Upgrade ideas?

[Spitfir3]

Hey,

So after pretty much quitting WoW im getting back into proper' gaming.. or trying to.. but after playing Far Cry almost seemlessly on my x1950 pro it really makes me want to see what ive missed over the last 2 years.

Crysis, bioshock, WIC, MOH:A all look fantastic.. but I doubt they'd run particulary well on my system:

Win XP (also have Vista 64 home basic on another partition)
AMD 64 3200+ - stock speeds @ 2.0ghz
1 gig ram PC3200
X1950pro AGP 512mb
Epox Motherboard
x-fi xtreme gamer
80gig H/d + 160 H/D
PSU (unknown specs) that used to power a intel p4 1.8, gf2 + 256mb ram

My budget is ~£450

I'm considering buying a macbook for work etc with £350 from my grandma = -£250 from me BUT im not sure yet.

So would it be a new core duo, 8800 gts + pci-x mobo etc? I have been away from all the hardware stuff for ages now so I dont really know whats the best.

Also, how could I vary it? is it possible to use my AGP card until I get some more cash for a better card? could I use my PC3200 ram? AND how much cash would I get from selling the components inside?

limitations? well, my 4/5 year old case had my the old p4 system in it (which was micro ATX) also, my PSU - this has run without ANY problems for 4/5 years with countless upgrades... im really suprised it's still going

Cheers

 

[MeatLoaf]

Well assuming you use your existing case and drives then how about this :

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £151.99
(£178.59) £151.99
(£178.59)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
EVGA nForce 650i Ultra (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (122-CK-NF66-T1) £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Sub Total : £337.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £60.71
Total : £407.61

Overclock the cpu to 3Ghz and theres not much it wont play if anything

EDIT :

Using your existing AGP card and DDR1 is possible and this is what you'd need :

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Sub Total : £132.97
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £24.84
Total : £166.76

But if you did that id get a faster CPU as the motherboard isnt a good overclocker

 

[Spitfir3]

Thank you very much for replying

The stuff you picked out looks great - especially for the price.. 2gb ram is amazing for £39.99!

but 2 questions, is a new PSU a must? and you picked out the cheapest intel dual cores, is it 'cause they're good overclockers so you could get equal performance to something at a higher price? I've never overclocked anything before too.

I think I would buy the cheap 2 gig sticks and sell my cpu, mobo + ram together - this would get me more cash from it, right?

The motherboard you put in the second spec would allow me to keep my AGP card.. but say, once I got an 8800 would it slow the system down in anyway or add any more problems?

cheers!