Upgrading 2 y/o PC

[thegreenguy]

My current system:

-MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD
-Rosewill RX8XL-256PX Radeon X800XL 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
-Thermaltake Silent Purepower W0014RU ATX12V 480W Power Supply
-AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2.0GHz Socket 939 Processor
-CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

I would like to spend less than $500 with this upgrade. I'm mainly focused on upgrading the graphics card, but I realize that my processor is also getting fairly old and I don't want to waste money on a gpu that will be bottlenecked by it.

In the next 3 years I plan on doing one more upgrade...another gig of RAM when I finally end up getting Vista. After that, I'll look at a whole new PC.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[b1gapl]

You can try selling that system, and buy a whole new system, that is overall better, in terms of performance.

If you don't want to, you can overclock that 3200+, upgrade to a graphic card like an X1950XT, which isn't expensive now. The lowest is like $167:
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

...and upgrade the power supply, to a Newegg.com - XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W ATX 500W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, CUL, TUV, CB, VDE, FIMKO, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO - Retail

 

[dashogun]

If I were you I'd invest in a new system even though it'll cost slightly more for a decent build. But if you want to keep the current setup, get a newer Power Supply and upgrade the video card to a 1950 or a 8800GTS.

I would also invest in a dual processor and upgrade the RAM to 2GB.

 

[Ronnie]

i would sell everything but the video card and psu
keep them and build a intel desktop, and then when you have more ,oney upgrade them, the psu then the video card

 

[Ridlyn]

For $600 you can a beast of a system.
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Conroe 2.13GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Newegg.com - Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply 115/230 V TUV, UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC - Retail
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Sell what you got and get this you'll be happy.

 

[thegreenguy]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I don't have enough time to play games to warrant a new system after two years. At this point it would just be a "nice to have" sorta thing...which I really cannot afford.

My current system does everything I want to do with it, save for a few games which it runs, however poorly (on max settings):

Oblivion
BF2
COH
C&C3

IMO, this is just not enough to justify a brand new system.

Three questions:

1) Would an 8800GTS be a waste?
2) Why a new psu? 20w more is that essential?
3) If I was to sell my current system, where would you recommend? (I don't do ebay)

 

[Ronnie]

you need a new psu because your current one is pretty weak
if you dont want a new system oc your processor, buy anoth 2x512 ram, a new psu, and a 7900gs

 

[dashogun]

I don't have enough time to play games to warrant a new system after two years

If you don't need such an intense computer you could just settle with what you have currently. What are you going to be doing on the computer?

 

[Vaanish]

I really dont see why you guys are pushin him to buy a new system. It would be fine to get an X2, 1Gb more RAM and a 7900GS/X1950PRO- the computer would really still be very fast.

I mean, it isnt like we are talking about a socket A Duron here is it guys?

 

[thegreenguy]

If you don't need such an intense computer you could just settle with what you have currently. What are you going to be doing on the computer?

Playing games. Oh and I spose a little work as well...

What I meant was there aren't any games on the horizon that I'm really that interested in, aside from Starcraft 2 and I'm pretty sure what I've got will work for that, we'll see.

Mainly what I want to see is better performance in Oblivion and BF2. Simply going from SM 2.0 to 3.0 will be a nice little upgrade.

My X800XL overheats when I play for Oblivion for extended periods (checkerboard effect)...and thats after the game has crashed about a dozen times. I tend to turn up the settings higher than I should and just put up with the poor framerates.

I really dont see why you guys are pushin him to buy a new system. It would be fine to get an X2, 1Gb more RAM and a 7900GS/X1950PRO- the computer would really still be very fast.

I mean, it isnt like we are talking about a socket A Duron here is it guys?

So I guess what I really want to know is if my money is better spent making those three upgrades or just a new psu and an 8800gts...