Upgrade or new pc

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RineEater

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I know people probably ask these kinds of things all the time, but that's what this site is for. I need help deciding if I should upgrade, buy new, or stick with the PC i have. I pretty much only care about gaming. The main issue is I leave in August and will have no further need for a desktop pc. This is where I'm not sure what to do. My PC is already getting kind of old and I don't think I could go 5 months without playing games- and the ones coming out currently are not going to run well on my pc. But since i'm gone in 5 months I don't want to spend too much money on something i won't be using- so i don't really want to buy new.

The specs:

Operating system: Windows XP Home Edition
System Manufacturer: Gateway
System Model: GT4022
Motherboard Manufacturer: First International Computer, Inc.
Motherboard Model: KTBC51G
Memory: 1.5 GB
CPU Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
CPU Family: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 4000+ Model 7, Stepping 2
CPU Speed: 2410 MHz
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 8600GTS 256MB

Anything else you need?



What I need to know is how should I upgrade my PC for good gaming performance that will get me through the next 5 months without costing too much? I was planning on getting more memory, but the CPU is getting kinda old too. And what should I do about my video card? I don't think that will last either.Hopefully the Motherboard is good for now and any upgrades I make. Oh and I guess I don't want to spend more than $600 for all upgrades- then I might as well buy a whole new pc.

Thanks for your help.
 
Probably better off going the "new" route, although you can recycle parts from your current PC. You should be able to keep within the $600 budget.

Your RAM and CPU are all but obsolete and are going to cost more than they're worth performance-wise to upgrade.

I would generally recommend that you build around Intel's Core 2 Duo, but, they're a tad bit more expensive and with a $600 budget (although a Core 2 Duo is doable with $600) along side a short 5 months of use, you might as well save yourself a few bucks and go with an AMD.

Do you know if your current motherboard is ATX or Micro-ATX? You might want to make sure whatever board you decide on will fit in your case.

Here is a motherboard, CPU, RAM and PSU:

GA-M57SLI-S4 $89.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ OEM (Doesn't include heatsink $96.99
CORSAIR XMS2 2x1024MB DDR2 800MHz $34.00
ELT400AWT $79.99

If you want a new VPU and case:

MSI 9600GT $144.99
Antec Nine Hundred $59.99

The totals below are the sums before shipping and after rebates:

Motherboard, CPU, RAM, PSU: $300.97
VPU and case: $204.98
Combined: $505.95

:p Combined, you'd still have enough for the heatsink and a nice present for me.
 
That's some pretty good stuff and really good deals on it. Thanks for the links. The only problem is I'd have to get my parents to buy it online- so annoying. Of course I also have never installed a motherboard or CPU so I'd have to be careful with that. So do they have heat sinks too? Or is that something I can take from my current PC? I've never dealt with this stuff before. I've done RAM, video cards, power supplys, hard drives, and cd rom drives. That's why i'm on here.
 
No, you can't use your current stock CPU. You can pick another CPU that is boxed, and that'll come with a stock CPU, but I figured you might want an aftermarket heatsink if you were gaming.
 
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