System Upgrade

[toniaxp]

Hello all I am going to be upgrading my system soon and need some tips on what to buy. I am familiar with PC hardware but would just like some input as I have been out of the loop for the last year.

MY CURRENT SETUP

AthlonXP 2400
512mb DDR Kingston memory
128mb nVidea Geforce 9200 mx
2 Seagate 80gig 7200rpm ATA hard drives


This is what I would like to upgrade to

Althon 64 dual core or Intel dual core (any suggestions)
1gig DDR/2 memory
256mb PCI-E nvidea or ATI graphics card
2 80gig SATA hard drives (prefere Seagate or WD)
New motherboard


Any configuration suggestions would be much appreciated and most of the stuff I do is web design, graphics design, some gaming also I want to do it for $500 or less.

 

[KBlair]

Well, if you have some extra cash, you could go for Intel's new Core 2 Duo processors and a motherboard to support it. Also, for best price/performance, I'd go for the NVidia 7600GT for a video card. Also some high quality DDR2-800 if the motherboard your buying supports it.

 

[toniaxp]

Yea I plan on getting a board that supports DDR2 memory so I know I will have to go with an Intel Core 2 Duo or an AMD2 processor

 

[gmanych]

Go with Core 2 Duo. Very fast CPU, and also get a Gf 6600 Gt they are a pretty good card for the price

 

[Trotter]

Are you going to reuse your current hard drives?

 

[LU4sTrooper]

Graphics: eVGA 7600GT 256mb $129

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130062

Mobo $82.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121046

RAM: 1GB Kingston DDR 2 667 PC5300 (2x512mb) $81.33

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144199R

CPU: Core 2 duo e6300 = $180

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005


TOTAL $473.32 + shipping+ your hard drive price.

That system will do you nicely.

 

[gmanych]

To take full advantage of the Cpu get DDR2 800 (Pc6200) and run them in dual channel mode. Your ram at the moment is your bottleneck

 

[toniaxp]

Yes I plan on using my hard drives at least for now as one of them i just bought in march and is still fairly new