Hey guys.

Anyone know any good websites for upgrading computer components and research or advice on upgrade path? I've used basichardware.com in the past and it was good but it's not updated.

Here is some background on my comp:

AMD Athlon 64 2800+ (running at 1.8GHz)
MSI K8T Neo (VIA K8T800 chipset based) motherboard
512 MB of RAM
20GB HD + 120GB HD (both IDE/ATA. aren't they the same?)
Sony DVD RW DW-D22A dvd drive
Polaroid BurnMAX48 cd drive
NVIDIA GeForce 2MX/MX 400 video card
On board sound card
2.1 speakers
15.1" NFREN TFT-LCD monitor

I've been wanting to upgrade the components for a while. My main use for the computer is school work, watching movies and I might want to try out that new morrowwind game (once the price goes down). Upgrade that I am looking for are performance then periphials.

Any suggestions? I usually go to the Fry's nearby and see what kind of parts they have but if you guys have any suggestions that would be a great help.

newegg.com wins.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

Yeah, newegg.com and tigerdirect.com. What makes or breaks the deal between the two is usually shipping.

For RAM information, crucial.com has an awesome search engine to drill down to the kind of RAM in your machine. Once you know that information, head over to tigerdirect.com and pick it up. Crucial's expensive.

Is it just me or does Tiger Direct seem harder to navigate than Newegg?

I was eyeing 1 gb ram from Corsair's Value Select ram for $96.49. It seems to have good feedback from customers.

Upgrades always have limits.
About the only performance upgrade that you can do is adding additional ram.... other than that, it becomes not so cost efficient.

So say you want to upgrade your processor... Well if your motherboard is older, can you even find the series of processors to fit the socket.. and if you can, is a couple hundred mhz worth the money? On some popular sockets, intel's 478 comes to mind... there is a WIDE range of processor speeds there so if you got an early model, perhaps... but then you've got a processor capable of a much higher bus speed perhaps, but a motherboard that's limited. So as a general rule.. if you upgrade your processor, you're going to have to upgrade your motherboard too... which leads to a different type of RAM if your system is old. Once you've done that... you can usually salvage a powersupply, case (form factors haven't changed much), and maybe an optical drive... hard drive perhaps. If you're a gaming nut and get the right mb, a super duper video card can be transferred too.

If you do decide to just cheaply upgrade your RAM, my suggestion would be finding the manual or specs page on the manufactuers site and first determining the maximum speed, maximum amount per slot, and total maximum amount. After that.. you know what you're looking for. AMD based boards typically aren't as picky about what brands of RAM as intel boards are. Mix and matching RAM brands... may work... may not... only way to find out.

My suggestion for your setup would be RAM most importantly.. and if you have the extra change, maybe a faster 64. Remember though... the biggest "upgrade" you can do to ANY windows based machine is a fresh install of the original operating system from microsoft.

The pin for my cpu is 754. I think the 64 2800+ would be fine for playing games. It's right under the comparable 3GHz P4.

I was thinking of my Power supply too. I think mine is rated at 250W? Any reccomendation for a higher wattage? 300? 350?

Got a Microsoft OS disk around here somewhere. I reformat when my comp annually.

No need to upgrade your power supply unless you're having voltage failures or it's just... going bad. If 250w is enough and you don't need to add anymore drives, don't worry about it.

If you want to upgrade the power supply, just spend $30-$40 and get a nice 400-500w with a fan on the back, and a fan on the bottom. www.newegg.com... pick one with lots of good reviews.

upgrade the psu if you plan on getting a much better video card.