Help me upgrade my computer for BF2.

[donpost]

My computer is coming up to it's 2nd birthday now, and it's starting to look a bit sluggish. Here are my specs:

• Gigabyte GA-8IG1000G Mobo
• Super Flower Real 420w Dual Fan PSU
• Pentium 4 2.8GHz Processor
• 2x 512mb PC3200 DDR400 Ram sticks
• Connect3d ATI Radeon 9600XT 128MB Graphics Card
• 2x 80GB 7200RPM HDD
• Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Sound Card
• Ebuyer Extra Value Beige PS2 Keyboard

I want to upgrade that. Now I'm not 100% hardware savvy, so I need you guys to give me some advice. I initially thought of getting these two products from ebuyer:

Mobo + CPU combo

Nice sexy Gfx Card


But then I thought, is going from a P4 2.8 to a AMD 64bit 3200+ really worth it? Would I be better off spunking the money on a really top Gfx card and another 1 Gb of RAM? Also I have no idea if my current RAM would fit into that new mobo.

Another point to consider is I don't want to format my PC if possible. Can you do something as drastic as replacing the mobo and CPU without having to format?

Thanks for any advice :)

[Heatseeker_no.1]

Re: Help me upgrade my computer for BF2.

Another point to consider is I don't want to format my PC if possible. Can you do something as drastic as replacing the mobo and CPU without having to format?

No

What is your budget?

[donpost]

Re: Help me upgrade my computer for BF2.

Around £300, inc VAT.

[JavierWar]

Re: Help me upgrade my computer for BF2.

Another point to consider is I don't want to format my PC if possible. Can you do something as drastic as replacing the mobo and CPU without having to format?

Thanks for any advice :)

Yes you can.

Try first:
Before swaping the mobo go into the Device Manager (Windows Key + Pause > Hardware tab > Device Manager) there select the primary IDE Channel and change the driver to Standard. This sometimes work but not always.

If it fails (you get a BSD after swapping the mobo)
Try this: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1755

[IndianScout]

Re: Help me upgrade my computer for BF2.

the board and CPU will still hold out for a bit..

if you were to replace the ram with 2G and get a new 7800GS card, that would run very well...

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/02/02/bfgtech_7800_gs_agp/1.html

[TehFunk]

Re: Help me upgrade my computer for BF2.

I wouldnt get the x850, get an x1600+ or 7600+. The 8xx's dont have SM3.0 support. And dont know if you really want to buy socket 939 now, its kinda useless. Id go for AM2 or Conroe.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Help me upgrade my computer for BF2.

the board and CPU will still hold out for a bit..

Ditto that. Prices are crashing soon, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to build a new system before Conroe ships and AMD's chips tumble in price. You could definitely use one more gig of ram, but I don't know if I'd drop $250-$300 on an AGP gpu. I'd be more tempted to go to ebay and get a used/refurbished ati x850, x800, or (depending on the price) x700, or an nvidia 6600 or 6800 to improve visuals in the meantime.

[[TxM]Spitfire]

Re: Help me upgrade my computer for BF2.

Here try this http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Specia...AM2_071906_HPG and this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...sp?CatId=1619&

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Help me upgrade my computer for BF2.

I wouldnt get the x850, get an x1600+ or 7600+. The 8xx's dont have SM3.0 support. And dont know if you really want to buy socket 939 now, its kinda useless. Id go for AM2 or Conroe.

True, but you can't turn on SM3 on either of those cards without games turning into a slide show, so the presence of better technology is moot. I'd go for the fill-rate of an x850xt over having a gpu that's technically capable of a lighting effect that I can't use, especially with regard to the x1600. :p