5 years ago I build a gaming rig which i thought at the time was fairly sweet. P4 2.4ghz 800 fsb HT, Asus p4800s mb(good overclocking board at the time) 2 gigs ddr ram(thats 2 1 gig sticks)800gigs of hard drive space(ide not serial) (2 250gig hds, 1 100 gig hd, 1 200 gig hd) and last but not least the Best of the best at that time the Asus Ati 9800 xt pro 256meg agp video card. (that alone cost me over $600!!) The system is still going strong with the only thing I have bought is a 20 inch lcd samsung some time in the last 3 years. I can still play most games fairly well (I can play Bioshock at 30fps with settings on half) I am unable to get Fallout 3 to run at all even tho the game detects my video card and sets the game up. If I was to upgrade my system what would be some good items? I don't have the cash I had 5 years ago( I think the whole system cost me close to $2500) I'd like to spent no more then say $300. And what do you think my current system is worth today seeing as it can run most modern games(well before fallout 3 anyway)? Gagetvalue.com says about $380-$390. thanks, Jack

The 9800XT was good in it's day, but it can't keep up with even the lower end cards of today. If you paid $600 for it, you got ripped off. When it 1st debuted, the MSRP was under $500. http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/4/... "If I was to upgrade my system what would be some good items?" Board, CPU, RAM, video card & probably the power supply. "If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction

the Asus version of the 9800 I bought came pre-overclocked with twin fans and in a oak case. my power supply I forgot to say that I recently replaced it. the original was a 650w the new one is a 500w but higher amps(or is it volts..) the guy at the computer shop said that with the higher A/V that it would be better for the hardware. here are some reviews of the asus card. As I said tho if it was not for fallout 3 I would still recommand this card as every game I have thrown at is is playable.(doom 3 at max settings for example) http://www.digital-daily.com/video/... target="_blank">http://www.digital-daily.com/video/... http://www.bytesizedreviews.com/?re...

Thats a pretty tight budget but maby you can get away with it. You'll need a CPU, M/B, Graphics card and RAM. The 9800XT will still get good money on e-bay. People tend to start stupid bidding frenzy's on better AGP cards. You probably wont get much for the M/B, CPU and RAM, maby $100. Gigabyte make good boards in the $150 range Intels 7XXX C2D is good around $180 Any cheapish ram is good, aim for a min of 2GB. 2GB (2x1GB) shouldent cost more than $50 That leaves around $125 if you manage to sell the old parts for $200. $125 is jack all for a graphics card and probably wont get much more than a 9500GT. You might need to stretch the budget a bit more, an extra $50 could get you a 9800GT Maby you could sacrifice the CPU and go for a 5200 instead, not sure what they are like but they are around $140 which could save $40. All these estimates are very loosely based off prices here in Australia so it might be different where you are, but this should give you an idea. Mattwizz3 Gigabyte P35-DS3R E4500 @ 3.2 4GB DDR2 800 9800GT