is there still life in my system?

[simbob]

ok specs are:

athlon xp 2700+
9800pro -
asrock k7s49 (i think)
1 gb ram ( 2 x 512mb 3200ddr)
120gb HDD
650w Psu
16X Dvd rw


well as the title says, do you think theres life left in my com?
if i was to buy a
PowerColor X850XT 256mb DDR3 AGP VGA DVI VIVO, would this com be worth while for at least another year?

please give me your input.

i can get that x850xt for £180, and looking at benchmarks its decent, what do you guys think? i aint really got the cash atm to make a new build, but if i did i would go for;

4200+ dual core
x1900xt
2gb of 2 x 1gb ddr
etc etc

so am i best of making do with this com for a year or so(buying the graphics card) or going that long mile (potentially getting a loan) and making a new build ?
financially, im currently unemployed, but as for the benfits i recieve, im still living with parents, and so i pay no 'board / rent' so the money i recieve is mine, apart from payments on my CC and my phone (contract) monthly outgoings is only typically £30ish.

so what do you think i am best off doing?

[JPMiller]

Well realistically YOU are the only one that can answer THAT...
Does it do what you currently want it to do?
Does it work correctly?
IS it HORRIBLY slow, or does it perform decently for what you use it for?
Dont upgrade just to upgrade...
the longer you wait the cheaper components become and the better the next upgrade will be...

[simbob]

well for gaming etc, ive never cared for AA and AF etc, highest res im gonna be using is pretty much 1280 x 1024 (highest my tft go's), so gaming wise, combined with my cpu & ram, would the x850xt be ok to play games on high settings (no AA & AF) with no lag? ideally at least 50fps ? should that make do for a year or so ?

[YottaHertz]

It depends on what you're gonna use the system for...
Also... if you get that X850 the CPU is most likely gonna be you're bottleneck... how much that'll affect in-game performance... I dunno... You could possibly get a new socket 939 MoBo w/ PCI-E & AGP.... a nice 3200+ Venice and keep that 9800pro.... cuz I think that still has some life in it... you could then upgrade the graphics card in a year or two.....

[simbob]

if i go socket 939, i idealy want to go ndual core, just the current prices are abit high i think.

[YottaHertz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by simbob

if i go socket 939, i idealy want to go ndual core, just the current prices are abit high i think.

Dual core would be a very wise choice... Also what games are we talking about here? Current gen games - BF2, HL2, CS:S etc - and next-gen games - Oblivion yes it think of it as next gen game even though it's out - or last gen games - you pick - ?

[buckaro]

Keep the current system. It'l run all current games(if at slightly lower settings) and will be able to for a little while to come IMO, that CPU, although not the best, will do fine, if you want your system to perform better then OC it a bit, buy an extra fan or two(check your mobo can OC first and has power for fans/your PSU has power for fans) and then BAM! Your sorted for a year if your pushed that far. Then you could borrow say £100 and get a good GPU, good CPU and mobo and upgrade stuff like RAM later.
Thats what i'd do anyway, but im running a 9200...OC'ed maybe but its still a 9200 lol.

Reason i wouldn't get the x850XT is because its AGP, that means next upgrade its either say an asrock Dual Sata2 mobo with AGP and PCI-e for the future, or drop then card and get a PCI-e card for the mobo...more money wasted.

BTW- If you build now i wouldn't get a 4200+, get a 3800+ same ammount of L2 cache, can be OC'ed. GPU sounds fine, may want to check prices from Nvidia's competition.

[simbob]

well youve made me think yotta lol, i might as well buy a

ASRock 939DUAL-SATA2 Socket 939/ULI M1695/AGP+PCI-E/SATA2 Motherboard

and save up for a 4200+ dual core to match the mobo, then use my current RAM, HDD PSU and dvd writer untill i can afford, new ones for THAT com, then put the 'current' ones back into this one, then this com can replace the tortoise like 700mhz beast that is in the spare room.

[homrok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by YottaHertz

Dual core would be a very wise choice... Also what games are we talking about here? Current gen games - BF2, HL2, CS:S etc - and next-gen games - Oblivion yes it think of it as next gen game even though it's out - or last gen games - you pick - ?

Whats the deal with Oblivion, everyone mentioning it, is it some super good game or something? or just good grafix?

[homrok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by simbob

well youve made me think yotta lol, i might as well buy a

ASRock 939DUAL-SATA2 Socket 939/ULI M1695/AGP+PCI-E/SATA2 Motherboard

and save up for a 4200+ dual core to match the mobo, then use my current RAM, HDD PSU and dvd writer untill i can afford, new ones for THAT com, then put the 'current' ones back into this one, then this com can replace the tortoise like 700mhz beast that is in the spare room.

Cheapest upgrade and best for games would be to get Ram memory..
you can add another 2 gig of ram for about 150 bucks including tax.