I want to upgrade my PC to make it a faster gaming machine but I dont know whether to go with an Athlon XP CPU and motherboard or just a better Pentium 4 CPU and better motherboard. I want a really good graphics card as well (one thats double or triple what a 64MB GeForce 3 is) . Can you please recommend the necessary hardware. My system specs are below: Intel Pentium 4 1.8GHz (Socket 748) i845 chipset 400MHz FSB AGPx4 motherboard 512MB PC133 SD-RAM (2x 256MB DIMMs) 40GB 5400rpm seagate ST340810A hard disk 64MB NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200 AGP 16x DVD-ROM drive 12x8x32 CD-RW drive Intel AC-97 onboard sound Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Thank you for your help

Money no object then the lastest XP3000 etc AMD XP3000 CPU Retail Box £400 ASus A7N NForce2 MoBo £125.00 PC3200 Memory 2 x 512MB £100 ATI 9700 8x CARD £300 etc etc, basically a whole new computer as you wil need a large case for circulation, faster 7,200 ATA133 Hard drives, 21" Monitor and while you are about it get an OEM copy of XP Pro for £130. Two grand would build you a monster.

(do last) I would got a soundblaster live card or something simular...can get one for about 30-35 at www.pricewatch.com (Second) a faster hard drive 7200rpm's and 8 meg cache..staples has a 80gb for 79.00 after rebates.. (first) for video card go for a ATI radeon 9700 pro they are faster then gforce at the moment..(I have know idea about the price) and more ram...max out your ram.. that is what I would start doing...the rest isn't that important yet....

Your system is fairly good and balanced as a unit but not one component is really up to 2q2003 standards, so I'd sell it as a whole and replace it as opposed to upgrade some parts of it. The Radeon 9700pro plus a 2.53g p4 or athlon 2200+, along with 512mb of pc2700 memory will get you excellent performance at a good price, with the p4 being a little more power for a few more bucks. I'd take a look at the pc-systems item on pricewatch.com.

It's remarkable. I'd say in my mind you wouldn't have to spend much at all. I would leave the preference as to whether you go new P4 or Athlon XP up to yourself. Just don't spend more than you have to (which probably means Athlon LOL). Although you don't want to be spending £400 on the very latest CPU that'll be half that within months. XP3000 is overkill at that price! You want a motherboard that's going to support PC3200 (400Mhz Memory Bus Speed) MSI are fantastic! They have a strong KT400 based board (I forget the model number but it can be found on www.msi.com.tw) Again...about 512MB PC3200 DDR-RAM. As above...a 7200rpm UDMA133 Hard Disk Drive. But video card wise I disagree. My recommedation would be a Ge-Force 4 4600. I admit I love ATi! I've used all there cards from the early 2Mb Mach64 to the Radeon 9700. BUT...games are always from now on going to be written with the idea in mind that Nvidia are going to be the most commonly used graphics card, so support for them will be better. The way I have always looked at it is that Nvidia are used by hardcore gamers, and ATi are used be users who want unrivaled multimedia performance (DVD playback, TV, video editing, etc.)

Im curious of how many MHz my bus spped is, can somone please tell me. Is it 400MHz FSB(like some other guy I know whos got a P4 1.5GHz with PC800 RD-RAM) or is 133MHz (because its limited but the crappy PC133 SD-RAM. My PC specs are below: Intel Pentium 4 1.8GHz (Socket 748) 512MB PC133 SD-RAM (2x 256MB DIMMs) 40GB 5400rpm seagate ST340810A hard disk 64MB NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200 AGP 16x DVD-ROM drive 12x8x32 CD-RW drive Creative Labs SoundBlaster 1024 Live PCI Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition I need to know what my FSB speed. I know one thing for sure that the AGP bus is set to 4x (I know this from Windows2000/XP NVIDIA 41.09 graphics properties in windows) THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP