upgrade or new?

[[Jett-R]-MeDiuMRaRe]

Here's my spec's...I'm hoping to be home more next year (I've been on business trips 18 weeks already this year with another two weeks likely before 2009) so I'm thinking of upgrading or getting a new pc. I think Fallout 3 would be hard to play on my system now.

So I've come for your friendly and helpful advice. Here's my current specs:

System Manufacturer: INTEL_
System Model: D925BC2_
BIOS: BIOS Date: 10/12/04 18:17:05 Ver: 08.00.10
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB RAM

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6600
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6600
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0141&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A2
Display Memory: 256.0 MB


I don't have a budget set aside yet, I'll start saving once I know what I want / need. It's been so long since I fragged...

Thanks!

[[Jett]-rush2049]

well my specs are currently:

AMD Athlon X2 6400+ 3.2 Ghz
2 GB DDR2 800
Nvidia Geforce 7800 GTX 256 MB


Looking at your specs yes you would need to upgrade, but not by much.... you might even be able to play fallout 3 on low/med settings..... as I could play on med/high settings....

my laptop can play it on low settings and its specs are currently:

Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz
2 GB DDR2 800
Geforce 8400 M GS
150 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive

My laptop isn't impressive in the least, but it could muster the game pretty well... and both my computers are running vista ultimate just fine....

[Replenish]

I think the main question is whether you want to upgrade or get a new PC. This can be mainly answered by how much you plan to spend for this.

If you buy a new:

These days you can get a pretty awesome computer for around 1000$. (No screen included). This would include:
- a kick ass intel processor @3ghz+,
- 2gig of ram @800fsb,
- a pci-x video card like a geforce 9800gtx
- and a pair of 500Gig sata2 hard drives.
- You can add a cool LCD screen for about 250$.

So a new computer could go for 1250$ to 1500$. (Of course you can spend more or less...but this is in my opinion the range in which you get the best performance per dollar spent)

If you upgrade:
this is in order what *I would do* with your computer:

- Get 1 more gig of ram, 50$. (very cheap, enhance you overall computer performance).
- Get a new video card, 200$. (id go for a geforce 9800GTX, scores 8X higher in 3dmark than your actual video card!!!)
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/3DMark06-v1-1-0-3DMark-Score,794.html
- Get a new monitor, 200$. (you did not mention what your monitor was, if its awesome do not pay attention to this point). Seriously do not underestimate how a good LCD monitor can enhance your gameplay.
- Lastly (this point is in part greed...), i would go for a pair of sata2 hard drive setup in RAID0, 150$. Mainly it sends half the data on one drive and the other half on the other...which amounts to increased access speed (Goodbye long loading times!!!).

[[Jett]-Willow]

I've built nine computers so far this holiday season for family and frieds, so if you're looking to go new, I can hook you up with numerous builds.

For around $600 right now, you can make a pretty mean gaming rig, not top of the line but still runs COD 4, all the source games and such at 80FPS+ w/ max graphics and 8X AA

Pop in another $300 and you can have a pretty top of the line PC, not DSRU style, but the normal high end.

[[Jett-R]-MeDiuMRaRe]

I don't have any money saved up right now. I do need a new monitor so I'm thinking upgrade.

a gig of ram $50
new vid card $200
new monitor $200

[[Jett]-Willow]

Is your video card agp or PCI-e? If it's agp without any PCI-e slots you'll be looking at a new motherboard as well as a new CPU and ram. On top of that using a new video card will also require you to get a new power supply.

See where I'm going here?

[Stability]

-MeDiuMRaRe;7732']I don't have any money saved up right now. I do need a new monitor so I'm thinking upgrade.

a gig of ram $50
new vid card $200
new monitor $200

That's a great place to start. For the monitor, don't forget to watch craigslist. With the way the economy is, people are selling virtually brand new stuff that they thought they could afford. Check that out and see if you can find a good buy. The RAM and card I would suggest going new though.

-Stab

[[Jett-R]-MeDiuMRaRe]

The card slot is pci-e why would i need a new power supply? I forget what I have in there but I've generally over spent on ps in the past and this system is really only 3 years old.

[[Jett]-Willow]

-MeDiuMRaRe;7737']The card slot is pci-e why would i need a new power supply? I forget what I have in there but I've generally over spent on ps in the past and this system is really only 3 years old.

Sounds like you are good to go then. The new gpus are power hogs and require a six pen pci-e connection and I don't know if theyake such an adapter. As long as you have a good quality 500+ watt psu you should be good to go. However I don't believe you will get full performance out of a new GPU as the computer will bottleneck at the CPU.

[[Jett-R]-MeDiuMRaRe]

Ok cool, I've never been a graphicolic anyways...If I can see an improvement and play new games I'll be happy. I'll check the power supply wattage when I get a chance..I know it's at least 450 if not 500.

any recomendations on LCD monitors?...using a dell crt now...:(

[[Jett]-Willow]

As for the Video card, plop down $130 on a eVGA 8800GT and for monitor... I really dig the Samsungs, however the ol' lady just picked up a 20" Widescreen Acer on Newegg for $160 and it's a nice little monitor.

[[Jett]-Melvinator]

I had several Acer monitors and had very good luck with them. I did have a problem with one, but Acer has a 3 year warranty and I had it for 2 yrs. and started getting lines across the screen. I took it back to where I bought it and they shipped it to Acer and two weeks later got a new monitor, for free. Acer has always been good on customer service in my opinion.

[[Jett]-Bakka]

Get a Samsung LCD. They're all good, though i suggest getting a 22" widescreen if you can afford it.