Hardware worries

[Kalant]

At the moment I'm wanting to upgrade my system since it's old and out of date now and I was wondering if I would have any problems with these parts if I was to input them into my system.

Intel Pentium 4 w/ HT Technology - 3.0GHz Processor
Asus P5P800 Motherboard
OCZ Technology 512MB PC3200 DDR
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro

I'm also concerned about my Power supply which is currently only 300W. If I bought these parts would I need to buy a new one to keep up with the increased power drain?

Also would I notice much of a speed difference over my current setup which is:
AMD Athlon XP 1,4GHz FSB 333MHz L2 Chache @ 256kb or 512kb
256Mb RAM @ 333mhz
MotherBoard @ FSB 333MHz
Gfx Card 32Mb (Very Old and Slow dont know specs of it :S)
(Sorry about being brief but i didnt build it and i dont have the manuals etc)

Thanks in advance for any help.

~Edit~
Forgot to mention the upgrades are so i can play some of the latest games.

~Edit 2~
Havent checked the CPU for a while and i now realise it is a 1,4ghz CPU that was over clocked to 1,8ghz. It has just recently gone back to 1,4 for some reason (I know nothing about overclocking )

 

[amplemind]

All of those parts would work, and would work with a 300W power supply, but that's a pretty weak upgrade to "play some of the latest games". It is faster than your current setup, but maybe you should consider sticking with your Athlon, and just upgrading the Video card to an AGP Radeon X800series model, and 1GB of memory.

GL.

 

[Kalant]

I think i exagerated a bit on the "latest games" i was thinking more around doom 3 and half-life 2 played at 1024x768 or something similar. It has to be a weak upgrade since im on a tight budget of £200 (got the video card already for free). I just want the comp to stop slowing down when it can't handle the game :/

Anyway thanks alot for the advice very much appreciated

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: Kalant
I think i exagerated a bit on the "latest games" i was thinking more around doom 3 and half-life 2 played at 1024x768 or something similar. It has to be a weak upgrade since im on a tight budget of £200 (got the video card already for free). I just want the comp to stop slowing down when it can't handle the game :/

Anyway thanks alot for the advice very much appreciated

Your video card is the major source of slowdown, followed by ram. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck from a good video card and another 256 or 512mb of ram than from what you're looking at.

In addition, your processor could probably be overclocked to at least 2ghz with no trouble if your motherboard supports such things.

 

[Kalant]

Originally posted by:3chordcharlie
Your video card is the major source of slowdown, followed by ram. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck from a good video card and another 256 or 512mb of ram than from what you're looking at.

In addition, your processor could probably be overclocked to at least 2ghz with no trouble if your motherboard supports such things.

Well theres a problem there, I really cant offord a high-end video card thats why I am going to use the Radeon 9800 pro and also the CPU is coming to the end of its life so it will need replacing sometime in the next 6 months (going on 3+ years old now). I also made a mistake about the clock speed it is 1,4Ghz that was overclocked to 1,8Ghz but recently it has fallen back to 1,4 for some reason (I know nothing about overclocking).

The video card was my old one but I gave it to my bro which is this system that I am upgrading. The video card seemed to play doom 3 without any slow-down when I used it and it was running at 1152x864 with some graphics options turned up a little. He doesn't play many games like BF 2, Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 and he doesn't bother at all with 4x AA etc, so i think the card will be fine with him for a year at most.

Since it's his money that im spending I can't buy all the best stuff on such a small budget that he gave me. But I will look into some extra RAM like you said.

The game he is having problems with is Warhammer 40,000 DoW which is a real-time strategy. When too many units appear on screen it slows down to a snails pace so it most likely is the memory. But when I play the game on my system with 1,5Gb of RAM it still seems to slow down but not as much so i figured it was the CPU because mine is only a little faster with 2Ghz.

Again your input is always appreciated

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: Kalant

Originally posted by:3chordcharlie
Your video card is the major source of slowdown, followed by ram. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck from a good video card and another 256 or 512mb of ram than from what you're looking at.

In addition, your processor could probably be overclocked to at least 2ghz with no trouble if your motherboard supports such things.

Well theres a problem there, I really cant offord a high-end video card thats why I am going to use the Radeon 9800 pro and also the CPU is coming to the end of its life so it will need replacing sometime in the next 6 months (going on 3+ years old now).

The video card was my old one but I gave it to my bro which is this system that I am upgrading. The video card seemed to play doom 3 without any slow-down when I used it and it was running at 1152x864 with some graphics options turned up a little. He doesn't play many games like BF 2, Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 and he doesn't bother at all with 4x AA etc, so i think the card will be fine with him for a year at most.

Since it's his money that im spending I can't buy all the best stuff on such a small budget that he gave me. But I will look into some extra RAM like you said.

The game he is having problems with is Warhammer 40,000 DoW which is a real-time strategy. When too many units appear on screen it slows down to a snails pace so it most likely is the memory. But when I play the game on my system with 1,5Gb of RAM it still seems to slow down but not as much so i figured it was the CPU because mine is only a little faster with 2Ghz.

Again your input is always appreciated

I'd say just get the ram and a 9800 pro for now then, to be honest (ram at any rate is dirt cheap right now).

Other than that, if gaming is the main concern, get an A64, not a P4.

 

[Kalant]

I was considering going for a AMD Athlon 64 3200+ but i was having trouble finding a Motherboard that supported 2000Mhz FSB and AGP 8x most of the ones i found only came with PCI-e and 1 IDE Slot but im in need of a minimum of 2 IDE slots and an AGP slot, so I chose Intel but I will have another look for one.

Thanks again