What to upgrade

[EC]

Ok, here's the scoop. I have a moderately old computer. However, before I get ragged on for the specs, please read the entire post.

My current specs are:
ECS K7S5A mobo (I know, it's not necessarily the best, but my budget has never been the best)
AMD XP 2000+ 1.67GHz
1.0GB DDR; 512MB 2700 and 512MB 2100. The reason for the 2100 is my dad does computer repair and every now and then he will get a dead computer from a customer, and I pulled out a 512MB 2100 stick and threw it in with my other 512MB 2700 stick.
GeForce FX 5900 non-ultra
Audigy Gamer soundcard
40x10x40 CD-RW
12X DVD player (not burner)

The question I have is what should I upgrade? I don't want top-of-the-line, simply because it's too expensive. I'm working with about $300 USD. I'm not into overclocking, and I'm not a "CS-kiddie" in that I need 100+ FPS in the latest games, or everything is shit. I would just like to be able to enjoy the latest games without choking, such as 5 FPS in the BF2 demo.

Here is a pic of what CPU-Z gives out. ~113KB.
http://www.portuese.org/ec/pics/cpu-z.jpg

What I don't really care about is what the case looks like, HDD capacity, or burning capabilities.

Thanks in advance.

 

[G-Dub]

Does your motherboard take AGP cards?

If so, what speed?

 

[Link]

Would sir care to step this way?

Should get you started

 

[bryanf445]

i thiink you could also run your ram @ 2-3-3-6...maybe that will give you a slight boost for now

 

[EC]

Devvo - Yes, it's 4x AGP.
Link - Thanks, that really helped a lot. I'm stuck between a GeForce 6600 GT ($186 + shipping) or a Chaintech S1689 motherboard and an AMD 64 3200+ ($257 + shipping)
Or should I get the 6600 GT and get a cheaper CPU/mobo combination together?

Edit: bryanf445, sorry about the newbishness, but I don't know a lot about memory. What program would I do that, and would I do it to both sticks?
Also, if anyone can recommend a better motherboard or videocard version, please feel free to do so.

Edit 2: I figured I should find out what type of PSU I have also. Here's a photo of the information. If I need to upgrade to a higher wattage for video card or mobo/cpu, please help recommend the most cost-effective one.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

I'd personally stick with a brand of motherboard your familiar with. I myself have an Elitegroup motherboard (KV1 proton http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Produc...LanID=8&DetailID=377&DetailName=Specification) and I upgraded from an older ECS model.

But from what you are saying, its sounds like you've got a great deal, I'm currently upgrading myself, and going for a BFG tech 6600GT

For anyone curious to know the specs of his mobo, this is it
http://www.sysopt.com/reviews/ecs-k7s5a/

 

[holydeadpenguins]

GET RID OF EVERYTHING!, lol. The cpu and motherboard should be the first to go out.

 

[Gorgon]

GET RID OF EVERYTHING!, lol. The cpu and motherboard should be the first to go out.

AGREED !!!

 

[EC]

I would get rid of everything in a heartbeat... if I could afford an entirely new computer. I'm thinking I'm going to go with the CPU/mobo.

 

[bryanf445]

Devvo - Yes, it's 4x AGP.
Link - Thanks, that really helped a lot. I'm stuck between a GeForce 6600 GT ($186 + shipping) or a Chaintech S1689 motherboard and an AMD 64 3200+ ($257 + shipping)
Or should I get the 6600 GT and get a cheaper CPU/mobo combination together?

Edit: bryanf445, sorry about the newbishness, but I don't know a lot about memory. What program would I do that, and would I do it to both sticks?
Also, if anyone can recommend a better motherboard or videocard version, please feel free to do so.

Edit 2: I figured I should find out what type of PSU I have also. Here's a photo of the information. If I need to upgrade to a higher wattage for video card or mobo/cpu, please help recommend the most cost-effective one.

you change your ram speeds in your bios, google it im sure youll come up with guides...but since your upgrading soon i wouldnt reccomend it

 

[JoeMan05]

If I were you, ide buy an athlon xp 3000+ and just stick it in your current mobo, if it can handle it. Then buy the Geforce 6600gt. I have a Sempron 3000+ with 1gb of pc2700 ram and the 6600gt and it runs bf2, counterstrike source, and hl2 with ease. Then maybe later upgrade your motherboard.

 

[3ssence]

I'd upgrade the cpu and mobo, here's an example of what you could get for your money imo:

AMD64 3000: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103537

Abit AV8 socket 939 Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127181

1Gb generic corsair: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

(about 20 dollars over your 300 budget, but the best i could do)

The ram i have included because this mobo and cpu are designed to be used with ddr400 ram, and using slower ram would create a bottleneck, plus generic ddr400 ram isn't that expensive and would be worth upgrading to imo.

These upgrades would make a massive difference to the performance of your pc. And that graphics card isn't all that bad, so i would stick with that for the moment, as that cpu and present memory speed would bottleneck a decent graphics card anyway. So i believe these to be the most worthwhile upgrades, and then in the future when you can afford it upgrade the graphics card.

 

[duffers20]

These upgrades would make a massive difference to the performance of your pc.

I second that. When I went from a Athlon XP 2600+ to what I have now, I couldn't believe the difference. Its definitely worth getting a good foundation of hardware, because with your current, it will slow down newer componants like modern gfx cards.

 

[jabberwock95]

Wow, I must be the only person to consider that an 'average' computer.

As you know, you could either upgrade the graphics card or the CPU/Mobo. I would go for a Athlon 64 CPU/Mobo combo. Your RAM seems quite good to me, I have never known RAM speeds making a noticable difference in performance.

 

[EC]

Thanks a lot for all the help. I have another question. Would it be worth it to go with an AMD 64 3200+ and the abit AV8 mobo, and then save a little more and get the DDR400 corsair a little later, or a 3200+, the chaintech I mentioned earlier, and the corsair all at once?

Also, I won't be buying this stuff for at least a month, so is there any chance that prices could drop for anything between now and then?

 

[holydeadpenguins]

just get a venice 3000+ and overclock it. My friend got it to 2.7 ghz. THe only problem is that some motherboards make it hard to adjust the memory speed.

 

[EC]

I'm not in to overclocking. Mainly because I don't truly understand how it exactly works, and I can't really afford water-cooling. Unless I can run on air cooling if I OC it to a 3200+, I'm probably going to buy a 3200.

 

[3ssence]

I would go for the ram as well mate, as that pc2100 (ddr266) will mean you can't run the pc2700(ddr333) at any more than 266 either, and 266 is quite a drop from ddr400, and will create a bottleneck due to the decrease in memory bandwith. Abit make v. good mobo's, as do asus, although i'm an abit fan due to my trusty IC7 Max3

:E