pc upgrade vs pc renewal

hi all,

Recently, I've been playing more games on my pc, and some games just don't quite play right. I know my system is a bit old, but I feel that with a little upgrading it should do quite alright. A friend of mine, however, did point out that buying a completely new system might save me some money, as I can use some parts from the old one to reinforce it. This is what I have right now:

Motherboard: ASUSTeK Model P5S800-VM
CPU 1 core Intel Pentium 4
2 1024 mb DDR memory
Nvidia GeForce 6600 256mb
(any other relevant parts, please let me know I'll look it up)

My question is: would I be better off getting a complete new system, or would just upgrading my video card do to increase gaming performance (and which would be cheaper in a cost/effect ratio)?

Thanks in advance!

 

yea that mobo only supports agp that is definitely restricting the games potential to be shown,

It would be in my opinion better to just make a new computer

 

I have a 80 GB hard drive, and my optical drives are 2 home-brew dvd readers/writers.
I recently bought new ram, going from 1 512 to 2 1024.

What is the difference between agp and other types relating to games?

 

AGP was the old standard. PCI-Express is the new standard and allows for faster speeds.

Id say if you have the money, its time to upgrade. Even with a higher end agp gpu, Im not confident that it will hold out on the gaming end to much longer. How much could you spend on new parts?

 

my budget goes up to around 800/900 euro.

 

In that case you can build a killer gaming rig.

Just a quick run down here:
Core i7 860
MSI,Gigabyte, or Biostar ATX mobo (P55/Socket 1156)
Corsair,G.Skil or Patriot DDR3 Memory
ATI 5800 series video card
Corsair PSU, 550 watts should give you some room to grow.
Sony or LG DVD Burner

The only reason you may want to switch out the cpu and mobo would be if your wanting run crossfire or sli down the road.

 

That's a stretch for 800 euros. For an entire system you will be limited to the HD5850 and it will still be tight. Go with the i5 750 CPU instead of the i7 860, it's much better value.

 

800 euros is $1280 USD. A core i7 860 isnt a stretch buy any means.

 

Not how it works. Most European countries have high sales tax, and also suffer import costs.

 

I forgot about the VAT fees.

 

Mmhmm, HD5970 price in US: $650-$700.
HD5970 price in UK: c. £550 ($885). That's only $750 before VAT is applied.

 

OUCH! Glad I live in the US. lol.

 

Thanks guys, I'm looking into the prices right now! VAT is indeed 19% extra, but I'm sure I can find a way around import taxes and all that

 

No problem, sales tax here is only 7% or 8% here but buying online i usually avoid the sales tax.