Got my stimulus check! gonna spend it on hardware!

H

HRslammR

2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 20, 2003
Messages
3,438
woohoo free money!

anywho, been wanting to upgrade for a while, system's been feeling sluggish. mostly just play WoW and some FPS. what would you suggest needs the most glaring updates? anything that i just MUST get? like i said i primarily play WoW, but do plan on getting Crysis and whatever next big FPS is and i'd like to be able to crank up graphics.

CPU: AMD x2 4600+
MOBO: MSI K9N4-ultra socket AM2 nforce4 chipset
RAM: Corsair DDR2 800 2x1gig sticks
video card: 8800 GTS 320mb
harddrives: 2x WD 180g (but really 150g) SATA 8meg 7200rpm
soundcard: fortissimo III
i was thinking harddrive, but maybe video card too
 
- What power supply do you have?
- What size monitor do you have?
- What's your total budget for this upgrade?

And I'm pretty sure that those drives are 160GB, not 180GB. Which would explain the 150GB you see after OS format.
 
Danny Bui said:
- What power supply do you have? antec 500w
- What size monitor do you have? dell 24" widescreen 1680x1050
- What's your total budget for this upgrade? 600!

And I'm pretty sure that those drives are 160GB, not 180GB. Which would explain the 150GB you see after OS format.
Click to expand...

yeah, they're 160's sorry.
 
If you want better gaming performance, buy a new vidcard. Though, you might want to wait for the new cards coming out in the summer.

If you want a tiny boost in overall performance, get a faster hard drive, like the WD6400AAKS.

RAM is also cheap, so you could upgrade to 4GB if you wanted to, regardless if you have 32-bit or 64-bit windows. If you have 32bit, it'll still make use of whatever it can, and RAM is cheap anyways. If you have 64-bit, you'll be able to use all 4GB of RAM.

Were you a $300 check person, or $600? :p
 
My system is pretty close to yours, and I have that same video card. I plan on the video card being the next upgrade, hopefully to an hd4870 or 4870x2.

Upgrading the CPU at this time seems like a waste of cash to me. I'd wait a month or two for 9900 or 4870 and spend it on that.

Then, next spring, we'll have brand new CPUs to compliment our new video cards. =]
 
I'd dump another GTS on that board, upgrade my PSU, double my mem, and maybe address the HD if I felt the need. I have the same GPU, and to tell you the truth a pair of them in SLI is where my next upgrade money goes to, well that and a PSU to power it. I have the same PSU and I am not at all confident in it handling a pair of those cards. The mem is cheap, and hey why not. The CPU isn't a horrible one, and liley will hold you for awhile. If you do decide to upgrade it, just jump to a phenom.
 
HRslammR said:
dell 24" widescreen 1680x1050
Click to expand...

You'd be best served by a vidcard upgrade... like a 9800GX2. Oh, and sell the 320MB GTS. If you go SLI, you'll be limited by the 320MB (SLI will only use the VRAM from one card, not both); and you'll need a new PSU.

Though, if you're not picky, you could just get one of the new 512MB GTS cards instead, and sell the old 320MB card, then upgrade the HD and RAM.
 
HRslammR said:
What power supply do you have? antec 500w
- What size monitor do you have? dell 24" widescreen 1680x1050
- What's your total budget for this upgrade? 600!
Click to expand...

Which Antec 500W PSU? There are differen Antec 500W PSUs out there like the Earthwatts, Smartpower, Truepower, Neopower etc. So please be a bit more specific.
 
A reminder this is General[H]ardware and NOT General[M]ayhem. Keep the thread on topic, hardware, or it'll get locked.
 
wait a month for the new video cards. IF NOT, in one month you will be kicking yourself.
 
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