Looking For Some Upgrade Advice

TheCave · 08-25-2008, 10:55 AM

I am in a difficult situation with my computer and I would like some advice on what I should do.

My computer is not a bad computer. It was pretty hardcore like 5 years ago when I built it. I use it a lot for gaming, so that was the intent of the design. It's reaching a point, however, that it's beginning to show its age and I'm looking to upgrade it.

I don't have a problem with my mobo or cpu, they make a decent pair. Sure my cpu is a single core, but it's a good single core so it's not so bad. What I'm mostly looking to upgrade is my RAM and my graphics card. I've got dual channel 1 gig (that's 2 512s at 500mhz each) RAM and a GeForce 6600gtoc graphics card of the AGP variety.

Now, this is my issue. I know that RAM is cheap but still it is extremely likely that whatever RAM I buy for this mobo will be unusable in future rigs. Similarly, whatever AGP style video card I buy is even less likely to be usable in future rigs as I understand that PCIE is all the rage these days. Unless I build future rigs with AGP mobos, which I suppose could be a possibility but it just seems like they are less available than PCIE.

I would like to eventually build a crazy hxc gaming rig with AMD quad core and like 8 gigs of RAM and maybe get some SLI action going on, all that cool stuff, but I don't plan to do it for several years as my funds really can't support it at the moment. My worry is that if I spend a chunk of change on a new video card now that I won't be able to use it when I get around to building that and it will be wasted money collecting dust in my closet or something. I realize that any card I get now is likely to be as obsolete then as my current card is now, but I don't really know what to say about that one.

Anyways, after all that building, my finaly question is this: do you think it would be better to upgrade my RAM and AGP card now, despite probably not being usable on a future rig? or to think about upgrading my mobo to something with PCIE instead and buy a gfx card for that? My current funds are very limited, but given enough time to save (I'm in college and don't get a whole lot of disposable income in large chunks) I could probably manage either scenario, though cheaper in the long-run is always preferable.

Thanks and sorry that took so long to get out,
Dave

Oh, also, my power supply is less than a year old and completely rock solid, so that is not an issue in anything.

08-25-2008, 10:55 AM	#1 (permalink)
TheCave Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Looking For Some Upgrade Advice I am in a difficult situation with my computer and I would like some advice on what I should do. My computer is not a bad computer. It was pretty hardcore like 5 years ago when I built it. I use it a lot for gaming, so that was the intent of the design. It's reaching a point, however, that it's beginning to show its age and I'm looking to upgrade it. I don't have a problem with my mobo or cpu, they make a decent pair. Sure my cpu is a single core, but it's a good single core so it's not so bad. What I'm mostly looking to upgrade is my RAM and my graphics card. I've got dual channel 1 gig (that's 2 512s at 500mhz each) RAM and a GeForce 6600gtoc graphics card of the AGP variety. Now, this is my issue. I know that RAM is cheap but still it is extremely likely that whatever RAM I buy for this mobo will be unusable in future rigs. Similarly, whatever AGP style video card I buy is even less likely to be usable in future rigs as I understand that PCIE is all the rage these days. Unless I build future rigs with AGP mobos, which I suppose could be a possibility but it just seems like they are less available than PCIE. I would like to eventually build a crazy hxc gaming rig with AMD quad core and like 8 gigs of RAM and maybe get some SLI action going on, all that cool stuff, but I don't plan to do it for several years as my funds really can't support it at the moment. My worry is that if I spend a chunk of change on a new video card now that I won't be able to use it when I get around to building that and it will be wasted money collecting dust in my closet or something. I realize that any card I get now is likely to be as obsolete then as my current card is now, but I don't really know what to say about that one. Anyways, after all that building, my finaly question is this: do you think it would be better to upgrade my RAM and AGP card now, despite probably not being usable on a future rig? or to think about upgrading my mobo to something with PCIE instead and buy a gfx card for that? My current funds are very limited, but given enough time to save (I'm in college and don't get a whole lot of disposable income in large chunks) I could probably manage either scenario, though cheaper in the long-run is always preferable. Thanks and sorry that took so long to get out, Dave Oh, also, my power supply is less than a year old and completely rock solid, so that is not an issue in anything.