Which upgrade best for COD 4

[colin]

Trying to help a friend upgrade his system. What upgrade would be best for overall gaming?
The rig is used to play video games, watch movies and dl music
His budget is $550 and that is pushin it.

My friends rig specs
AMD 4000 @ 3.0
ATI 1900 GT
AM2 Biostar MB
2 gig Mem
17 inch LCD
PSU:OCZ 600W
OS: XP home


My suggestion

8800 GT or ATI 3870
22 inch LCD
------------------------
He wants to buy:
Intel 8400
ABIT PRO MMB
8600 GTS
2 more gigs of mem to give him 4 total

What would you guys suggest? He plans on ordering this weekend.

 

[gurusan]

i agree your choice is far better.....8800GT 512mb and 22'' LCD is what I'd go for...

and going from a x1900gt to a 8600GTS isn't really an upgrade...more of a sidestep.

 

[darksideleader]

Games now are GFX bound anyway, its not that bad to have a $300 videocard with a $80 CPU

 

[Trotter]

^^Ditto on both. Plus, XP Home can't utilize 4 gigs of RAM.

COD4 is not multi-threaded, so dual core woldn't net him anything. The E8400 would be faster, but the game wouldn't run any faster than the card anyway.

Tell your buddy to leave the parts decisions to the experts.

 

[colin]

We have narrowed it down to these two, look good?

His only fear is the new release of the 9xxx gpu's should he wait?
total shipped $588


MSI Geforce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256bit GDDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 HDCP & SLI Ready Video Card Retail NX8800GTS-T2D512E
Link: $309
ClubIT Product - MSI Geforce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256bit GDDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 HDCP & SLI Ready Video Card Retail NX8800GTS-T2D512E


SAMSUNG SyncMasterâ„¢ 22" 5ms 300 cd/m2 1000:1 DVI Black Widescreen LCD Monitor with Built in Speakers Retail 2220WM
Link: $264
ClubIT Product - SAMSUNG SyncMasterâ„¢ 22" 5ms 300 cd/m2 1000:1 DVI Black Widescreen LCD Monitor with Built in Speakers Retail 2220WM

 

[Trotter]

$600 for one game? LOL.

At least he will be set for a while. He can always upgrade his other components later if he wanted to. Plus he can sell his present GFX to recoup a little of his expenditure.

 

[gurusan]

Those 2 things will make playing games on his PC massively better.

The next thing he should save up for is a new C2D setup