Computer upgrage help

I hope this is the apropriate section :)

I looking to upgrade my computer a bit on the cheap as I am broke like alot are atm.

Here are my current spec's and this machine runs only 2 Accts atm but may add a 3rd if I can boost its preformance

32 bit Win XP
4Gb of DDR2 ram ( xp only reconizes 3.25 of it )
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Asus M2N4-SLI Mainbord
512k l2 cache
Nvidia Gforce 8800gts
All HD's are 7200rpm

Now I am wondering what options I can do cheaply. Atm a Dual core processors are cheap as they are bieng phased out. would dual core help my multiboxking ? I also was thinking of switching to XP 64 bit

Any Ideas ?

A cheap upgrade would be a second graphics card, more memory and XP 64-bit.

put in as much RAM as MB will hold (Might only be 4 gigs). If it takes 8 gigs, get a 64 bit OS probably Windows 7 at this point.
Look to see you can put in the MB for CPU upgrades, if a dual core or plus 1000 or 1.0k speed for cheap go for it. Otherwise stop and save for the big upgrade.
You can 5 box with that GPU, I have an old 8800 GTS 320 in mine.

another graphics card for sli, or second hand ati X2 (sandwich card) or geforce 260

replace cpu for top end for the board, amd cpu's now are very cheap.

im using to run my 5 atm, 3870x2 and intel 2650 @ 3.5Ghz

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Originally Posted by alcattle

put in as much RAM as MB will hold (Might only be 4 gigs). If it takes 8 gigs, get a 64 bit OS probably Windows 7 at this point.
Look to see you can put in the MB for CPU upgrades, if a dual core or plus 1000 or 1.0k speed for cheap go for it. Otherwise stop and save for the big upgrade.
You can 5 box with that GPU, I have an old 8800 GTS 320 in mine.

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and like this chap said crank up the memory and 64bit to use it all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by boxblizzard

another graphics card for sli, or second hand ati X2 (sandwich card) or geforce 260

replace cpu for top end for the board, amd cpu's now are very cheap.

im using to run my 5 atm, 3870x2 and intel 2650 @ 3.5Ghz

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What are you doing different to get 2 video cards to work in WoW?

What Alcattle said : Go for dual core if you can find such a CPU cheap, put as much ram as your main board can take. You GPU is fine.

SSD is also a nice upgrade, whatever the machine.

since he said "cheap upgrade" I gave him those options, I would love to build a great machine and upgrade my interwebz to 20 meg, but wife out of work means less toys.

Here's a link on your MB specs and what your upgrade abilities might be.

M2N4-SLI

According to your mobo you can have 8GB of Ram. You also have 2 PCI express 16 slots. Here is what I would do ->

Upgrade ram to 8GB
Upgrade OS to 64 bit

Graphic cards are a touchy subject and strongly depends on how you use them so I won't mention any upgrades for that.

The next thing I woud upgrade is the storage hardware. I would add an SSD just for WoW. All you need is a 30GB SSD nothing more.

After that I would look to see how the CPU is handling all this. If you are running above 90% with 5 wow clients then its time for a CPU upgrade.

Finally, the GPU upgrade is the last in the chain and is highly dependent on your setup and what software you use to manage them. For example I have 2 cards, each driving a monitor. I use InnerSpace to manage the GPUs so that both have about the same load on them. You may be running 1 monitor or even 2 monitors from 1 card.

More info on how the monitor/GPU setup can be helpful in determining an upgrade for you.

Drommon

Awsome info, thanks guys. Does dual core effect multiboxing much ? I know Keyclone runs on different parts of it if set up. SSD hmm I look into them again last time they were super expensive. Windows 7 ? is it acttually decent ?

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Originally Posted by Stormchazer

Awsome info, thanks guys. Does dual core effect multiboxing much ? I know Keyclone runs on different parts of it if set up. SSD hmm I look into them again last time they were super expensive. Windows 7 ? is it acttually decent ?

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i hear good things about windows 7 and it walks over vista regarding compatiability.

im looking at W764 after xmas when im not too skint

More ram is usually the cheapest upgrade, the biggest upgrade.

To get that extra ram to work, you'll need a 64-bit operating system.
Unless you're running a very low-end system with only 1-2gb of ram, I'd go with Win7.
Probably Home 64-bit, but Profession 64-bit if you also want the option of XP Mode (Home doesn't offer this).

Not sure your budget...

After Ram, processor and a cheap SSD are the biggest bang for your buck.