Upgrading PC

Hello Geeks, I haven't been online much lately. Vacation and other stuff kept me busy.
To the point now. I have made about 250 Euros and you very well know that a PCist can't keep cash for a long time. I thought
to shell it out and give my puter a nice upgrade. Of course no such upgrade can occur before consulting the Geek squad. My current system is:

Mo/bo - MSI k8n-Neo Platinum
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3500+
VGA - Asus Radeon x1600 Pro
1 GB RAM

There are two suggestions. Either I buy new CPU and a good graphic card (AMD X2 5000 - - Ati x1950 Pro) or I save the CPU
money and buy a New Gen video card (Ati x2600, nVidia 8600GS). I am only worried about my CPU creating a bottleneck
and holding back the GPU. In that case I would have to take the first option. Do you think the 3500+ could make best use of x2600 or 8600? Any other thoughts?

 

My 1st impulse is the CPU is plenty fast enough.

What are you trying to do that is bottlenecking? Analyze the problems you're having, then fix them. If you're computer is handling everything OK then hold off, the need for RAM, or larger hard drives, or whatever will make itself known soon enough.

 

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo_Platinum&class=mb
Read this.I don't think,you can run AMD X2 on this MB.

 

Agreed, it's a socket 754, if i were you Sailor i would upgrade to a socket am2 and a new processor. The problem here is you would need to upgrade video cards and memory since your currently on AGP and and DDR. If your willing to shell out a little more this is the way to go. If not, just upgrade your video card and bank the rest.

 

I think I have made a little mistake in the mo/bo. It's K8N Neo4-F. On the manual says "Designed for Socket939 AMD Athlon 64/FX/X2 processors".

@Bill There is no need for HD, I have Western Digital 250MB. I have thought of buying new RAM but would that improve gaming experience without any further upgrades?

 

Yes,you can upgrade with x2.do you have 2x512mb,or 1gb stick?cos,if you have one stick then you can go for double channel.I would go for 8600,it's very good card.Say, how much :AMD X2 5000,8600GS and preferably 1GB RAM will cost you in Greece?

 

I have two 512 sticks.

Hooha! That would be way too much. X2 5000= 120E, 8600GTS=170E, 1GB RAM=50E. that makes... 340 Euros. 8600GTS costs no more than 1950Pro so the card is definitely going to be new Gen. Now I will have to save money by either keeping my processor (if I do so I might be paying the overclocking forum a visit ) or I don't buy new memory.

 

You can always upgrade a bit at a time: add another GB of RAM and see how that goes. If that speeds things up enough, then you're done! If not, then maybe a new video card. Then the CPU if needed. If you do it step by step, you may end up saving money in the long run.

hd2k

 

haha yeah i thought you were talking about the original neo-f

pretty much start with the cheapest to add and go from there, i'd start like this

RAM ---> Processor -----> video card


2 Gigs of DDR2 can be had for 125 or less and that's good stuff
The 6000+ X2 can be had for like 170
Video cards are expensive 8800 GTS for 280