Ooohkay, looking for a budget upgrade for the old computer since it looks like it may be inadvisable to blow a wad on a new computer in the next few months. Upgrade is mostly for gaming purposes, TF2 and some older games.
Here's what I have:
AMD Athlon 6400 CPU (3200+, single-core)
ASUS motherboard, s939 socket (accepts compatible dual-core processors), HT1000, GeForce 6150 + nForce 430 VGA integrated.
That's right, integrated graphics. In my defense, I was on an extreme budget the last time I had to assemble a new computer and this actually works surprisingly well. I still have better graphics than a surprising number of my friends.
Slots are PCI-E. Computer build is about... four years old?
Anyway, the suggestion that is being made is to pick up a graphics card. Specifically, the ATI Radeon 4770 (512 mb). It's had fantastic reviews for a budget graphics card ($125 or so), and if I'm going to spend $250+ on a new graphics card, then I'd just say fuck it and buy a whole new computer to put it in. This is a low risk option that should have decent rewards.
Alternatively, one thing that has not been discussed is a new CPU. I think i only want to look at this option if a graphics card will not net me any significant improvements.
I am NOT looking to make the system ready for a new game that has yet to come out. That's the main difference between this plan and the plan from some months ago and another reason the budget is so very low. Applications that I am shooting for improvement in are older, so TF2 is probably the most intensive thing I've got.
Basically, I'm looking push maybe another 8 months to a year out of my patience with this computer, then buy a new one anyway. I don't want to have any regrets about the money I spend on this short-term upgrade, so the budget really isn't much, maybe $150 or so.
Thoughts?
Also, if the consensus here is that the ATI 4770 is the way to go, does anybody know where I can GET one? seems like everyone in Toronto is sold out and it's backordered everywhere here with no guarantees of further deliveries, even though it only came out April 30th. I checked several online retailers, but it seems to be in short supply online as well.