and my mom will be hounding me soon for a christmas list. she does this every year so i know its coming, its like clockwork with her. anyway, since there really isnt anythin i want, i thought i would take the time to upgrade my desktop. what should i upgrade out of this list below and what should i go to? keep the really high priced stuff out since my mom wont go near really expensive high end stuff. thanks.

Specs:
AMD Athlon64 3200+ Socket 754 running at 2.2Ghz
ASUS K8V-SE Deluxe Motherboard with VIA K8T800 chipset
768MB Corsair XMS SDRAM DDR400 PC3200 RAM
160GB Seagate Barricuda 7200RPM SATA HDD
60GB 7200RPM Firewire External HDD
ATI Radeon 9600xt OCed
Standard 52X CD-ROM Drive
NEC Black DVD+R/+RW/+R(DL)/-R/-RW/ROM/CD-R/-RW/ROM Burner - OEM
3.5" Standard Floppy Drive
Chieftec Dragon Series Aluminum Blue Case
Ultra 500-Watt PSU
Labtec 2.1 Standard Desktop Speakers
WinXP-SP2

9/30/2005 2:02:57 PM

That's so much better than anything I've got, so I don't know what to tell you, except give me whatever you replace

9/30/2005 2:38:21 PM

goto 2 GB of ram since your not dual channel and
get a better video card

[Edited on September 30, 2005 at 2:45 PM. Reason : -]

9/30/2005 2:44:31 PM

Id say at least 2x512MB sticks, or 2x1GB sticks, and a 6600GT or 6800GT.

9/30/2005 3:10:12 PM

What is expensive for you? Id recommend something a little more future-proof than a socket 754

9/30/2005 3:54:41 PM

well it is still an athlon64 boasting at 3.2ghz which is plenty of CPU power for me. i dont see the justification now to do a complete overhaul of my system since there's no need to IMO. the RAM is certainly a good idea; i should def load up more since the latest games need at least a gig, esp BF2 that i like to play. vid card isnt a bad idea either. should i go the ATI or nVidia route though?

by expensive i mean the really high-end, performance parts that computer enthusiasts buy and use.

[Edited on September 30, 2005 at 4:10 PM. Reason : .]

9/30/2005 4:09:55 PM

wow your mom is pretty awesome

9/30/2005 4:28:52 PM

Seriously dude, dibs on your old video card

9/30/2005 4:42:16 PM

I just made a system sorta similar to your current one:

A64 3000 (939)
MSI K8N neo4
1 gig PC3200
160g HD 7200rpm
X800pro

Personally I'd recommend upgrading your video card. My specs are similar to yours except for that, and I can play BF2 at 1024x768 / High / AAx6 with no problem. I've only played the single player demo though, so I may be lacking the memory I hear you need in the 64 player maps.

As far as what cards to get-- nVidia cards give you AIDS.



[Edited on September 30, 2005 at 6:28 PM. Reason : .]

9/30/2005 6:22:57 PM

Quote :

"Id recommend something a little more future-proof than a socket 754"

I would say go with this:

AMD X2 3800+ dual core cpu
DFI lanparty nF4 SLI-DR motherboard
nVidia 6800GT pci-e

^^^ will probably run you about $700 though so if thats too much $$ try this:

AMD64 3200+ venice core cpu
MSI neo4 Platinum SLI board
nVidia 6600GT pci-e

^^^that should run you closer to $450
both of those setups in my opinion will future-proof you for an update.


[Edited on October 1, 2005 at 12:12 PM. Reason : .]

10/1/2005 12:09:22 PM

^ i appreciate the suggestions but i really dont want to do a complete overhaul of my system at this time cause i dont have the money and even if i have my mom and dad buy everythin, its still too expensive for them. but certainly in the future i will be upgrading. i kinda want a better case than the 1 i have. what r some good perfomance cases that arent too expensive? ie < $100?

10/1/2005 1:55:53 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119074

see if you like that one...coolermaster makes some pretty good stuff. I also like some of the Lian-Li cases but they are a bit more $$.

10/1/2005 2:23:37 PM

you need a monitor upgrade and certainly better speakers.

10/1/2005 4:58:11 PM

monitor? i didnt even list my monitor. but it's a 15" samsung LCD flatscreen and i dont need anythin better that that.

