Help me upgrade my rig

[Argo]

I have allocated about $500 to the system upgrade, and wondering what would be the best bang for the buck. The main purpose of the upgrade would be gaming.

Here's what I have right now:

P4 2.4 Ghz, with 2GB of DDR2 ram.
Geforce 6600 GT


I'm wondering what would be a more efficient way of spending that money. Upgrading to a Core 2 Duo MB/CPU and getting a slightly cheaper video card.

Or spending most of that money on a top of the line video card.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jkresh]

does your p4 have pci express or agp? For gaming a 8800gts with your p4 will be faster then a 7900gs with a core 2 (in most cases anyway), but if you are on agp then putting a lot of money into a graphics card is silly. If you can go a little over $500 you might be able to get a core 2 (e4300) a cheap 965 or p35 board and an 8800gts 320 ($140 for cpu, $100+- for motherboard, cheapest gts 320 on newegg is $260 after rebate), puts you around 500.

 

[Argo]

Interesting, I'll need to check my mobo. It's been a while since I've checked on hardware so my knowledge is a little outdated.

 

[crimson117]

EDIT: removed comment about DDR2 - you already have it

Unless you really prefer Intel, consider the AMD x2 5600+ for $174. It's better at gaming than the Intel E6420.

 

[stogez]

You have a P4 running with DDR2? I didn't know that was possible. Are you sure? What mobo is that on?
Overall you would get a huge boost if you go with a C2D. There just isnt too much you can upgrade with a P4 2.4GHz. Since if you get a high end video card, your processor will still be a bottleneck.
Wait a month and get a C2D setup. Should be around E4400 (113), Gigabyte DS3R (130), 2GB DDR2-800 (~80), 8800GTS 320MB (260). So you're looking at around $550 for the whole setup. Ofcourse if you have DDR2 already then it will be under $500.

 

[mnikkel55]

What kind of resolution is your monitor? Is DX10 a priority for you? Will you be overclocking the CPU? If it were me, I'd get and 8800 GTS 320MB for about $260, put about $100 on a C2D compatible motherboard, and the rest on the best C2D you can find for that price and then OC it to whatever you can get it to.

 

[coolpurplefan]

You can look at Noobtastic's ideas in the video card forum. His mobo/cpu/ram/vid card selection might cost just over $500 but this is an odd time to upgrade.

I almost have urges to tell you to just upgrade the video card to an X1950 Pro and sit and wait. Why? Because the AMD quad cores will come out by September or October. Whatever the performance is, AMD and Intel's price war will lower prices sill from what I've read. On top of that, there are no significant mid-range DX10 cards right now. The price/performance isn't there and it's going to be a few months before we see it.

Or, you could always use the same RAM, get a cheap socket 939 and CPU and X1950 Pro and still upgrade later on.

I think in six months, we'll have DX10 video cards with a better price/performance ratio AND faster quad cores at much better prices.

That's just me but we'll see.