Looking to Upgrade after the Holidays...

[Kr0m]

[FONT=Verdana,Arial] I'll be looking to upgrade some parts after the holiday season. My current motherboard limits my AGP speed to 4x, it limits my ram to PC2700/1gig. It won't be a leet system but it'll be better than what I have plus I don't really have the spare cash to get a whole new PC at once.

Current specs:
CPU: Intel P4 2.53 GHz (will continue to use)
Motherboard: MSI MS-6577 (will upgrade + case & psu first)
Memory: Dimm 1 - 512MB PC2100(133Mhz) + Dimm2 256MB PC3200(200MHz) (will upgrade ram second)
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9700Pro 128MB [/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial](will continue to use)[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial] Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 750s[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial](will continue to use)[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial] Sound Card: Creative SB Live! Value (will upgrade eventually)
Harddrives: 18g + 20g + 30g (will upgrade eventually)

I don't need anything to extravagant but something that will do what I want (especially play BF2 a bit better than my current PC does. I think a better motherboard w/case & more (better) ram will help me a lot)

Any help/suggestions with what to look for or get, would be appreciated.
Thanks!
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[bush dogg]

I like this Mobo

I've had good luck with it.

This memory seems nice I have friends that like it Here

Can't beat this deal on a 200GB Seagate Here

This will be my first time using a Seagate (so I can't comment on them) but I've been told there nice drives.

 

[Kr0m]

I guess I'll be looking into an AGP + PCI-e compatible board since I'll more than likely want to upgrade the vid card later on but still use my current AGP Radeon.

 

[Sazar]

If you are going to continue to use most of the items you currently have, simply save your money a little more and upgrade all at once later on I would say.

No need to chip away at your budget right now if you don't have to.

It is better to go for a full-fledged pci-e board with no compromises rather than a hybrid imo.

My $0.02

 

[dreamliner77]

I agree with Sazar.

 

[LeeJend]

Krom - DO NOT go dual Mode MB!

I made that mistake this fall. The AGP is not real AGP so it will actually slow you down. I ended up having to buy a new video card because the dual mode MB crippled my 9800 PRO (only runs at PCI speeds and funcitons, no AGP).

A MB upgrade to AGP 8x will only get you a few percent speed improvement so don't waste your money.

What is really sad in your current setup is the RAM. Buy a 512 MB stick of DDR 3200 and ditch the PC2100. That will give you the most improvement of the options you have with budget limitations.

Like Sazar and dreamliner said. Start saving for a full upgrade. We are in a technology transition period now (64 BIT, PCI-e, DDR2, etc). Better to save and wait.

My attempt at a minimal cost upgrade is at $500 and climbing (PSU next, my 400W won't support over clocking vid and CPU at the same time).

 

[Kr0m]

Yeah, after looking around and reading some info on the dual stuff it doesn't look promising.

 

[Shamus MacNoob]

i have to agree that you should hold on to your $ and for now maybe just grab some more pc3200 ram .. dont go half way wait and make a bigger move later

 

[Steevo]

I still have a AGP X800GTO that I haven't sold.

Make a offer, I spent $200 on it. I modded the BIOS to match the best clocks I could find for stability and speed. I also changed the thermal interface material to AC5.

I can ship UPS to anywhere in the lower 48, and have all the cables that come with the card and the original CD.