New video card - or new system?

[Dan]

I currently spec is

Athlon XP2400 Tbredb
KT333 chipset
512mb RAM
Radeon 8500 64MB retail

Obviously my video card is struggling in the latest games so I'm thinking
about upgrading to the Geforce 6600GT and maybe purchasing another 512mb of
RAM. Or would building a new system - Athlon 64 3400, PCI-E motherboard, and
possibly the Radeon X800XL be more justifiable?

Bascially all I'm asking is will my current system with the Xp2400 and
geforce 6600GT be able to keep up with modern games (doom 3, half life2) at
max settings 1024*768 x 4FSAA 8x AF? If not I'm going to splurge and
upgrade. The Athlon 64 3000 90nm looks like a good overclocker on stock
cooling?

Cheers
Dan

 

[JLC]

I currently spec is

Athlon XP2400 Tbredb
KT333 chipset
512mb RAM
Radeon 8500 64MB retail

Obviously my video card is struggling in the latest games so I'm thinking
about upgrading to the Geforce 6600GT and maybe purchasing another 512mb
of
RAM. Or would building a new system - Athlon 64 3400, PCI-E motherboard,
and
possibly the Radeon X800XL be more justifiable?

Bascially all I'm asking is will my current system with the Xp2400 and
geforce 6600GT be able to keep up with modern games (doom 3, half life2)
at
max settings 1024*768 x 4FSAA 8x AF? If not I'm going to splurge and
upgrade. The Athlon 64 3000 90nm looks like a good overclocker on stock
cooling?

If you have the money to build the system you mention, why not go for it? It
sure would kick the crap out of what you have now. I wouldn't spent anymore
money on your current rig. Go for the upgrade. JLC

 

[Wookie]

In the very least you could upgrade the video card first and see it does the
trick for you ... if not go from their .. it's like upgrading in the
installment plan.

 

[HockeyTownUSA]

Exactly. Buy the 6600 GT, good choice btw for the budget conscious, and if
it doesn't perform as desired, go for the Athlon 64 setup. I have had an
Athlon 64 setup with an ATI Radeon X800 XT PE for about three months now and
am loving it. I am able to play just about anything current release or
earlier at 1600x1200 with 16xAniso. I realize at that resolution AA is not
required. The resolution is so damn high you don't see jaggies.

 

[NightSky 421]

In the very least you could upgrade the video card first and see it does
the trick for you ... if not go from their .. it's like upgrading in the
installment plan.

Normally, this would be solid advice, but it's more tricky when he has an
AGP based system now and wants to go to PCI Express if a new video card and
more memory doesn't give the kind of boost he's hoping for. Of course,
depending on how he feels about it, the original poster could buy a new AGP
video card from a store with a decent return policy and return it if it
doesn't give satisfactory results.