What to upgrade?

[WaitForTheRain]

Hey, I've been playing UT3 since it came out at an average of 20-30fps on my current PC, which consists of:

Processor: Intel Celeron D CPU 3.46GHz
Motherboard: Asus P5LD2 SE
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 7600GT 256Mb
RAM: 2Gb DDR2
Hard Drive: 160Gb 7200rpm

-- I'm running UT3 at 1440x900, at texture and world detail levels at 4/3.



I would like to upgrade but I feel that the motherboard would be holding me back in terms of what I upgrade (Not much support for newer processors)

I would prefer not to spend too much money on what I upgrade due to not having a job (At college).

I don't want to waste money on components that will be out of date within too long or will make minimal difference.

I would just like to know what you would recommend when it comes to upgrading, thanks in advance for any replies.

-- If you want more detail on the PC I can almost definately provide it.

 

[Crowze]

If the video card is PCI-E you could hold onto that for a while, although you'll probably want to upgrade it fairly soon anyway as it will be fairly limiting. You'll definitely be able to keep the RAM and hard disk, so a nice cheap upgrade would be something like a P31 motherboard and E2180 CPU. If you want to upgrade the graphics, probably the best value right now is the AMD HD 4850 - it's a high-end card for sure but for around £120 over here it's incredible value.

 

[WaitForTheRain]

Ok, thanks

What about PCI E 2.0 graphics cards? alot of new cards use it, but only motherboards at about £100+ seem to have a PCI E 2.0 port.

Will a card with PCI E 2.0 work on a motherboard without a 2.0 port? - (similar the way USB 1.0 and 2.0 just reduce the bandwidth)




ALSO:

what processor would you recommend to go with a new P31 mobo instead of a E2180? - I was thinking of a maybe a Q6600 to provide something that would last longer

 

[Dark Pulse]

Ok, thanks

What about PCI E 2.0 graphics cards? alot of new cards use it, but only motherboards at about £100+ seem to have a PCI E 2.0 port.

Will a card with PCI E 2.0 work on a motherboard without a 2.0 port? - (similar the way USB 1.0 and 2.0 just reduce the bandwidth)




ALSO:

what processor would you recommend to go with a new P31 mobo instead of a E2180? - I was thinking of a maybe a Q6600 to provide something that would last longer

Pretty much. AFAIK it'll run in a 1.0 port just fine.

For CPUs, I'd recommend either a Q9450, or a E8400. The former will set you back about $325 US, the latter about $250.

 

[WaitForTheRain]

Ok, thanks alot, The Q9450 looks like a great choice.

I intend to upgrade my PC piece by piece, so buying this CPU will require buying a new mobo with it, but that's on my list of things to do so it's not a big deal.

 

[Dark Pulse]

If it's going to take you longer than 6 months or so, you might want to wait until Intel's Nehalem Core 2s launch later this year. Those things will kick the crap out of the current offerings, and support DDR3 memory as well as on-die DDR3 controllers.