Upgrading computers?

[aCb]

Ok right now I play alot of computer games and plan on doing alot of video editing etc. I use 2 different computers and I would like to upgrade one of them and I am on a 200-300$ budget. Here are the specs of the computers.

home made built over a year ago.
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
Asus A7N8X Motherboard
768 MB DDR 2700 ram
ATI Radeon 9600 SE 128 mb 8x agp
120GB Maxtor hard drive
160GB Maxtir hard drive
Windows XP pro
Pacific Digital 8x DVDRW Drive
17" Samsung LCD
Logitech mx510

The other computer is a dell dimension 3000 with
p4 2.8 533 fsb
80GB hard drive
512 MB DDR pc3200 400 mhz dual channel memory
Intel Extreme graphics 2
(I bought this not knowing there was no agp slot and it appears that the memory only runs at 333mhz)

What I was planning on doing with the athlon is getting an athlon xp 3200 and putting the dells memory into it and then getting either a radeon 9800 pro (OEM probably) or a Radeon X700 XT or I could get a new motherboard and then get the athlon 3200 64 instead of the xp. Another nice part about the athlon 64 is that I can get 1024 cache memory instead of the 512 on the athlon xp.

With the dell I could get a new motherboard and sell the current one on ebay then basically do the same things im doing to the athlon except with a p4 2.8. The only problem with this is the memory in it only runs at 333 mhz because it is 533 fsb.

Any suggestions would help also looking for some suggestions on the video card but I did not want to spend more then 200$ on the video card. Also if someone can tell me if the dell dimension 3000 has a pci express architecture it would help. (im not at home so i cant check). I really like the radeon x700 XT because it uses the GDDR3 memory and is PCI EXpress which as I read is faster then 8x agp but the downside to this is I will definatly need a new motherboard.

 

[airiox]

Yeah would need a new motherboard. and the Athlon xp doesnt have PCIex. So... X700 is probably not a good option. Also you wont notice a difference in speed from AGP 8x. Intel pushes PCIex on the market looking to make money. Theoretically its faster, but actually it can be slower.

My suggestion is to scrap the Dell on Ebay. Get an athlon XP 3000+ http://www.shopampm.com/product_info.php?products_id=507 Then take the RAM out of the Dell and put it in the Athlon system.

Then I would recommend adding a AGP ed 6600GT. It owns! http://www.gameve.com/gve/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=VC-MSI-0067

It is the fastet budget AGP card out there.

 

[mighty_chick]

what are artifacts anyway?, i've never heard that term used before, although i dont go on alot of forums either

 

[NVIDIAGAMER1]

Artifacts....Graphically? Artifacts are visual messups that are a result of a too-highly-clocked videocard. For less than 200 bucks, i got a GeForce FX 5900XT, it works for the newest games like HL2 and D00m3, and gets pretty good frames. Definitely, instead of getting like....an Athlon XP 3200+ or 3400+, get a 3000+ and a Tt Extreme Volcano 12 and OC the proccy to a 3400+, it's much cheaper than getting an expensive processor. If you get a new mobo, get an nForce 2 chipset, it's pretty good for non-64 systems. I'd recommend the Albatron KX18DPro I/II, as it has stood up in many a benchmark. The 9600SE is a pretty good card for the money, but junk it for an nVidia 5900XT, or the 6600GT, or go Radeon and get the 9800 Pro or 9600XT. Well, that's my 2 cents. Peace, kiddies.

 

[NVIDIAGAMER1]

Oh yea, and without doing the multiplier tricks to OC the 3000+, i got my 3000 to a 3400 with a 446 FSB ta boot!

 

[aCb]

can you give me some links to do the multiplier trick? Also my motherboard only supports upto athlon 3200 and I found them for around 130-150 OEM but I dont plan on buying anything because there is a computer show next week.

 

[airiox]

Hmm the athlon 3200 wont work to its peak without some nicer RAM, that is why I recommend the 3000+ 333

 

[aCb]

well I am putting the dual channel 400 mhz pc3200 ram into it.