Wheres the bottleneck?

[hotdogchef]

I want to upgrade for better gaming preformance, but am a poor college student. I was wondering what 1 or 2 things are bottlenecking me the most and should be upgraded for most improvment for the money. Thanks

MB:
Asus A8N-Deluxe

CPU:
AMD Athon 64 3200+ (Winchester core) Socket939

Videocard:
2x ATI 6600GT 128mb PCIE in SLI

Ram:
2x 512mb sticks PC3200 (CAS Latency 3)




1. What YOUR PC will be used for.

Gaming

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$200ish

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference.

No

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yes

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Default most likely

Thanks

 

[Rike]

A new graphics card will give you the best bang for your buck. Got a budget for upgrading?

Edit: For $200 you grab an 8800GT or a 9600GT for a little less.

MSI 9600GT for $155 AR

EVGA 8800GT 512 for 179.99 + Shipping

P.S. Welcome to the AT Forums!

P.P.S. Sell the 6600GTs to help off set the cost of upgrading.

 

[MarcVenice]

Hmmm, your CPU is rather slow though, and you've only got 1gb of ram, which will also be a bottleneck in some games. Probably best to get the 155$ 9600gt. Then start saving for new cpu/mobo/ram, which will probably cost 30$ for ram, 60$ for mobo and 75$ for CPU = 165$.

 

[JackMDS]

Welcome to AnandTech's General Hardware Forum.

A total upgrade like the one as mentioned by MarcVenice entails switching to Intel or a newer AMD.

So, start with the Video card since it can be used after upgrade too.

Otherwise to not put more money into this computer because when you finally do a total upgrade it would be money lost.

 

[happy medium]

Buy yourself a 8800gs from newegg for 149.00 - 20$ rebate = 129.00$
See what kind of performance boost you get.

Try to overclock your cpu , you will see a performance boost.
If you don't know how someone here will help you.(it's not hard).

If you want some more performance, sell your 6600gt's on ebay.
They should get you at least 50 bucks more.

Now you have 120.00$ of your 200.00$ budget.

Flash your motherboard bios so you can accept a AMD duel core 939 processor.

look for a cheap 939 duel core for 120.00$ shipped and overclock it.
heres one

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Athlon...VWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Sell your old cpu for 20 bucks in case they don't give you the rebate for the video card.

Now you have a overclocked 939 duel core cpu with a 8800gs gpu.
That setup will play any game made with most of the settings med/high.
Except Crysis.

not bad for 200.00$ ish

Save for another gig of ram. Youll be set for a while.

 

[JackMDS]

For less than $200 he can get Abit IP-35-E + Intel E2180 + 2GB DDR2 Mem.

Such a combo would Run circles around the top CPU available for 939.

The IP35 is also easily OCs to 3GHz, and then Run double circles against any 939 upgrade.

The current system can be sold as is toward a good Video.

Abit IP-35-E, $60 after rebate - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...7031&Tpk=ABIT%2bIP35-E

Intel E2180, $80 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116052

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2, $35 after rebate - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146565

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
For less than $200 he can get Abit IP-35-E + Intel E2180 + 2GB DDR2 Mem.

Such a combo would Run circles around the top CPU available for 939.

The IP35 is also easily OCs to 3GHz, and then Run double circles against any 939 upgrade.

The current system can be sold as is toward a good Video.

Abit IP-35-E, $60 after rebate - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...7031&Tpk=ABIT%2bIP35-E

Intel E2180, $80 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116052

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2, $35 after rebate - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146565

If hes on a budget how can he afford all that stuff before he sells his other stuff? Let see what he says about budget I guess.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
For less than $200 he can get Abit IP-35-E + Intel E2180 + 2GB DDR2 Mem.

Such a combo would Run circles around the top CPU available for 939.

The IP35 is also easily OCs to 3GHz, and then Run double circles against any 939 upgrade.

The current system can be sold as is toward a good Video.

Abit IP-35-E, $60 after rebate - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...7031&Tpk=ABIT%2bIP35-E

Intel E2180, $80 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116052

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2, $35 after rebate - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146565

I agree with this; if he sells his current stuff and gets a 9600GT (or something like that) then spends the money on the components listed by Jack, he'll have a system five times that which he would have if he just spent $200 on upgrades for the current one.

Option 2: get a job!