I've posted a similar question at the gamespot hardware forums, but I decided to ask it here to get opinions from people I know a little better.
My PC is as follows:
AMD athlon X2 3800+ (2.0GHz)
Nvidia Geforce 7800GT
2GB DDR2 RAM
160GB HDD 7,200 RPM (forget how much cache)
19" WD LCD 2000:1, 5ms
My Budget: $225
I know my X2 3800+ is a respectable CPU, but I still need a bit more power if I want to play games like Oblivion even more smoothly and upcoming games like STALKER. So I searched in newegg and found that the X2 5200+ (2.6GHz)
Linkage ($225) Would be the obvious upgrade. But than I do some more research and found this better deal (although less powerful), for a X2 4600+ (2.4GHz)
Linkage
($129)
If I buy the less expensive X2 4600+ I will be able to buy a DX10 card as soon as the mid-range cards are released. On the other hand If I buy a X2 5200+, I will end up with only a more powerful processor, and have to wait a few more months til I can buy a DX10 card.
Right now I am thinking get the X2 4600+ along with being able to get a DX10 card, and since the new AM3 processors are going to be released in Q3-Q4 2007, ill upgrade to a beast processor then instead of now.
The other choice is to just stick with what I have and wait it out till the new processors arrive (which is not too far away)
Rep for people who really convince me, I've been thinking about this for way too long.
Also keep in mind that I can't overclock my CPU because I have a Dell Dimension E521
I would stick to what you have a lil longer thats what i,m doing but for good deal watch fry,s electronics ads they have a motherboard dual processor combo alot of times for good deals Good luck
Stick with that until you have the spare cash to ditch AMD and the dell motherboard.
When you can, go for a Core 2 Duo E6x (or a Quad if you can afford it) and an Abit Motherboard.
and as for DX10 I love the look of the 8800 but the ATI offering will be better so I'd wait for it. Whats the point of a $400+ card if it can't do HDR and FSAA at the same time ^_^
Bah, I've read it's kinda hard to switch motherboards on a Dell, so I'd have to get a motherboard+case, and I don't know what would happen with the power button since it's also some weird hardware that dell makes.
But nway, I think I may know what I am going to do now, I think I'll stick with what I have for now, at least with the processor. I am going to save up the money and buy a high-end DX10 card, and wait and see till around Q3-Q4 to see what offerings AMD/intel give me for processors/ sockets and buy a processor then. Sound good?
Although if you think about it I could just buy the X2 4600+ since it's only $129, and sell my old X2 3800+ for $100 on ebay, so basically, i'd be buying the 4600+ for $29.
Core 2 Duos (and Quads) will be dropping in price DRAMATICALLY in Q3 (in response to AMD's quad core processor). We're talking sub $300 quad core Intel, with almost silly prices on dual cores.
awsome, I guess i'll be patient then eh?
*looks at crysis pre-order slip and huggs it*
Once I have the money, I'm going to make myself one of these
NZXT Lexa - case
ABit IN9 32X MAX - motherboard
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 - CPU
Top End ATI DX10 offering (Not CrossFired) - GPU
Aegia PhysX (BFG Edition) - PPU
Creative X-Fi Elite Pro - Sound Card
2 Western Digital RE2 500GB -HDD
2 Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB - Memory
Logitech G5 - Mouse
Logitech G15 - Keyboard
2x Plextor 18x Dual Layer - DVD Drives
Acer 24" AL2416WS 16:9 6ms 1900x1200 - Monitor
Vista Ultimate - OS
Razer Barracuda HP1 - Headset
Xbox 360 Controller - Game Pad
Enermax Galaxy 1000W - PSU
Creative GigaWord S750 - Speakers
There's a couple of undecided things though. (Namely the screen and whether I'll ever actually get a PhysX Card)
Don't you think that power supply is a little overkill lolz?
Hopefully i'll get myself a new motherboard (with eather C2D or nextgen AMD), new CPU, top end-DX10 card, and maybe i'll make the jump to 4gb if games benefit later on. All this by the end of this year hopefully.
All for when I have the money to do a crossfire.
also overclocking ^^
hmmm, can't wait till April-may (when DX10 mid-range and ultra high end cards come out)
Hmmm, One thing I haven't tried is use clockgen to overclock my dell. Searched around and it looks like people have been able to do it.
Try using CPUFSB
that always works on OEMs
WOOOt, I think I did it, so far I've managed to get to ~2.1GHz using clockgen, and speedfan to monitor my temperatures. I will try to go for 2.2GHz as that is a safe OC, than see what I can do after that. Yeas I know its a kiddy OC but I dono after so many times trying to OC this thing, I am being as cautious as I can.
Edit: Bah, nvm, it's not stable, once I open a CPU demanding app like a game my computer freezes, so ama just give up and have it at stock. My next buy is defenetly a new mobo as well. damn dell
I really need a comp upgrade as well... although I don't want to spend the cash, since there aren't many games thats I'm interested in getting. Latly computer games have gone down the drain. and BF2142 itself isn't a good enough reason to upgrade for me...
*goes back to lagging on Titan mode in BF and freezing frequently*
I'm gonna get an upgrade...
I have no idea why my game freezes though. I have all the specs slightly higher then required, and it freezes at random times as well...
Sometimes it freezes, sometimes it doesn't, it pisses me off.
I'm blaming my moherboard, and its not working fan
*shakes fist at fan*
Yeah besides BF2142, Oblivion, company of heroes and medieval 2, it wasn't all that good of a PC gaming gear, but 2007 is going to be (and already is) one hell of a year, too many good games to name
What are your specs charmander? Maybe I could help you get a cheap upgrade, in 1 or 2 months that is, when the deals get sizzling hot.
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 2.08 GHz (Should be 2.2, I don't remember what I did to make it that way before.. probably overclocked it... )
1 GB of RAM (DDR400)
ASUS Radeon 9600SE Graphis card (I know, pathetic)
I have no idea about my motherboard, its MSI and has a built in sound card, with PCI Graphics slot. All I remember.
All in all, If I'm gonna upgrade, I'm gonna need a whole new computer anyway. Since my motherboard only supports AMD Athlon XP, and they don't make those anymore, and most of the better graphic cards are PCI-Ex. The most I could hope for, is not needing to change my RAM... But Motherboards with DDR400 are getting rare... and they're old...
ASUS Radeon 9600SE Graphis card (I know, pathetic)
LOL, my web-dev computer (this one) has a 9700PRO and I wouldn't think of using it for games >_<
I don't think it even supports proper HDR.
2006 crap?
Episode One
Oblivion
Star Wars: Empire at War (Petroglyph, the good bits of westwood)
NWN2
BF 2142
and others, but those were my faves.
It'll be a while before anyone tops 2005 though, HL2 rocked the gaming world.
NWN2 was a dissapointment. I might get around to beatng the first one.. considering I can't play anything else. Why haven't I beaten it yet? Becuase I hate restarting games, and my computer crashed when I was about a third done, and I had to re-install windows, and I didn't feel like doing it all over again.
Comp probably can't handle Oblivion, I really wanted to get Dark Messiah though, but thats even more off limits. Plus, I'm not sure how I'd feel about a first person RPG.. doesn't sound right to me... That's actually what turned me away from it.
I though the only reason HL2 did so well was becuase it came with CS :p
The best PCI card currently is the ATI Radeon X1550 Pro, which is $107 ($87 after mail-in rebate) at newegg.
Linkage to ATI Radeon X1550 Pro If you want a cheaper option it would be the X1300 PCI
That would be the cheapest upgrade for your money with your current set up and budget (U said u didn't want to spend much). But if you want to go all out and get a new computer I'd help you.