Should I upgrade or rebuild?

[thedonutman]

Right, heres what I've got right now:

A64 3200+ venice
2x512mb Geil Ultra-X
Asrock 939-dualsata2
MSI 6600GT


I was thinking of upgrading to C2D and DX10, but I realised that I would have to get new RAM and motherboard too. Which I just don't have the money for right now.


Do you think I should get a X1950XT/Pro or something for the time being. Until I get enough money to build a whole new system?

[Oobie-]

what is your purpose of upgrading?
Gaming/video editing/animation?
Do you want to use vista?
Whats your budget?

I reckon that you should wait till penryn comes out if you aren't a heavy computer user.

[thedonutman]

1. To be able to run stuff on the highest settings.
2. Gaming and basic computer stuff(Word processing, internet)
3. Eventually, but not any time soon.
4. As little as possible I guess, £100-150?

[Syd]

1. To be able to run stuff on the highest settings.
2. Gaming and basic computer stuff(Word processing, internet)
3. Eventually, but not any time soon.
4. As little as possible I guess, £100-150?

What res are you running at?

You could buy a X1950XT256 for about £120 - think ebuyer have them on special atm, which would run most things at 17"/19" Native resolutions, However some games will want more than 1GB of RAM to run smoothly.

[cotswoldcs]

I assume that your 6600GT is an AGP card. If so this ultimately will be the deciding factor. If you get a new graphics card it won't be any use in your next system. You'd also need to check that your PSU can cope with a better card.

All in all I would recommend saving up for a C2D system. See if you can sell your current system.

[thedonutman]

My motherboard can run native AGP as well as PCI-E, my PSU should be fine (I hope). Its a enermax, about 530w, with 2x 12v rails.

[NightshadowUK]

Buy a 256MB X1950XT for £116 - it's not money wasted as when you finally do have enough to updrage you can take the card with you.

[Syd]

I have the same mobo, it was really cheap and has given me an easy jump from agp to pcie.

But i repeat what res are you planning to run?

If it is less than 1920x1200 go with the above card

[jackvdbuk]

the x1950xt is 104.99 delivered @ ebuyer, was going to purchase.... but im going to wait 2-3 months for dx10 high end card

[Mithrandir]

I've got the same mobo. I reckon you should go for the x1950xt, keep an eye out for ram/CPU on sale in the Hexus classifieds. Otherwise Overclock the CPU if you haven't done so yet.

[thedonutman]

I've got a 18" old samsung LCD. Its at 1280x1024.

I kinda want to get a X2 too, since they are really cheap at overclockers too, around 50 quid for a 4200+ or something.

[NightshadowUK]

Scan FTW!!!

[Mithrandir]

Scan FTW!!!

I wonder if they'll be getting more stock in? This has been sold out for over a week and on pre-order status at the mo. Here are other options:

OCUK:
3800x2 = £39
4200x2 = £58

Komplett:
4200x2 = £55

Ebuyer:
4200x2 = £65 delivered