Upgrading Components

Hey all. I decided to post here to get your opinion on this dilemma I have. I just bought Battlefield 2 (awesome game) and I want to replace my parts until I have a new computer.

As of now I have (homebuilt):

Athlon XP 2000+
MSI KT4V-L Motherboard w/ KT-400 Chipset
Radeon 9600XT
768MB DDR PC2100 Kingston ValueRAM

The parts I want:

Athlon 64 3000+
MSI K8N NEO2-F
XFX GeForce 6600 GT
Corsair 512MB PC3200 Pro Series RAM

Now I only have a couple hundred to spend at a time, so i'm wondering which would be most effective on the performance of my PC to buy first. In otherwords, will the Athlon 64 3000+ kill my XP 2000+? Will the NForce 3 mobo be tons better than my KT400? Will the Geforce 6600 GT be tons faster than my Radeon 9600XT? Is Pro Series worth getting over ValueRAM?

Thanks for your time... hoping to get good feedback

 

With something like this, you're best off buying the video card first. The reasoning being, that most games will use it more than the processor. The Processor and Motherboard should both be bought at the same time, so that you don't have to worry about incompatibility issues. The old processor might not run on the new board, and vice versa. The RAM? well, you'll have to wait for some one else to answer that. I'm a RAM crammer.

 

YES,YES,YES,NO,go with 1gig of value ram,2sticks in a single pack,they should run in dual channel mode.

The first thing you should upgrade is the mobo+cpu,this will give you more performance when playing multiplayer games,especially against many opponents,then upgrade your video card to make everything look nice,if you cant afford the ram at the same time as the cpu and mobo,you can stick whatever is in your kt400 in for the time being.

have you got a figure in mind of how much you wanna spend on this first upgrade?

 

I would either buy the Mobo and CPU at once, or just the Video Card. Then I would upgrade my RAM after getting both. What do you guys think about upgrading to a 64-bit architecture first? bleeeh, I don't know much about the new stuff out, i'm living in the past. :O

 

I just noticed there isn't much of a price difference between the Geforce 6600GT and a 6800. What is the better chipset?

 

ATI is the better chipset

I would go with a 3000+ Venice, and like the other guy said, value RAM is fine. Definitely want to go dual channel. Personally, I like Corsair Value Select.

 

Here's what I'm running on:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130491

MSI K8N Neo4-F ... same basic motherboard, but with PCI-E and only about $10 more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103537

3000+ Venice

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127156

MSI PCI-E Radeon X800XL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

2 x 512MB PC3200 CVS RAM

 

Heh heh... I was originally thinking of going with a X800, but I wanted to see if you guys would catch me

Is upgrading worth it at this point? Is this a good selection of parts to get? I kindof want to know how the new stuff will compare with the old stuff.

Thanks

 

I can't seem to find reviews for this card... is the price too good to be true?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1476858&CatId=1560

 

I bought these parts for overnight Fedex from Newegg:

Athlon 64 3000+ w/ Venice
MSI K8N Neo4-f Refurb Nforce 4
Connect3d x800XL 256mb gddr3

But, I think they may have shipped me the wrong processor. How do I identify if it is in fact a Venice core? I don't see any hints on the box anywhere.