I need an improvement

[Hitokami]

Hello all, I am currently looking to improve my computer. I have a Radeon 9600 128mb on a AMD Athelon XP 2400+ with 2.0 GHz and 768mb of ram. My current benchmark score is 2253 and I want to make a huge improvement. Im not too savy about all the video card/computer equipment so I thought to improve my score by buying a better, more expensive video card until my friends told me that the video card's performance depends on the computer. Please recomend what you would do to improve my computer with around 1000 dollar budget.

Thanks for your future posts.

[pearlsea]

Re: I need an improvement

With 1000 you can do a whole over haul of your computer and i estimate a bench score of at least 5000+ (i get 4500 with a the same setup exept with a X300SE(4x less powerful than 6800GT)), what i recomend;

AMD 64 3500+ $223.88
1GB DDR400 ram 93.99
6800GT $300
SLI mobo $123 (if you want to upgrade to dual 6800GT latter(if not Nforce4 ultra mobo))
80GB+ 7200rpm hard drive $58 (bigger is better)

that should cost under 1000US and give you real power that you can show off

EDIT: Grand total $800!!! (rounded but actual number is <10 from 800)

[fastcart]

Re: I need an improvement

I always go to sharkyextreme for the best bang for the buck. If you want to make your own custom pc look here for advice:

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MVGSBG/index.php
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/...le.php/3521496

If you want to take the safe route, you can always get one from Dell or Gateway or someplace.

Another option would be to get recommendations from your friends and get a custom pc built from a reliable local computer store in your area. You could go to some local university's computer club/lab and ask recommendations there too.

Either way you go, you're gonna have to do a lot of research to make an informed decision.

Edit: http://www.pricewatch.com/ is a great site too.

Double Post Edited:
I keep forgetting something. heh. I recommend getting a separate sound card. Doesn't need to be 80+ bucks. A 40 or even 25 buck card will do. On my p4 2.4 pc, the difference between using the on-board sound system and my Sound Blaster card is 100+ points on the FFXI benchmark. May not seem like much. But, if you have 1000 bucks, neither is a 40 buck sound card.