Should I upgrade my PC ?

[Benzoid]

This is a custom built rig Im not sure how its built as I got someone else to do it for me :)

Ill post my exact com stats when i get back to my real com ( Im away now :S ) but heres the rundown

Motherboard: Intel 845 GBV ( I heard its ReAL bad )
Processor : Intel 2.4 ghz
Graphic Card: Leadtek GeForce 4 Ti4400 128 mb
Ram : 1 stick 512 mb ram ( not sure wat pc it is and at wat mhz it runs at [ btw can someone explain to me how does pc2700 or pc3200 affects the ram and the diff between 333mhz and 400 mhz ? :D )
I got a 80 GB harddrive and a lousy sound card ( somewhere from creative but im not much into sound )

I run ground control 2 fine with high settings as well as battlefield 1942 ( Its mods Forgotten hope and Desert combat however are playable with certain lagginess in heavy fire fights online ).

Is my graphic card on par with the GFX 5200-5700 sets and if not then how far am I lagging behind ? Im planning to wait till the end of year untill the prices drop and get a new Mboard , 1 more stick of ram and a new graphic card. I dun think I need to upgrade my processer but if I should tell me what I should get.

Thanks :)

[wayout44]

First of all is what FSB that CPU runs?

The difference between those two memory ratings is the speed that they're rated to run at.

The GF4 Ti4400 is faster than the FX5200 but just below the FX5700 though its a DX8 card where as the other 2 are DX9.

[Benzoid]

Thanks :) Btw how to check what FSB my CPU runs from ? And does 2.8 ghz to 3 ghz make a HUGE difference from 2.4 ghz ?

[wayout44]

The FSB should be stated in the BIOS but is it HyperThreading enabled?

Yes the speed difference will be noticable.

[amd_man2005]

Having a 2.4 on the 845 chipset would not be able to run with HT as far as I can remember, since the 845 doesn't do 800FSB

[Yawgm0th]

I'd say the video card is the bigger bottleneck anyway. A 2.4B (or 2.4A, for that matter) can take advantage of more powerful cards than a Ti4400. Upgrading to at least a 9800 Pro would be a great start. If you are going to upgrade anything else, it will require a full replacement as upgrading the CPU would mostly be a waste of money, unless it meant a new motherboard and RAM (or, in other words, replacing the system instead of upgrading).

Could you tell us your budget so we can give better advice on what you should upgrade?

[Benzoid]

Im waiting for the end of the year to upgrade ( prices might drop :) )

My budget will be around 800 Singaporean dollars ( equivalent to 370 US dollars thereoff , ill sell off any parts which im replacing ) .

Processer : Intel Pentium 4 2.40 GHz ( From northwood)
Revision C1
Insrtuctions : MMX ,SSE,SSE2
Clocks : Core speed 2399 mhz
Multiplier x18
FSB 133 mhz
Bus speed 533 mhz
L2 cache

Mainboard : Intel D845 GBV
Rev A1
Chipset Intel i845

AGP

Revision 2
Data transfer rate 4x
Aperture size 256 mb
Side band Addressing Enabled

For Ram:

Size 512 DDR -SD ram pc 2100 - 2x256 mb DDR-SD ram
Frequency 133 mhz
FSB:Dram = 1:1

Edited :

It does not have HP enabled
Also the processer name for some reason is P4P(Northwood) Pentium 4 C 130nm 1.6-3.4 ghz 1.475v-1.575v ( when i chcked under SiSandra )

[Benzoid]

Sorry , 800 Singaporean dollars is equivalent to 470 dollars , my mistake

[Yawgm0th]

I don't know how Singapore's prices compare to the United States', but I'd say a GeForce 6800 would be a good place to start. That goes for between $280 and $300 U.S., but it should keep going down.

Beyond that, I'd need to know Singaporean prices. If you were in the U.S., you would be looking at selling the RAM, motherboard, and processor and replacing them with a socket 754 Atlhon 64 setup (using PC3200 RAM instead of PC2100). That will start at about $300 U.S., but again, it may be different for you. I think after selling all of the stuff you are replacing (video card, RAM, motherboard, and CPU, possibly power supply), you should be able to afford all of that.

I'm pretty sure Intel boards don't overclock, and 2.4Bs don't have hyperthreading.

Edit: Well if it's that much, you'll certainly be able to afford everything.

[Benzoid]

For a GeForce 6800 ( non GT ) its only around 560 dollars. For a GeForce 6800 GT its around 850-900 dollars. End of the year hoping the GT drops down to 400-500 sing dollars :)