Upgrade or new System?

[WazMeister]

I'm thinking of sorting my system out for xmas.

I have a limit of about ?400.
I can either go and upgrade this-
AMD Xp3000
ATI 9800XT
1gig ram
40gig HD

to
AMD XP3000
Geforce 7800 agp (what ever the top range agp one is at the time)
2 gig ram
100+gig HD.

That will be less than ?400 I presume.

Is it worth saving the pennies for that upgrade to just run games like Quake Wars med range etc.
Or should I instead get something like this, would it have much power than above?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-028-OK&groupid=43&catid=781&subcat=

Or any other suggestions for systems?

[briareos_kerensky]

Go for the system in the link, it's a good all around system. Upgrading an AGP system is useless, you'll be CPU-limited in most games even with a powerful graphic card.

[WazMeister]

That system above,

Some people said "ah it run HL2 max without problems but not quake wars".

I'm quiet surprised at some people who say this, do they know nothing about systems and make theirs run 30% slower?

MY old system above runs HL2 max smooth as a silky bit of cloth.

Surely that above cheap system could run Quake Wars maxed, maybe not highest Res but max settings.

[WazMeister]

I went to ARIA.co.uk

Did build PC

THis was outcome, is this better than above?
I dont know much about latest intel or amd cpus, which is better as I know amd dont go by MHZ.
Whats the eqivulent of a amd to a intel

£ 413.22
Chosen Components:
Assembly ChargeAntec NSK4000 Blk/SilverTowerXilence 420W Gaming PSUIntel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz (775)ASUS P5K Intel iP35 Socket 775 MotherboardPatriot 2GB PC2-6400 C4 Extreme Performance (2x1GB)160GB Maxtor Diamondmax SATA2 2MBNEC ND-5170A-0B 18x DVDRW DL BlacknVidia GeForce 8800 GTS 256

[briareos_kerensky]

It won't be able to run it at high resolutions (1280x1024 and above) with all details maxed out but there's no way that iD won't optimize the game to run on such system, it's like shooting yourself in the feet, mid-range system are the most common rigs out there, not everyone is willing (or can) to afford a QX6800 with two HD2900XTs and 4 gbs or RAM.
It will surely run it much better than your current system (my system is pretty similar to yours, just with more RAM and HDDs), if it will ever be able to run.
The problem with these pre-64bit AGP systems is that you are limited to XP3000+ or XP3200+ CPUs and their low overclocking rates: slamming in a X1950PRO or similar GPUs will let you run games, but you will CPU-limited: for example, your system with a X1950PRO won't be able to run Supreme Commander decently as the CPU will struggle with the game itself and the GPU will sit idly between frames waiting for the CPU to reply.
Maybe you can ask the shop if they can upgrade the RAM to 2gbs (as 2x1gb kit) directly and add a second hard drive, but the system got a good value, you're not wasting your money

[edit]
the system you wrote in the last message is much, much, better, both CPU and GPU-wise.
Not knowing how retailers are on your little island ( ) I assumed it was a good price, but apparently you can do better. Like swapping the Maxtor drive for a Western Digital if it's not a 11 series.

[RBelmont]

sell your system, and spend the extra money on a decent new build.

500 quid will get you a far better machine than what your planning on upgrading to.

you could get a core2 setup(go for the e4400 or something and clock it to 3.4 gig like i have) with something like a 8800gts.

i presume you already have a monitor.

[WazMeister]

Thanks for replies men,

I have a monitor, 20 inch WS dell back in days cost me £500, Worth about 50p now lmao.

I can barely afford 400, well I can't I'm hoping my Wife will treat me for xmas! She don't know yet.
HA HA!

Serisouly, How much could I get for my current system? Thought it was worth 50quid lol.

Spent over a grand on it back in days.


So that Aria PC is better than that AMD one?
Is it alot more powerful?

Maybe its best to build one with Aria then...
What you guys suggest, go to aria and build a good spec with aria see what the price is.

Maybe I can get a smaller HD, upp the CPU on the intel?

p.s I think that Aria pc has 2 gig ram too!
That surely can't be that cheap with all that hardware in there!
Cool!
Your advie is well taken, thanks!

[WazMeister]

hmm that intel system is 464 with VAT + shipping looking at £500..

Doh!

