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Originally Posted by tycho102
That's a KT400 chipset, socket-A. You've got to swap that whole thing out. You can keep the memory if it's PC3200. Hard drives, keyboard, mouse, monitor. You're using the onboard sound, so you might seriously consider getting a cheap hardware card.
Pricewatch will give you some good options. You can get a AMD64 2ghz for $54. A decent 16x PCIx mainboard will run $100 or less. Video card depends on whether you want Nvidia or Ati, but $150 will give you something a little more powerful than your 9600.
If you move up to the AM2 socket, you'll have to put DDR2 in there, but you will have far more upgrade options in the future. |
I have to disagree on the soundcard issue. At one time onboard sound was junk and it was a given that you needed a real sound card if you wanted anything other than hisses, pops, and problems. But times have changed, onboard sound has largely gotten better (particularly on even the mainstream brand name boards with NVidia or ATI chipsets which, even on the lower end, are geared to gamers... Intel based boards are another story, ditto VIA) and the onboard 7.1 sound on my current rig I find just find - though its not hooked up to anything flashy, just a midrange Logitech 5.1 speaker setup.
Basically unless you're an audio purist or simply have to have the best of everything and the dedicated sound processor for the extra few frames it'll give you in games, then a separate sound card is a total waste of money that would be better spent on either the video card (best bang for the buck for gaming) or cpu (2nd best bang for the buck b/c of the longevity issue... ie, your rig may see a video card upgrade in its lifetime but a cpu upgrade almost always involves at least a new motherboard).
Also, as to AM2 and DDR2 that comes down to how much you have to spnd and whether or not you're upgrading over the interim or long term... clock for clock S939 provides far more bang for the buck right now when you factor in the ability to use the existing 1 GB of ddr rather than having to shell out for the still pricey ddr2... me i'd buy a PCIe S939 board and the fastest CPU I could afford knowing that it'll be the only CPU the board will see & that i want to get as much milage out of it as possible. Though for practical purposes this is not a drawback, since how many times have you ever upgraded just a cpu? Me I've had a 286 (my first PC), a 386, various 486s, two K6s, a first generation Pentium, a celeron 2, etc, etc... and every cpu (at least 7 or 8 over the years) has been bought with a new motherboard due to socket issues, bios issues, voltage issues, compatability issues, or new features.