Upgrade question/info
I've just started to notice that my trusty system:-
AMD Athlon 3000+
512mb pc2700 DDR333 (2X256mb)
Asus A7N8X Mb
ATI Radeon 9600 (note NOT pro/GT)
120gb hd
XP SP2
is starting to creak a little when using more...ahem... graphic intensive applications like 'COD United Offensive'. So I've decided its time to splash out and upgrade in time for Half Life 2 blah, blah..
Given the processor I don't think its worthwhile wasting money on the latest generation graphics cards, but how about a 128mb ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (256 bit if that makes a difference)? Will I get a worthwhile improvement?
Regarding the memory would I get any improvement if I upped to 1Gb? If I did would I just be able to slot one stick of 512mb next to the two 256mb sticks? Also, and now I'm really confusing myself, can the mb suport DDR3200 RAM?. Would I get a worthwhile improvement if I binned the existing memory and replaced it with DDR3200?
Any other suggestions would be more than welcome. I ran Aquamark 3 benchmark and while I don't get hung up on such things, a score of 20,000 really showed up some graphics weaknesses.
Cheers SS
p.s. looking to spend upto about £300 quid.