Upgrading PC, need advice!

[3vil]

Hey, I've gotten back into HL2 and gaming again, but I havnt been keeping up with the latest hardware recently and im confused. I have £400 to upgrade from this...

AMD Sempron 2700 1.19Ghz
768MB PC2700 of RAM
Asus nForce2 motherboard
Gforce FX5700LE 128mb
40gb hdd (how have i survived? :O)

and yeh then the ususal stuff cd dvd rw etc...

Im looking at buying these to upgrade...

Graphics card...
256Mb ASUS 7600GT Mem Clock 1400 MHz, GPU 560 MHz, 12 Pipes, Dual DVI-I S-Video/TV Out

Motherboard...
ASUS A8N-VM-CSM NF430, S939, PCI-E (x16), DDR 400, SATA I/II, SATA/IDE RAID, uATX, On Board VGA


Ram...
2GB (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12

CPU...
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Socket939 , Venice Core, 2.2GHz , 512KB Cache, Retail

I would like to see a big change from my current specs, a increased FPS in HL2 to play with HDR on etc, my fps in CSS and HL2 is normally about 20 - 30 ... so if you could just give me your opnion or make a suggestion that'd be great

 

[3ssence]

You're on the right track. However, the CPU you have specified is socket 939, as is the motherboard, so DDR2 would not be compatible. Also, the motherboard is a micro ATX, i.e. smaller than normal, a normal atx motherboard would be just fine.

The CPU you have specified is a good choice, as is the graphics card, so i'd go with those. But for the rest,

Some suggestions:

Motherboard:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=311465

Ram:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=217959

or if you can fit it into your budget, some low latency ddr:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=156701

Just noticed, the price of the low latency memory isn't much higher than the value stuff !! So might as well go with that !

 

[3vil]

wo thanks man I would of bought them and been in the shit!

thank you

 

[3ssence]

No probs mate

 

[3vil]

Right so after abit of reading about Ive now seen the 7900GT.

7600GT or 7900GT?

is the 7900GT worth the £200?

when I can get the 7600GT for £130?

 

[3ssence]

7900GT is a very good card for the money. A decent performance increase over the 7600GT. At mid-high resolutions you are looking at around 30 percent more performance, and that advantage is most likely increased at higher resolutions, and when using more aa and af.

So really it is down to wether you want to spend that amount. Personally, if i was going to upgrade and wanted it to last for a couple of years, then i would go for the 7900GT. But the 7600GT will do a great job for the price as well. You would be happy with either card, but the 7900GT would be able to play the latest games for longer, and will allow greater levels of aa and af over the 7600GT right now.

 

[NoNe]

3vil: I am soon buying something similar.

Antec Sonata Piano Black II with Antec Smartpower 2.0 450w
Asrock 939Dual-Sata2
Athlon 64 3500+
1gb DDR400 + my old 512mb DDR400

And I am planning to buy a 7600gt to replace my old 6600gt.

 

[3vil]

awesome

I went for the 7900GT!

looking forward for it all arriving! thanks once again 3ssence

 

[3ssence]

No probs.

One thing i just thought of though, what PSU do you have ? As that kit is going to need a lot more power than the system that you have at present.

 

[3vil]

500w, that should do the job right?

 

[3ssence]

That should be more than enough power. Although quality is also important, so hopefully it is of a reasonable quality. Otherwise sounds like you should be fine. Anyways, home time for me. Go weekend !!!!