster99

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Joined
19 Jun 2003
Posts
1,680
Location
West Yorks, UK
Hi all,
I have the following spec:

- CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ Venice
- MOBO: Abit AV8 3rd Eye (link)
- RAM: 2x512MB Geil Ultra Platinum DDR400
- GFX: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

...and all the other bits and pieces of course, all in a decent Antec SLKBQ300 case. It is getting a bit long in the tooth now, so i'm contemplating what the most cost effective upgrade is. I play the occasional game such as Age of Empires 3, but mainly it's used for Web browsing, Web development, photo editing and the other general stuff.

Where do you think i would be best spending my money on upgrading? I've never overclocked any of it, so perhaps that is another option? If I'm spending, I want to keep it around £100 at most.

Cheers,
Matt
 
Since its only occasional gaming you'd benefit from a dual core CPU the most IMO. Try looking around for a skt 939 Athlon X2, and if you have some change another gig of RAM would make it run sweeter too. You could go with this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-134-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567, this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-004-OK&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=557, and a half decent cooler, such as http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-000-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=821 to allow you to overclock it a little. People have had good results with those CPUs, 2.5Ghz shouldnt be out of reach provided the case airflow is sufficient.

It should be a noticable improvement over what you have now in any situation
 
Last edited:
Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I will have a look around the MM for an X2 and some more RAM. I already have an Artic Cooling Freezer 64, so that is OK. Is it worth considering a GFX card upgrade too, to something like an x850 AGP, or should the RAM and CPU give me enough of a boost?

Matt
 
If you've only got £100 then I think you will be struggling to upgrade everything for the price, I'd go with the CPU and Ram also since you don't seem to be much of a gamer. If you find that those upgrades aren't sufficient for the gaming you do then you could consider trying to pick up a cheap 6800/X800 series card. :)
 
Hi,
Ill keep my eye out in the MM for a GFX card too. At the moment, I can't even play Age of Empires 3 with all the graphics settings ticked, and I can't think it is that heavy on the GFX card. Might go for the 6800 this time too, as ATI caused me a few headaches in Ubuntu.

Matt
 
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