[briareos_kerensky]

The Aria PC ha some pretty componets, you should be able to lower it at 400 pounds by selecting less cutting-edge components.
2 Gbs of RAM (even value A-Data banks are fine), an E6420 with stock heat sink (a bit uneffective but decently quiet and it comes with the CPU), an 8600GT or an HD2600 and a mid-end Gigabyte board like the P35-DS3 with a single 320 GB SATA HDD will do fine and it should be well within the 400? mark.
The E6750 is the second most powerful CPU in Intel's dual core line (first is the E6850 and then we have the quadcores), while the E6420 is the cheapest (roughly half the price), but it's still a dual core CPU with good overclocking values, if you really want to try.
I consider 2 Gbs the minimum if you want to play - you can live with a single GB and XP, but 2 is better If you choose to go with a single Gb, be sure to get it on a single bank, so that you'll just need to put in a second stick to double the amount of RAM.
The 8600GT and the HD2600 are mid-level GPUs, both DX10, the HD2600 is a bit better with movies and videos in general.

[WazMeister]

Thanks Briareos!
Awesome poist.

So that GT a good graphocs card? Where it says HD2600 does that mean it dose true HD or something for movies and that?

[briareos_kerensky]

The 8600 is a mid-level card, it's better than the 8400 but worse than the 8800. It will be able to run present game and most future games at a decent resolution with medium details.
The HD in the HD2600 means that the card is fully equipped for HD decoding and output, it's DHCP compatible and there's a card-to-component cable and a DVI to HDMI converter with it. I think that the HD2600, thanks to this capability, is a better choice over the 8600, even if it's slightly slower in games. However, if you only plan to play on your PC, go for the 8600, you won't be disappointed.

[RBelmont]

Thanks Briareos!
Awesome poist.

So that GT a good graphics card? Where it says HD2600 does that mean it dose true HD or something for movies and that?

the 8600 series is rather lame tbh, they represent no decent value, as the 320mb 8800gts is only like 40-50 quid more........and rapes it for performance(hell ebuyer were selling xfx xxx 7900gs cards which will give similar performance for about 70 quid).

ati are not so hot right now either.

[WazMeister]

So ur saying either pay the extra for a 8800GTS or skip 8600 and get a 7900GS

?

I kinda just want it for performance so I may skip the HD extras.

That system with intel, is Duel core. Whats that mean I can run 2 games at same time smooth?

Don't understand how they canb say "Run multiple programs with ease"

I been running 2 programs at same time since my 866 P3, geforce 1.

lol

[briareos_kerensky]

That's kinda complicate, but...
When you start a program, this program starts a thread; as long the thread is active (for example a 3D program rendering an image or a game running), it consume CPU power.
During the DOS days the operating system was able to run a single thread at a time, but when MS introduced Win95, the OS can follow one or more different threads, thus multitasking. You didn't need two processors to multitask, but you need a lot of RAM/swap space and a decent CPU if you were running two programs at once (like compressing with WinRAR and listening to a song or watching a video).
Now CPU firms started to produce a single CPU with two cores, effectively combining two (or more) CPUs on a single chip. With such CPUs a program coded to use the two cores can start two threads, each using a single core, theorically doubling performance.
That said, recent operating systems can assign a single program/thread to a core, and an other program/thread to an other, allowing both programs to run at full speed, without the CPU to first process data from a thread and then the other.
So, yes, theorically you can run two games at the same time as long you have enough system resources and the magical ability to follow two of them at the same time (on a single screen).

[RBelmont]

So ur saying either pay the extra for a 8800GTS or skip 8600 and get a 7900GS

?

I kinda just want it for performance so I may skip the HD extras.

That system with intel, is Duel core. Whats that mean I can run 2 games at same time smooth?

Don't understand how they canb say "Run multiple programs with ease"

I been running 2 programs at same time since my 866 P3, geforce 1.

lol

yeah think of it simply, the pc can run 2 programs easily on dual core setups. your not seeing both games on screen at any one time, the cpu actually just keeps the program processes running, so you can switch between programs easier. pentium 4 for eg supports multithreading, but is not as efficient hence programs will take longer to respond in a multi threaded enviroment.

and yes something like a 7900gt/s would be more cost effective than a 8600 card, they really are not the same kind of beast as the 6600/7600gt's were. and really offer no bang for buck(not to mention being based still on 128mb mem architecture)

be quick though last time i looked ebuyer didnt have many left.