Well its coming up for christmas so I thought I would upgrade this rustbucket

1.3GHz amd
GeForce 2 mx/mx400
and 256 ram is what ive got right now, Im think of spending a max of £200 and Im thinking of


AMD Athlon XP 3200+ "Barton", 400MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor

PDP SYSTEMS 184-Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200, Model PSD512400

ROSEWILL RADEON 9600 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "RW9600-128D"


Found em all on newegg for $348. Does anyone know where i could get better stuff for cheaper? Is any of that crap?

Couple things.
First--is the AMD processor an Athlon or a Duron?
Second--Make sure your motherboard can handle that RAM and Processor. Check the FSB max.
Third--RAM I wouldn't trust that company. Corsair's a good, solid brand. Hell, anything that doesn't sound offbrand is good, usually.
Fourth--Get the 9600 pro, or 9600XT even. Trust me.

I'd save, then upgrade.

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I would have to agree with Yoshi on this case.

However, you should make sure your motherboard will support a Barton-core CPU. While all AMD chips, from the original Athlon K7 500MHz to the Athlon XP 3200+ use the same socket A, keep in mind that the motherboard will only support cores older than it. That 1.3GHz Athlon uses the Thunderbird core, the second of the five 32-bit Athlon cores. Please, for your sake, make sure that the board will support any of the XP processors.

And as was said about the 9600XT, it does provide amazing bang. If you look well enough, you should be able to find a source where you can get it for less than £80. Even though it obviously won't quite stand up to a 6800 or X800, it will get very nice framerates for Doom3, and with the reigh hardware coupled with it, will provide 60fps in Half-Life2. Assuming that you're not spoiled and expecting 60fps for maxed settings, 1280x1024x6x16 on every game, (which, judging by your current computer, you are not spoiled in any way) the card will be very good for several years.

Fixed

The key phrase being, Assuming that you're not spoiled and expecting 60fps for maxed settings... Some of us can get by without always shelling out $2k+ a year to always have the best hardware.

That would be a damn solid upgrade if you upped the 9600 to a 9600XT. Save a little bit more, and get the XT instead, you definitely won't regret it.

Kingston and Corsair are my favourites for RAM. RAM if definitely something that you don't want to try and save a couple bucks on. Make sure you get high-quality stuff to save yourself troubles down the road.

Dude in 2 years, you won't get 60fps 640x480 lowest.

The hell you can't. My GF3 Ti500 downstairs pulls 60fps at 800x600 on HL2. And that card is definately older than 2 years.

I like Crucial RAM -- lifetime warranty, no questions asked.

But you're forgetting that we're now having the technology that pushes the fill limit--which is going to KILL older cards, while new ones will do just fine. They're upping pipelines like mad, (16 pipes now as compared to the previous 8 pipe emulated) and they're looking to push even more pipelines. That's going to kill older cards, as the power of the new cards is exploited.

Well hows this?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=14-102-450&DEPA=1

SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "100575-RED" -BULK -OEM

I also found a radeon 9800 for £84

PEAK 256MB RADEON 9800SE DDR TV/DVI 8x R

Look in the sky. The moon is blue. I am agreeing with Dj Yoshi.

The moon seems quite hidden to me. 800XT forever, pity i don't have one or anything.