Upgrade time - help needed

hood1971 · 25 Sep 2007 at 10:16

I built this system 2 and a half years ago, which was the last time I kept up with pc components.

- Athlon 64 FX-55 San Diego (Socket 939) (2600 MHz 64+64/1024 kB)
- DFI LanParty SLi-DR nForce4 SLi Dual Channel PCI-Express Motherboard
- GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3
- 300GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus10 16mb cache SATA 150 Hard Drive
- XFX GeForce 6800 GT 256MB DDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Cards
- Pioneer DVR-109XLB 16 x 16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter
- Creative Sound Blaster Audigy ZS 7.1 Sound Card
- Coolermaster WaveMaster Case
- Enermax 600W ATX2.0 SLi Compliant Power Supply
and an old crt monitor

I have got excited again about gaming with bioshock and crysis and want to upgrade to a decent DX10 system, hopefully without too much fuss.
I have only £500 to spend and want a decent flat panel as well (20" is fine). Can i get away with just new monitor and graphics card? Your ideas welcome.

Teaf · 25 Sep 2007 at 10:28

You'd struggle a little to get a 20" into £500 and also wanting a good graphics card for Crysis and BioShock. I made up a spec but added you a 19" instead of the 20", so not much difference in size but a lot of difference in price and enough of a difference to make sure that you get a 8800 GTS for much better gaming. All the other components that are missing you can get from your current spec as they are fine to work with this. The 19" LG is a seriously nice monitor as well, not some rubbish thing with bad colour. If you really wanted a 20" you'd be looking at a £50 price hike.

Admiral Huddy · 25 Sep 2007 at 10:30

Peronsonally, I think you can save a fortune and see if you can pick up a cheap second hand 4800+ (939) then treat your self to a new GTS and a decent TFT. That'll come in easily under £500 and it'll play all the latest games at the highest res. I'm running a 4400+ and it plays Bioshock on the highest settings at 1920 (with a GTX)..

Don't knock the old AMD 939 dual cores.. they still rock and are as cheap as chips (haha ) if you can get your hands on one. They don't come anywhere near the C2Ds but at least you'll be able to buy a decend graphics card and monitor to go with it. Saves a lot of ugrading too. That's last you a few years yet.

hood1971 · 25 Sep 2007 at 14:56

thanks guys, I'm going the 4800+ route as found one for a reasonable price and not much work to do.

rjk · 25 Sep 2007 at 15:16

my 4800 is wonderful
you should be fine doing what Admiral Huddy said
then your system would be similar to mine
and mine runs 99% of what i throw at it at a very playable frame rate

consider a bfg 8800gts oc2