Upgrade my computer for $400

I'd like to play some newer games such as GTAIV and Mass Effect, but I am also kind of on a budget.

Specs:

Athlon 64 X2 3800+

2gigs DDR400 RAM

GeForce 6800GS

Those are the parts I want to upgrade, which pretty much means a new motherboard I guess. I have a 500W power supply, case, HDD and DVD drives already. Not going to be doing any overclocking so the power supply should be enough since no extra cooling will be needed. So will I be able to buy a new mother board, RAM, CPU and video card for $400 that would be a significant improvement over what I have? Or should I just say [bleep] it and buy a 360? Also should I go with XP or Vista, since Vista can do DirectX 10, and should I go for the 64bit version or 32bit? Some mods for Oblivion don't work on the 64bit systems so I was just wondering if newer games all are ok with it.

EDIT: Oh, it would be cool if the video card had an HDMI/HDCP or whatever they are called output on it. Unless VGA does 720p, because I am using my TV as my monitor.

EDIT2: My motherboard has a socket 939 for the CPU so I can't even buy a new CPU for it, also only a PCI express 16 slot, not PCI express v2 16 or whatever it's called.

I don't recommend a 360. I sold mine due to simply finding games more enjoyable and accessable on PC.

As for your upgrades, you could do with a newer GFX card if you're planning to play some really new games.

2-3 GB RAM should be enough, as for motherboad/processor - upgrade smart. E.g, get a dual core Athlon, but nothing too fancy, this will only cost $60 or so. Motherboard - try some of the new-ish Nforce cards.

Good luck, and happy gaming :

What if I just went ahead and bought this and kept everything else the same, do you think ME and GTAIV would play fine on it? Because a new mo-board and all that stuff is really more work than I feel like doing now.

What if I just went ahead and bought this and kept everything else the same, do you think ME and GTAIV would play fine on it? Because a new mo-board and all that stuff is really more work than I feel like doing now.

That's a great GFX card, I've got a 7900 GT and it eats anything I throw at it - on maximum spec lol.

As for your OS problem, stick with XP where possible (for now) as it's still preferable ;)

I don't know about Mass Effect, but GTA4 will be absolutely fine! :thumbup:

I don't recommend a 360. I sold mine due to simply finding games more enjoyable and accessable on PC.

 

As for your upgrades, you could do with a newer GFX card if you're planning to play some really new games.

 

2-3 GB RAM should be enough, as for motherboad/processor - upgrade smart. E.g, get a dual core Athlon, but nothing too fancy, this will only cost $60 or so. Motherboard - try some of the new-ish Nforce cards.

 

 

 

Good luck, and happy gaming :

Have you even read his first post? He already has a dual core Athlon, although it's low end. To upgrade pretty much anything he'd have to change the motherboard I think. He would be able to keep the same CPU though, but not the RAM or other things.

I would wait for sloter's advice on this if I were you.

Have you even read his first post? He already has a dual core Athlon, although it's low end. To upgrade pretty much anything he'd have to change the motherboard I think. He would be able to keep the same CPU though, but not the RAM or other things.

 

 

 

I would wait for sloter's advice on this if I were you.

Will a socket 939 processor work in a mo-board with an AM2+ socket? Oh and my dual core Athlon isn't just low end, it's the lowest end ;) (if I remember correctly).

No, unfortunately the motherboard has to have the right socket (if I remember right).

No, unfortunately the motherboard has to have the right socket (if I remember right).

That's what I thought, so if I get a new mo-board I have to get a new processor and new RAM. Although getting one with a PCIx16 v2 slot might be a good idea, since I'm guessing those are better than PCIx16 slots. Then I could get a better video card for the same price as the one I linked to above.

PCI-E 16x 2.0 only matter for sli/cf or high-end cards.

Here's something i'd recommend - Asus Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP - 70$ after rebate. - Performs like 3850 and will blow your card to the other side of the world. And only thing i can recommend, as i don't know your power supply.

You can give your cpu some more life by clocking it, but that's up to you. Otherwise you'd have to buy a new motherboard/cpu/ram.

Altho games are more dependant on the gpu than cpu, if you want a better gpu you need a better cpu aswell - otherwise the cpu will bottleneck.

I should add that you can get a 9800GT for about $110 right now, with a free copy of CoD 4. :)

I've got a HD3870, similar to a 9600GT and it runs Mass Effect Fine from a first hand experience, for HDMI output's, most mid-high end cards all come with adapters and with the advantage to ATI cards (not sure about Nvidia) is that they also carry sound so you don't need to plug in extra wires or a SPDIF, so I would reccommend something in the HD4800 family.

Will a PCIx16 V2 card work in a PCIx16 slot? I think I am just going to wait for a while to do a massive upgrade, I'll just buy a video card. Looks like similar pcix16v2 cards are cheaper than the same pcix16.

yeah PCIe 2.0 cards do work PCIe 1's, don't think cards are fast enough to take advantage of that bandwidth yet.

yeah PCIe 2.0 cards do work PCIe 1's, don't think cards are fast enough to take advantage of that bandwidth yet.

A card like 4870x2 takes advantage of it, if it used 1.1 the speed would be slowed down a bit.