Updating my computer for Gaming

[Ishmayl]

Hello all,
I am a studio engineer, and have used my current DAW setup for about 3 years now. I finally bought a new Core Duo DAW that is absolutely amazing.

Recently, I've been getting into some online gaming with some friends of mine. I don't want to use my DAW for gaming, because it needs to always stay in tip-top shape; I don't even use it for email, it's simply for recording music. However, I would like to use my older DAW, and upgrade some parts here and there, and be able to use it for a suitable (if not KICK-ARSE) gaming machine. Here are the current specs:

ASUS A7V600X Motherboard
Athlon 1800 processor
300 watt power supply (not sure of brand)
GeForce 4200Ti (AGP)
2 sticks Samsung 512 (total 1GB) RAM
Western Digital 160 GB, 7200 RPM HD
Seagate 80 GB, 7200 RPM HD
Win XP Pro

The games I play are Couter Strike Source, Team Fortress 2, and when it comes out, Starcraft 2. Every now and then, we all try some higher-specced, newer games (Call of Duty 4), but I'm not sure I really need to play that (unless something you guys can recommend me will be able to handle it).

So, my goal is to upgrade (NOT build from scratch) my old DAW into something that can handle (well), without overheating, some pretty good games. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Ish

 

[taintedplay]

you wont be gaming on that computer on anything remotely new. Whats your budget?

 

[Ishmayl]

Well, I haven't set myself a strict budget yet. I'm trying to upgrade so that I can use most of the system I already have, and if it takes me $500 just to play a new game, then that game's not important to me. If whatever I do next with the computer won't play the hottest, newest game, then I'll just not play that game. I have bigger budgetary concerns than having an awesome gaming computer, but if I can make this machine work by upgrading a few parts here and there, then that's what I'll do. And the machine runs CS:S and TF2 (just not very well), and I'm not really interested in most of the really new games, so it seems that a few upgrades may help out. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I've been led to believe that this computer can be upgraded without going overboard.

 

[taintedplay]

well you need a new motherboard, because that one is agp not pcie.

If you get a new motherboard, you should then get proc, ram, and a grpahics card.
I dont know if you want to spend this much or not, but heres a sample build

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 100$

some cheap ddr2 800 ram 25$

Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E2180 - Retail 90$

now here you can ether spend a good amount on a good graphics card, or a less one. I would recommend the 8800gt, about 260$ but you can obviously choose to get a less one like a 7600gs or something.

Also, how many amps on the 12v rail on your psu?

 

[900RR]

Graphics - $100
Newegg.com - HIS Hightech H165GTQT512GDDAN-R Radeon X1650GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X IceQ Turbo Video Card - Retail

CPU - ~$75
Athlon XP 3200+ (newegg or any other site I looked at does not even carry Socket A procs anymore... but should be around $75)

RAM - $115
Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

So about $300


That's not the most cost efficient upgrade, I mean 2 x 1GB of that slowwww RAM is $115, I just bought (2) 2 x 1gb kits of 800Mhz Crucial Ballistic Tracers for $40 after MIR, I got 2 kits so 4gb for $80! you will get WAY better performance getting a new mobo and updated parts like Tainted's list, but this one is cheaper and will still be a significant upgrade. It will not last near as long in to the future as Tainteds though. In fact you might play **** just trying to find an XP 3200+.

I would suggest a new mobo and PSU and a setup like tainteds, Depending on your monitor resolution, you may be able to get away with an 8800GT 256MB for @ $210, or an ATi 3850 for $200 which is suppose to be the best gbang for the buck vid card out right now.