Best fps increase for small budget?

[sh0rty88]

As you can read from the title, i wanna know what would increase my fps the most?

I so far have:

Amd athlon xp 2100+
Gigabyte K7 Triton KT600
512 MB ram
Geforce 4 ti4200 128mb tv out
and a 7200 rpm 80 gig WD HD

I'm thinkin of upgrading to an athlon 64, some mobo =x, and probably a videocard in the future...
What would be the "best bang for my buck" in your opinions
Hope ill get some usefull information and flame away if you feel like it!

oh and on the side note, i run HL2 single player good with 1024x dx9 and med and some low settings. NO AA or AF(sp?)

 

[Asus]

You have a GF4 so you run in DX8.1 btw.

$205 for an A64 2800+ and EPoX nForce3 250gb.

while a 9800 Pro or 6600GT cost about 200$.

X800pro performance with Athlon XP You can see how CPU power vs GFX card power might play out depending which path you choose. Of course it doesn't have a GF4 4200 tested but you can get an idea.

The gfx card will probably be the better update although a CPU upgrade would help a lot as well.
Here is an older review with a 9700 pro and GF4 4200 both on an Athlon XP. A 9800pro and 6600gt would be a bit faster than that.

What games do you play anyway?

 

[sh0rty88]

Shouldn't i go with the athlon 64 3000 or 3200+ insteand of 2800 , or is there a minimal difference..
also for the Video card, 9800pro cost about 300 here in canadian ;(

The processor itself cost 280$ (athlon 64 3200) (180$ for the 2800)
+ the mobo = another 120

ahhhh shame on me


but i really think its time for me to change my CPU and VIDEO CARD o well time for me to get some cash in!

o and will i need to get a new Power supply ? i only have a 300 watts one atm.

 

[Asus]

300Watts should be able to handle a 9800pro/6600gt and an Athlon 64 as they don't use a lot of power.

It's up to you if you want to jump up to the 3000+ or 3200+. I just thought you were on a budget.

There isn't a huge difference between models as the big difference upgrading to the A64 is the onboard memory controller. After that you are just going up 200Mhz with each model. The A64 3000+ is a good CPU as well as I have one. But my friend has an A64 2800+ which works really well for him.