Thread: Time to make the baby better...

I made this as a game only toy about 3+ years ago. I have upgraded the video card and power supply since then. This is what I currently run. The OS is still Windows 2000. I need to upgrade to Vista so I know I will need more RAM. I am not sure exactly how much this MotherBoard can hold though. If anyone can give me a few really good upgrade options that will make this bad boy fly (reasonable price) and I can do myself. Looking at the Vista Home Premium OEM 64-bit version... All right guys have fun and let me know. It only took about $550 to get all of that crap and build it.

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2.0GHz Socket 939 Single-Core Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail

APEVIA KI-COMBO-BL Blue & Black PS/2 Standard Keyboard and Optical Scroll Mouse Combo Set -

KINGWIN Alpha Power AP-450 450W ATX12V Power Supply - Retail

APEVIA X-Gear ATXB5KLW-GN Green Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX 420W for AMD/Intel Power Supply - Retail

BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model ND-3550A - Retail

GENERIC 6" 20-Pin Power Supply Cable to 24-Pin Motherboard Power supply ATX Converter Model 11W3-09206 -

ARCTIC COOLING Pro TC 80mm Case Fan - Retail

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWINX2048-3200

PNY VCG86512GXPB-OC GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

I will keep what I can from the old one. I dont have to stick with AMD, but haven't had any problems with it. I can probably squeeze about $1,000 out of my tax return in a few weeks.

Now if I get a damn good return. This is what I want to get and play with.

Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST31000340NS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Killer NIC K1 Gaming Network Card – 10/100/1000Mbps PCI Network Adapter


ZOTAC ZT-X28E3LA-FCP GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card....... I want to get Two of these

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1800 (PC3 14400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TW3X4G1800C8DF....... I also want two of these.. 8 gb should do me well..

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 965 Nehalem 3.2GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601965

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

I see a problem with sticking with what you have: the 939 platform is pretty dated.

BUT, an upgrade to a dual core processor and a bigger GPU will give you a big boost. That CPU is really quite slow (in comparison to standards right now) and the 8600, while a good budget card in it's day, is fairly weak.

As a single upgrade: a big 'ol GPU will suddenly give your game way more power. Next I would say upgrade the proc, but hold on. If you are going to do that, it may be better to get a whole new platform (because the 939 is old and there are not many FX-60s for the 939 out there anymore). But upgrading to a whole new platform means: RAM, CPU, and Mobo.

You could get a new GPU now, and get a better mobo, CPU and RAM later. A GPU will give you the biggest increase on the lowest budget. A faster CPU will improve load times and in general the system will "feel" snappier and perform multiple tasks better. But when it comes to games, the GPU is your bottleneck.

I have run 6600GTs in SLI on a 3500+ and upgraded to a single 8800 GTS and it was like playing a different game. I have run the same 6600GTs in SLI on the 3500+ and the FX-60 and the game performance was not noticeably better between CPUs (BF2 and BF2142) but the whole system felt snappier and multi-tasked much better.

I would not recommend going SLI on your 8600 to improve performance. A single 4850 will stomp SLI 8600's and a 4870 will make it cry. Personally, even though I have always been an nVidia user, the ATi solutions are performing better at the power per dollar level. Get a 4870 and it will be like a different computer. IF you can grab a decent 939 processor cheap it will feel nicer out of game and load faster too.

Good luck, and I hope all my babble was useful!

Well just tell me exactly what to upgrade. I want to run Vista 64 bit and run smoothly. I would really love to play BF2 and 2142 with crisp graphics. If we can do upgrades as we go then no prob. If I should save up for income tax season (mid Jan) and drop $2,000.. then I can do that. I really appreciate your help guys. If this one should just be used as a back up then I can do that.