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Considering Cheap Hardware Upgrade

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Hey everyone, I'm thinking of potentially upgrading my pc. I'm thinking I could get some new memory or video card or even a processor, if the price is right, that is. I'm thinking that it would be worthwhile to spend about $300 or so in order to get a performance boost. However, I'm curious though, could I get real tangible performance boost for that price? Should I just hold off and buy a new pc next year or upgrade now and let my rig last a little longer. Specs are below and thank you!

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice

Motherboard: MSI MS-7093

Memory: 3 X 512 MB PC3200 DDR 400 MHz

Video Card(s): Radeon 850XT

Harddisk(s): 180GB
 

chineseboy

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I think you upgrade potential is not great, modern technology too fast, I think you should be getting a new computer next year, spent 300 US dollars escalation, I think not worth it.
 

sneekypeet

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Well for $300 you should be able to go AM2 and get a mobo DDR2 and an AM2 procie for that price range. For this to work you would need to keep the HDD and X850 tho!

You could save a bit more and get some more quality parts in a bit, but if its a mist type of situation , thats my opinion of how to spend the money. Altho the X850 with SM2 may look a bit off compared to newer cards , it is a strong contender to play older games still!

You may even be able to sell your old mobo , procie, DDR, and X850 to add to the money for an upgrade and possibly be able to purchase a better graphics card as well!
 
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I would wait and save up a lil more and just by a new computer. Even right now you can get a good solid system for less then $600. If you are really intent on upgrading something I would get a new video card like either a 8800gt or HD3850. Then you can just pop it in your new system when that time comes.
 

quickie

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Well I would not get more DDR memory or another Socket939 Cpu. The upgrade path really isn't that good, if at all.

Unless you are itching to play one of those newer DX9/10 games, I'd wait to get a new video card too. All depends what you need to do.

If you want to upgrade for the sake of upgrading, I'd personally go for a nice P35 board (maybe a Gigabyte model), either a Pentium E21xx or C2D 4xxx and 2x1GB DDR800 - and have some fun overclocking the cpu. If you are comfortable oc'ing, this will gain you some serious computing horsepower.
 
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
480 (0.07/day)
Location
USA
System Name Eric's Battlestation
Processor Core i7 6700k
Motherboard GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming 7
Cooling Fractal Design Celsius S24
Memory Patriot Viper Steel Series DDR4 32GB 3200MHz
Video Card(s) MSI Mech 6750 XT
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 1TB, Crucial MX500 1TB, Intel 660p 2TB
Display(s) Gigabyte M27Q
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Power Supply EVGA G2-XR 80 Plus Gold 750W
Mouse Steelseries Rival 3
Keyboard Logitech G810
Software Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Well I would not get more DDR memory or another Socket939 Cpu. The upgrade path really isn't that good, if at all.

Unless you are itching to play one of those newer DX9/10 games, I'd wait to get a new video card too. All depends what you need to do.

If you want to upgrade for the sake of upgrading, I'd personally go for a nice P35 board (maybe a Gigabyte model), either a Pentium E21xx or C2D 4xxx and 2x1GB DDR800 - and have some fun overclocking the cpu. If you are comfortable oc'ing, this will gain you some serious computing horsepower.

Hmmm, good to know. I guess I will just hold off for another year or so. I don't think there is much of a point of upgrading what I have, if I basically should start from the ground up, you know? My computer runs most of what I can throw at it, especially the older hits, but it has trouble with the power hungry titles such as NWN 2, Supreme Commander or stuff along those lines. Shoot, I know I'm going to keep my rig at least until the warranty runs out, then I'll give it away to a family member probably. Thanks for the advice.
 
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