Help an "old computer junky" out.

[CorsePerVita]

Alright so back in the day when twistedmods was around... I kept up to date on hardware like a madman. I built a new machine last year and upgraded. At this point... it suits my needs. However, by the standards of today it is now "slow".... f course, technically speaking, it would have been a month ago, right? Hah.

Anyway... I am still a huge PC gamer but I still have a difficult time understanding all these new hardware pieces. Last time I built a machine I asked the shop how big of a hard drive it would support with my IDE drives and he gave me a puzzled look and laughed and said "IDE???? Who uses that crap anymore?" and I had no idea what "SATA" was.

If you ask me about how to hook up and create a megasquirt EFI system for a trackday car, ok, cool, I can do that.

If you ask me presently about new computer technology, I'm as lost as fred flinstone in the Jetsons.

So here's the thing... I play a LOT of starcraft 2. It's smooth... MOST of the time. I also play other games like .... ok mostly Starcraft 2.

However, i still do some drafting and 3D work, so rendering faster is always a plus. I also like HD movies, however, at full screen, even on my PC it lags..

So with today's standards, what is a good idea? I read up on SLI, it sounds pretty awesome. My fear is.... I do NOT want to reformat my computer. However, if i need to, i'm willing to if I can move up to Windows 7 since it seems a lot of games are moving that direction.

I do a lot of media with my dvd drive, and play a ton of games. I also do rendering and drafting as mentioned. I also use it for editing HD movies for all my automotive events and motorcycle trips... so editing speed is good.

My current system is my listed profile computer. What would you guys recommend for a media/gaming/editing machine that will last me now and a few years into the future. I'm going to take the old machine and turn it into my media machine for the wife for her ubuntu machine since it's using a single core and she is complaining it is "Really super damn slow."

Regards,

-"D"

[billygoat333]

Go with windows 7. you won't regret it. as for hardware... do you prefer AMD or Intel? AMD is better bang for your money, but Intel has better processors right now. Just depends on what your budget is.

[CorsePerVita]

I most definitely have preferred AMD, but mostly since that's what I'm used to.. If the intel is a better processor I don't mind if the difference in price isn't crazy. Thank you kindly for the reply.

[slaveofconvention]

Ok so a lot of people will push you to get all new bigger better faster more, but I like to be different so... here goes...

For what you're doing, you'll definitely see an improvement with an all new system, there's no doubt about that BUT I'm not AS certain you'll see enough of an improvement for the cost of it. The fact is that you're already running a dual core 2.2Ghz processor. If you step up to windows 7 (highly recommended) and your board will support it, I'd push you towards a memory upgrade. 4GB of DDR2-800 will leave that 2GB DDR2-533 coughing and wheezing. There are also relatively cheap low-mid range video cards now available which will do pretty much the same to that 8800 you have so I'd DEFINITELY be looking at those two items for a start.

If possible can you let us know exactly what motherboard you have at the moment - it'll give us a better ability to say "yeah, that'll keep you going for xx years" or "Oh hell, get a new one!" lol

[Yeticorn]

I think the biggest question here is what kind of budget your aiming for. Also, what size screen is this being played on? If you have a monitor that's less then 22" (arguably 24"), you have alot of budget graphics cards available to you.

[CorsePerVita]

17" is the display, dual monitors. Good point on the board and such. I will check when I get home since I can't remember off the top of my head.

[Yeticorn]

I'd go with slave's suggestion then. Slapping another 2gb of RAM in there is probably the best thing for you right now. If you want, you can look into lower end cards of the lastest generations (ex: gts450), but again the memory is going to help out the most both in terms of cost and performance.

[Blibbax]

Firstly... you have a driver or software issue if that PC lags playing HD movies.

Secondly, that PC's not all that bad. You'd have to spend a fair bit for a noticeable difference, especially when gaming at such a low res.

Thirdly, you say you don't want to reformat. If you've had the PC that long, that's the first thing I'd want to do. It's amazing the new lease of life a new installation can give to even a well optimised and maintained system.

[Trace]

Now I get to come out and be the "Go big or go home" guy.

I agree with Slave on the fact that if you want to keep your current system, upgrade the memory.
I don't think that the 8800 is making starcraft lag; since starcraft is a RTS, it's more likely a lacking CPU (and/or memory)

So, if you have somewhat of a budget and want to stay AMD, I would get one of their Phenom II X6's. It's 6 cores and a bit faster clock speed than your current chip. It also is a newer architecture. This chip MAY or MAY NOT work with your current board, so I would check with Gigabyte if it will work through a BIOS update. If it won't work, then there are plenty of reasonably priced AM3 motherboards available that will support it.

So to recap:

Memory (4GB)
Phenom II X6 (1055 or so)
Motherboard if you need it
GPU

[slaveofconvention]

I think he's on socket 939 so any CPU upgrade will be tough. I also found out he's already running 4ghost of RAM. Personally I would now suggest a decent graphics card upgrade along with an OS reinstall. If it doesn't give the results you're after, the card will drop right into almost any new motherboard so won't be wasted money