Old video card (X1600 XT) - Will new one get better FPS?

[Razamatraz]

You would definitely see an improvement, but even a 9800 GT would be a significant improvement. That machine will never run BF3 properly though, no matter what GPU you put in it.

Edit: Appears I missed the second page of comments...I don't completely agre with these guys on your barebones kit choice. The 4 or six core are quite capable of playing those games you've listed. I've built the cheap as borscht barebones kits before, and after swapping in a $50 PSU and an old GPU off the shelf (not to mention cutting a hole in the top of the case for a real exhaust fan) I've got a decent machine to use as an HTPC with perfectly reasonable gaming power. You do have to swap out the PSU though.

[cameronc]

Originally Posted by Razamatraz

Edit: Appears I missed the second page of comments...I don't completely agre with these guys on your barebones kit choice. The 4 or six core are quite capable of playing those games you've listed. I've built the cheap as borscht barebones kits before, and after swapping in a $50 PSU and an old GPU off the shelf (not to mention cutting a hole in the top of the case for a real exhaust fan) I've got a decent machine to use as an HTPC with perfectly reasonable gaming power. You do have to swap out the PSU though.

Ty for the PSU comment... I haven't been keeping up with the latest technology as I've been busy with life. I'll keep this in mind.

Yes, I'm comfortable building my own rig... I've built tons for customers over the years, just nothing in the last 3-4 years as I got out of the tech business and tried other businesses.

I don't care if its Intel vs. AMD as they are and have been in direct competition with each other since the 90's. I've had a dozen of each systems since 1996 and all worked fine (cept the time I melted an AMD CPU, damned fan failure).

Picking and choosing parts isn't going to get a cheaper setup. The companies bundle the equipment together and buy them in bulk to mass-distribute them, thus they're able to reduce the price. I don't need a case, dvdrw (I have 4 sitting on the shelf behind me) or even a hard drive but I figure for the $350, the bundle can't be beat. I wouldn't mind having another 2 TB HD kicking in the mix to go with all my other machines.

I appreciate all the comments in here from the hardcore gamer dudes, they do help in the decision making process. I'm NOT building a rig for strictly gaming, I'm a programmer as previously stated so that's my main focus. I don't need the processing power for programming, my current system runs the text-editors just fine (lol). I just want to be able to jump into AA3, have 2-10 beers, a few scotches and a good night when I feel like it, while gaming at something over 20 fps... 60 fps would be perfect. I don't need the latest and greatest video cards, it's a waste of money to go after those things.

From the comments, it's obvious that I need a new rig first, makes the most sense. That's what I'll do on Monday :) Any other input would be awesome.

Cameron

Edit: Just priced out all components individually.. $517.84 .. For $349.97, that's a good deal! I'll keep looking, tho.

[th3dud3]

Another option you could consider is swapping out the pentium D for something faster such as an e8400 or another 45nm dual core, the 45nm dual cores are much better then the pentium d's, and buy a used video card :P. It won't get you the best fps but you won't have to buy an entire rig lol

[rkim86]

I suggest grabbing a bundle from NCIX or Memoryexpress and working from there. Some examples:

NCIX Gaming Bundle Deal AMD Phenom II X6 1055T & MSI 870A Fuzion Power DDR3 Motherboard - Bundle Deals - 1055 & 870A FUZION POWER

Intel Core

Originally Posted by th3dud3

Another option you could consider is swapping out the pentium D for something faster such as an e8400 or another 45nm dual core, the 45nm dual cores are much better then the pentium d's, and buy a used video card :P. It won't get you the best fps but you won't have to buy an entire rig lol

A lot of Pentium D boards don't support the Wolfdale CPUs, so that may be moot.