Upgrade advice

[Dragdar]

Motherboard: nVIDIA nForce 4 ,Socket : 754 PCI Express x16
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ ,2000 Hz
GfxCard: nVIDIA Geforce 6600 128 Mb
RAM: DIMM 1G 200Hz DDR SDRAM , Module width: 64
Power Supply : Asus MIDI Tower 360 W
+3,3V 22A
+5V 21A
+12V1 10A
+12V2 15A
-12V 0,3A
+5Vsb 2A

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I was thinking of upgrading GfxCrad and RAM

Gfx : GeForce 8800GT I think my motherboard can handle that (bottleneck?)
RAM : not sure what kind of RAm I can put on this motherboard (memory speed). If you know please tell me
-I was thinking 2G RAM

What I'm afraid of is bottle necking! I think that my GRXcard is bottlenecking at the moment. but I don't know if 8800gt would be pulled back too much on it's performance cause of my processor (that supposedly has 3000 Hz performance speed)
RaM is always helpful.

Motherboard Properties:

Real clock: 200Hz
Effective clock: 200Hz

bus type: ddr sdram
bus width: 64 bit
real clock: 167 Hz
efective clock: 335 Hz
Bandwidth : 2679 Mb/s

I hope I wrote everything an expert needs to understand my specs and wishes.
Thx for all the advice and links

[Monty007]

Well fist thing I would like to know is what do you want to get from this upgrade?
What brand of M/B do you have? download this and post the M/B model.
http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html

[Dragdar]

The brand is Gygabite (motherboard)
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Property Value
Manufacturer
Model NF4X-INF
Version
Serial Number

North Bridge NVIDIA nForce4 Revision A3
South Bridge NVIDIA nForce4 MCP Revision A3

CPU AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+
Cpu Socket Socket 754

System Slots 5 PCI

Memory Summary
Maximum Capacity 12288 MBytes
Maximum Memory Module Size 4096 MBytes
Memory Slots 3
Error Correction None

Warning! Accuracy of DMI data cannot be guaranteed
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I wish to play new games with decent fps.

[Monty007]

"I wish to play new games with decent fps."
Sorry to tell you a new card and ram will not let you play the latest ganes at a decent fps. Tou will need a new M/B, ram, CPU, and video card.
You will be wasting your money upgrading what you have as the CPU is too old. Also you are on the mnimum of the P/S, 500 watt is better for a upgrade.
You are spot on with the ram and video card, the 8800 is still a good card.

[Dragdar]

So what would be your advice on making a completely new PC?

I want - 8800GT
2GB RAM 800 MHz I suppose

I have no idea what Motherboard to buy, I want it to have a perspective for future, I don't want SLI, I wan it to have enough memory flow not to pull back on anything even if I upgrade 1-2 years from now.

I have apsolutely no idea what processor to buy AMD is more cost efficient and in my opinion delivers the needed, Intel is very overclockish single core /dual core?

I want my PSU to be less noisy and have future perspective.


Around 800 USD keeping in mind that hardware is lil' bit more expensive in Croatia

[Monty007]

Hi, first thing Intel are the way to go in daul core (dont bother with single core) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgOmMAasqto
For an upgradible PC it will come down to what your M/B will support so this is vital. Gigabyte is a good choice for me. http://www.gigabyte.com.hr/
8800 GT is still a great card.
The only other thing will be the P/S you may need something around a 500 watt no smaller.

[JakeL19]

Yea my upgrade advice is:
1. Start with your base, the mother board. Buy a good one they would support
Dual-core or even if money isn't an issue, something that supports quad-core.
2. Next you will need the heart of your computer, a processor. If you intend to play games this component is vital. Someyhing dual-core at minimum (single core isn't enough for gaming these days) with at least a clock of 2 ghz each core. And again, if money isn't an issue go for the quad-core.
3. A GPU ( Video card) is another main component you will need to play the up-to-date games. Something with at least 256mb of memory or for better gaming 512mb. And again if money isn't an issue there are dual GPU's availiable. ATi or Nvidia is the way to go.
4. The RAM, minimum 2gb DDR2, 4gb DDR2 is beyter. And again if money isn't an issue 2gb of DDR3 RAM would be for extreme gamers.
5. A decent Hard drive to store all those games. 200gb should be enough, or even go up to the 500gb level if you have alot of games. Something with an RPM of 7200 would be great but Raptor 10000 RPM hard drives are for the hearty gamers.
6. A good power supply unit with a MINIMUM of 500watt
7. Somewhere to put all this stuff? A good tower case with plenty of air flow to cool all of the components. A cool master looks good in my opinion but theres plenty of other brands. ( look on ebay ) Though a good case isn't really absolutely vital.

Gamer extra's:
1. 20" LCD screen
2. A water cooled system

[Dragdar]

Thx for your advice! I see that upgrading is a no no.

If you are up for it some component links would be great

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P.S The whole AMD vs Intel thingy isn't about performance only clearly Intel is better here, but AMD gives more reasonable prices and delivers great budget performance that will run my games, GPU is where gamers need the juice to process the visuals, as I see it CPu is for AI and some other physics calculations.

[Monty007]

You can ust the gigabyte link I posted earlier. Amd link is easy if you want that look at the 6600. Video card, well any 8800 GT will do I have an MSI which I dont know is availible where you live.
Kingston ram 800 is ok 4 gig is not needed in XP.
Just search in Google.