Computer Upgrade Thread

Alright, I need to figure out what pieces of hardware I should purchase to boost the performance of my computer, especially when I am playing PC games. What do you guys think I should get to make my computer better for that area?

Here are my current systems specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+
ABIT ATX nForce2 NF7-S2 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800SE
Corsair DDRAM 512mb (256x2)
Western Digital 80gb Hard Drive. (7200RPM 8mb cache)
NEC 16x DVD Burner
Sony 16x DVD Player
Logitech Wireless Keyboard & Mouse
Soundblaster Live 7.1 soundcard
Linksys Wireless Card
ATOP Xblade Computer Case w/ 450W Power Supply

Thanks a lot for your help beforehand, and if you have any links to products you think I should get, please do post them.

EDIT: Oh, and I'd also like to know if I should go ahead and make the jump to PCI-express with my motherboard, seeing as how I heard it was very good for gaming.

Edited by: Karuto

Wow...beat the hell out of my computer by far.

I'd say upgrade to a Athlon XP 3200+ and get another 512 stick of DDRAM. Other than that, I think you'd be set.

NewEgg
Price Watch

Edited by: Sticky

Thanks for the help, Sticky.

This is what I was considering purchasing so far. The motherboard is so I can be able to upgrade my video card without having to worry about incompatability:

Motherboard: Newegg.com or Newegg.com
Video Card: Newegg.com or Newegg.com
Processor: Newegg.com

Maybe you guys could help me with the RAM. I'm only looking to buy another 512mb stick of DDR so I can bring it up 1gb, which, imho, is more than enough to handle the games and other things that I use on my computer. Here's the full name of the memory I have right now: CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB (2 x 256MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory. This one is probably it: Newegg.com

Obviously, I'm not going to buy all of this at once, but would much rather go in order of importance. Which do you guys think would be most beneficial towards my computer as I wait for the next piece? Or, if some of those parts aren't good or aren't compatible with the other, would you please tell me what I should change? Thank you very much.

Edited by: Karuto

Don't forget Price Watch. They have some smokin' deals too.

Heh, I know. I might buy some of those over Ebay as well, to save plenty of money.

I just want to know what you guys think about the items I selected, and if they'll alright to upgrade my computer with at my current specs.

newegg.com is better than eBay so i suggest you compare the prices.

Yup newegg is good. All you really need is more ram and CPU as sticky said. But if you can get more go for it.

Also 1024 ram is actually around recommended for most games, even if they don't say it.

newegg ripped me off, they never gave me my rebate...

Ippo wrote: Obviously, I'm not going to buy all of this at once, but would much rather go in order of importance. Which do you guys think would be most beneficial towards my computer as I wait for the next piece? Or, if some of those parts aren't good or aren't compatible with the other, would you please tell me what I should change? Thank you very much.

Get the RAM first, since you may notice a huge performance increase from that alone.

The rest of what you want to buy seems good, but personally I wouldn't make an x86 move to 64-bit until Windows fully supports it.

Well, I am aware of that I need to add more RAM and CPU, but I'm really trying to go for the ultimate upgrade for my computer. I want to improve the performance in games on all facets. Not only framerate, but quality and other points of performance. This is so I can spend the money now on the computer, then not have to worry about it for another year or so, so I can focus on other things (college, car, other wants, etc).

Heh, I just bid $148 on an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ on Ebay, and lo and behold, I won it. I was sort of hoping someone would outbit me, because I've had trouble trying to control how I spend my money. I was actually thinking about waiting to spend my money until I either got that discount at Best Buy, or had collected enough paychecks to pay for that item safely without worrying about invading the area where I make car payments. It has sort of overlapped, but thankfully, I still have some money left over so I don't overcharge the bank (that's the last thing I want to do).

So hey, I saved like $40 on buying the item from Ebay instead of a site on Pricewatch.com. Go me.

Now, all I need is a motherboard (Chaintech VNF4 nForce4 Ultra PCI-E), a stick of RAM (I was actually planning on buying that first), and a video card (planning on getting a GeForce nVidia 6800).

EDIT: Oh, for those who are interested, here is the CPU I got: Cgi.ebay.com

Edited by: Karuto

AMD processors run hot, make sure you have a nice CPU heatsink and fan because usually the ones packaged with the cpu are trash.

I do. I have this Thermaltake Extreme Volcano that a lot of people recommended. On Newegg, it had over 157 reviews and it had 5 stars across the board. I have this program, SpeedFan, that checks the temperature of the computer, and despite it being over 100 degrees outside, it keeps it quite cool at 38 degrees Celsius.

So, I think I'll be alright. I've had an AMD Athlon for a few years, so I know what to expect. My brother has the same brand (AMD Athlon 64 3200+), and his computer is cold as ice.

EDIT: Argh, I just found out that the processor I bought is OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). With the Thermaltake fan, will I be alright, or is there something else I have to buy to make sure nothing bad happens?

Edited by: Karuto

Remember: BUY QUALITY RAM! GENERIC, LOW PRICE= GENERIC PERFORMANCE, GENERIC QUALITY!

It doesn't matter how much ram you have if it's slow... Always buy kingston or corsair.

hey i have a

AMD 3ghz
1024 ddr 333 ram
Asus geforce 4 N6600
52x cd rom drive
32x dvdr cdr combo drive
z board
no point listing the rest

what should i get
im think of more ram and a better CPU

Marcjs wrote: hey i have a

AMD 3ghz
1024 ddr 333 ram
Asus geforce 4 N6600
52x cd rom drive
32x dvdr cdr combo drive
z board
no point listing the rest

what should i get
im think of more ram and a better CPU

At the current state of PC's, more than 1024mb of ram is counter productive. When we get better quality processors, with MUCh better registers, then we can have more ram. Wait a while to upgrade, until the next generation of dual core 64 bits, then upgrade.

OK ill probley only update when i find a game that doesnt run on my computer

Yes, at the state you're at, you have no reason to upgrade. However, in the future, you might want to invest in a PCI-express motherboard and video card. Not only is it actually cheaper to buy these things with PCI-e embedded within them, they actually increase your performance in video games and other such material.

Just something to look into, but you definitely should not do that right now. The reason I want to upgrade is because I purchased my computer parts when I was on a low budget. At the moment, I can afford boosting my specs by a lot, seeing as how there's so many great deals out there for the parts I want.

yeah I feel kinda bad because I just sank 140 bucks into an Ati Radeon 9200 and 1 gig of ram (I don't have a job right now so money is hard to come by) and now I am thinking about building a computer from scratch.

Well, Hatebreed, if you ever need any help choosing the parts, I've done a ton of research into the area, so I'd be more than happy to help on a budget.

No way man next computer is not going to have a budget its gonna be rawkin'

Budget doesn't = bad. I just meant the amount of money you're willing to spend on the computer. That way, I can accurately gather the different products and make sure that you have to spend too much money for a good computer. That's all.