Updating my computer...NEED ADVICE.

[Josh Rider]

I bought my current PC(an HP) 1.5 years ago, and I'm beggining to think its time to upgrade it a tad. It still works well for most things but I'm looking to be able to use it more efficiently with multi-tasking, media, and gaming. I have a small budget(about 200-350$) and I want to know your opinions of what I should do. I may add though that my knowledge about computers is pretty limited, but this is what I can tell you about my current setup:

-HP Pavillion a465c
-Intel Pentium 4 3.00 Ghz Proccesor with HT Technology
-160 GB Hard Drive
-512 MB DDRSD RAM PC3200 DIMM 184-pin
-Intel 865G Integrated Graphics(piece of crap...about equivalent to Radeon 8500)
- AGP x8 slot
-Tons of media device slots, USB 2.0s, and Firewire.


I have possibly these updates on my mind right now:

-ATI Radeon x700 with 256 MB interface(AGP x8): 175$
-Dynex 350W PC Switching Power Supply (DX-PS350W): 65$
- Probably update my RAM...

Would I see a decent improvement with these updates, do any of you have better suggestions?

 

[aliasaid]

wow very expensive parts, are those US dollars? where are you buying these from?

 

[Josh Rider]

I did a quick conversion into USD from Canadian dollar: in Canadian dollars, its 200$ for x700, 75$ for the power supply, so yeah, it seems expensive for those parts. Do you have any suggestions for different cards and such?

EDIT: I pretty much just want to play new games decently.

 

[aliasaid]

ah ok.. so how much canadian $ do you have? and where in canada you live?

 

[Josh Rider]

My budget is rather low I may say overall, I'd say ideally 350$ Canadian or maybe a tad less.

 

[slick_tech15]

Don't get that x700, its way overpriced too. i would get the 6600 gt for 100 dollars US, and add 512 mb of ram for around 50 bucks. If you need a cheap psu thats ok quality get an aspire 520 watt psu for around 50 bucks. Sorry I don't know how to convert it to Canadian dollars.

 

[Josh Rider]

Geforce 6600GT and Radeon x700...how much of a performance difference do they have?

 

[aliasaid]

for $150 you can get the x1600pro http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17582&vpn=87-2C85-01-SA&manufacture=SAPPHIRE

or for $170 the 6600gt
http://www.cancomputer.com/index.php?sku=3463

or for $163 the 6800xt
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=009179&cid=999.821



i'd prolly take either the 1600pro or the 6800xt..

and for approx $50 i'd get a stick of 512mb ram. use cpu-z to figure out the exact specs of your ram and buy a 512mb stick that matches it.


and this looks like a good PSU for $70
http://www.cancomputer.com/index.php?sku=3322

only thing i'd look out for is with that you may not be able to upgrade the PSU since HP might use their own standards.. so you can't upgrade it.. but i think thats just with Dell.. donno..


i see you chose a dynex power supply... is that from futureshop/best buy? those arent' the best places to buy computer parts. you should look at comp stores...

 

[Josh Rider]

I just noticed the futureshop ordeal, I did some checking on other sites, and some of the products are $50+ cheaper at computer parts stores. Do you think that if I did do these planned updates, I'd be able to play games like Half Life 2 and BF2 decently? Also, do you have any other suggestions.

I'd just like to say though, thanks alot for your help.

 

[slick_tech15]

All those three cards aliasaid suggested should be able to play HL2 on high, and BF2 on maybe medium settings.