Pimp my PC

[SiD the Turtle]

Hey guys.

My main workhorse PC is a four year old P4 3.2GHz which has done me proud. I use it for the majority of my PC needs but gaming has gone to the 360. Earlier this year I put together a HTPC system.

I'm just curious really how I could upgrade the system to bring it up to speed as a main PC that can play modern games rather than just dolling out videos and music. This is more of a 'what if' rather than a plan that I have, so I'm really wondering how much cash I'd need to spend. The current system is as follows:

Intel E2200 + Scythe Mini Ninja
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775)
2GB Corsair RAM
Sapphire HD2400XT
200GB system drive
500GB data drive
520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU
Windows Vista Home Premium (64 bit)
Silverstone LC17B with 2x 92mm and 2x 80mm Sharkoon fans.

I'd guess that the two main offenders are the process and graphics card?

 

[Greebo]

Yep. Overclock your E2200 or buy a E5200 for a performance boost but biggest gain to be made is putting a 4850 in there.

 

[SiD the Turtle]

Thanks for the advice. Any reason why that combo of processor and graphics card? Is it a price/performance sweetspot?

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[phaded]

Switch out your CPU and GPU with;

Core 2 Duo E8400
Ati 4850

will cost you a fair bit but it will be worth it.

 

[kerrgreg]

What games are you likely to play if you are going to play everything crysis etc then get something around the E8400 or q6600 spec if your not wanting to play crysis at higher settings and dont mind playing on low settings then you can probs get away with your current cpu for a while yet.

 

[Greebo]

Thanks for the advice. Any reason why that combo of processor and graphics card? Is it a price/performance sweetspot?

Anyone else have any ideas?

Bang for buck choices.

The e5200 is the best bang for buck cpu and the 4850 is still the best bang for buck graphics card.

Of course a E8400 would be nice but was offering budget alternatives for you.