10/1/2005 6:55:13 PM

as usual, she just asked me again..lol. any new comments/opinions on stuff?

10/20/2005 10:29:27 AM

Sound card and at least 5.1 speakers ... if not 6.1 or 7.1

10/20/2005 12:42:31 PM

seriously....a new monitor

10/20/2005 2:34:50 PM

what are opinions on this card? would the GDDR3 work fine with the mobo i have?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814119144

10/31/2005 2:32:44 PM

Quote :

"goto 2 GB of ram since your not dual channel and get a better video card"

at least 1gb IMO

10/31/2005 2:34:07 PM

yea i was gonna get a 1gig stick and then use my 512 as well..or hell i could use all 3 sticks cause i have 3 slots for RAM.

10/31/2005 4:41:22 PM

I cant see spending $275 on a video card when your monitor has a max resolution of 1024x768. I would go with:

GeForce 6800nu 128mb video card - $150
2x512mb (1gig) crucial ballistix ram- $120

10/31/2005 4:52:20 PM

y would 2 512's be better than a 1gig plus say my 512 stick i already have? the RAM i have is Corsair XMS so i was gonna stick with taht for the 1gig.

10/31/2005 4:55:32 PM

i can when the monitor is the next thing to be upgraded after that

10/31/2005 4:55:54 PM

Quote :

"y would 2 512's be better than a 1gig plus say my 512 stick i already have? the RAM i have is Corsair XMS so i was gonna stick with taht for the 1gig."

That would be fine. I think with the s754 A64 you have to change the command rate to 2T in order to run all 3 memory slots though.

Quote :

"i can when the monitor is the next thing to be upgraded after that "

yeah but he said the 15" was plenty for him. Even if he does upgrade the 6800 should do fine on a larger resolution. Its a good buy for the money because some of them can be unlocked to GT specs.

[Edited on October 31, 2005 at 5:01 PM. Reason : .]

10/31/2005 4:59:54 PM

ah ok. yea i would look into the specifics of enabling stuff later on.

but for the monitor, i cant really justify gettin somethin else right now. i'd rather upgrade the system itself then maybe for my b-day get a new monitor.

so the 128mb 6800nu would give me enough output to play BF2 and future games with really good settings? cause this desktop is only for gaming so i want as best quality i can get within a reasonable price range.

10/31/2005 5:13:01 PM

well if you are looking at the 6800GT you might want to wait. nvidia is supposed to announce their mid-high range cards ( 7800GS, 7600's) in november. They might be the better buy. I think the 7800GT is worth the extra $50 over the 6800GT though. The 6800 will probably play new games at good settings without AA/AF. If you want to go hardcore on your gaming I would say the 7800 series is a good way to go.

10/31/2005 5:57:04 PM

any idea when those 7800's will be out this month? also, will they only be PCI-e or will they be AGP also?

10/31/2005 6:39:08 PM

nvidia has not released plans to make any agp versions of the 7800 series

10/31/2005 11:25:42 PM

Dude, people still use 15" monitors? teh suxor.

11/1/2005 12:51:35 AM

well when i had to pay for this entire system and components myself the 15" was the cheapest LCD i could get at the time. i really have no problems with it and dont require a new LCD as of now. so instead of makin stupid comments, offer some helpful advice and opinions please.

11/1/2005 7:32:10 AM

6600gt or 6800?

11/1/2005 6:03:23 PM

^^^also keep in mind that a 15" LCD is basically equivalent to a 17" CRT.

11/1/2005 6:49:13 PM

Quote :

"wow your mom is pretty awesome"

think she'll bwnadopt me?

11/2/2005 10:11:19 AM

no, not quite

11/2/2005 10:15:48 AM

so eVGA 6600gt or eVGA 6800??

11/2/2005 10:47:05 AM

since money is not an issue, 6800 and then OC it to a 6800gt

6600GT - 8 pipes 128bit 500/1000
6800NU - 12 pipes 256bit 350/700

11/2/2005 10:51:19 AM

Quote :

"since money is not an issue, 6800 and then OC it to a 6800gt 6600GT - 8 pipes 128bit 500/1000 6800NU - 12 pipes 256bit 350/700"

even if you overclock the 6800nu it will still have 12 pipelines vs the GT's 16 pipelines. Some of the 6800nu AGP cards can unlock the extra 4 pipelines though.

11/2/2005 10:03:08 PM