need advice for upgrading hardwares

im planning to upgrade my Sony DVD+RW+R, Seagate 80GB 7k2RPM Barracuda HD & Graphic Video Card...

Here's my spec's:

- MS Win XP pro SP2

- ECS Elitegroup P4VMM2 motherboard:Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4. FSB 533/400
CHIPSET:
VIA P4M266(NB) & VT8233(SB)
SYSTEM MEMORY:
2 DDR DIMM sockets and 2 SDRAM DIMM sockets support (can not be used simultaneously)
Maximum: 2GB(Unbuffered Memory) / 2GB(Buffered Memory)
EXPANSIONS SLOTS:
1 AGP
2 PCI
1 CNR
ON BOARD AUDIO:
AC97 Audio CODEC
ON BOARD VIDEO:
Integrated Savage 4 2D/3D Video Accelerator up to 32MB shared
ON BOARD LAN:
MAC Integrated in VT8233 & PHY on board. 10/100

I/O DEVICES:
Supports Plug and Play function
PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse connectors
Dual USB 2.0 ports and LAN connector
One - EPP/ECP mode parallel port
One - 16550 high-speed serial I/O port
VGA Connector
Audio Ports (Line-in, Line-out, Mic-in, CD-in and game port)
ON BOARD IDE:
Dual PCI IDE interfaces - support four IDE devices
(PIO mode 4, DMA Mode 2, Ultra DMA 66/100)
BIOS:
Award 2Mb Flash EEPROM
Supports Plug and Play 1.0A, APM 1.2, Multi Boot, DMI
FORM FACTOR:
Micro ATX (244mm*244mm),


- Intel P4 2.0Ghz

- 768MB of RAM

- Seagate 40GB 7k2RPM Barracuda (Is it ok to upgrade it to 80GB?)

- Inno3d GeForce4 MX440 AGP 8x (I'll need some advice/recommendation here)

- Sony CD+RW

- Task Dual Fan Power Supply ATX 12V - V.1.3 350 Watts

 

for an optical drive, i recommend the nec nd-3550. to give a hard drive + video card recommendation, would u mind telling what u normally do with ur computer? if u just browse the web, ur current video card should be fine and if u dont have large amount of files or large programs then ur current hard drive may not need to be replaced/upgraded

 

hi there! WSFuser! im planning to have a semiMULTIMEDIA pc not just an ordinary desktop pc. so im planning to buy a dvd+RW+R, HD & graphic video cards.. any suggestions WSFuser...guyz?

 

my pc's so lame
i want to install & play new/latest games around.., (w/ my gforce4 really suck's now big time) . & to watch a dvd on my desktop pc. & to be able to burn dvd's to.
id really appreciatted for those people who take time w/ my lack of knowledge. i dont want to mess my system especially when it comes to hardwares & w/ softwares to... actually, iv been reading a lot of your sharing or knowledge about pc stuff. & it really did a great help to a user like me or to anybody else who craves for some help/answers.

 

to play the latest games ull need a good graphics card like a nvidia geforce 6 or 7 series (perhaps the 7800gt or for less $ the 6800gs) but im slightly concerned with ur old processor. for the hard drive, western digital's Caviar SE16 series should do the trick; available in 250gb, 320gb, and 500gb capacities. if thats too much $, the normal WD Caviar SE series should be fine. its available in numerous capacities from 40gb to 320gb.

 

yeah... i know my system sucks..! a friend of mine told me a ATI RADEON 92series 128MB graphic video card. is that right for my old system (as what you've said)? or do you have any other recommendations rather than what my friend said? 128MB or 256MB video card? i think im cool w/ an 80 or 120 GB of HD. which do you prefer? cause im concerned also w/ my power supply. or do i need to upgrade all of my hardwares? cause im w/ cool my system right now. i just want to have a bit upgrade of my HD (80 or120), Graphic Video Card (128 or 256).., & a DVD+RW+R. pardon me for my writing skills guys. but i do hope you all got my point.

 

im not entirely sure what ull be doing with ur hard drive space but i guess u should get as much as ur willing to afford. u can use this tool to determine ur power supply needs. u can either use ur current video card or pick a card u may think of upgrading to. if u seriously want to play never games u may want to consider a new computer but if not, u still need something better than a radeon 9200 series. the 6800gs seems reasonable.

 

Get yerself an ATi X850 XT

 

Hi,
With 7800gt price dropping and with ATI X850XT lacking of HDR/SM3.0, its not a good idea to get x850xt. But thats just my opinion. I would agree with WSFuser. Either 6800gs (mid range) or 7800gt/gtx (high end) or x1900xt (ultra hight end). Thanks.

*edit*- Sorry I didnt notice AGP. So it would be 6800gs or 7800gt (i believe they have the agp version). So down to what WSFuser recommended.

Regards,
Liw

 

I second this.

I am a professional system builder. The systems that I design and build are a lot more complicated, and a lot more expensive than your normal PC. I am also an avid PC gamer.

The fastest AGP card that you can get in the United States is the ATI Radeon X850 XT PE. There is a company called GeCube that makes AGP cards that use the ATI X1600 chipset:

http://www.gecube.com/products-detail.php?prod_cat_pid=9&prod_cat_id=141&prod_id=44728

Tom's Hardware maintains an ongoing performance chart for AGP cards here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/05/vga_charts_vii/index.html

After reviewing it, you will find that the X850 XT PE is very fast. I have one, and I like it a lot. I upgraded from the nVidia 5700.

I won't get into the normal forum pissing contest about which hardware is better than which. What I highly recommend is that you consider the support level of the vendors that you deal with. This is so over looked. Sure you can buy a cheaper burner than Plextor for example, but does that cheap vendor supply you with frequent firmware updates?

I would also use 2 drives instead of upgrading the one. I have one VERY fast drive with just the OS installed on it. My second drive is larger and has all of my applications and data on it.

Have you thought about a CPU upgrade as well? I believe that you can max that Via out to 3.06 GHz.

 

i just realised that as well but i hold by the 6800gs for midrange, im not entirely sure about higher end cards however.