My upgrade options

I think my computer has started to show its age. I’ve always upgraded my system in the past so I’d like to explore that option first before I think about getting a new one. I will be sticking with AMD (upgrade or new option).

My current uses that tax the system;
Gaming;
EVE Online, BF2142 - Both run, but not as good as I need them to be.
Applications;
Vmware (atleast 2 instances, slows down a lot currently)
HD Video playback (has issues with 720p and above res video. Lately, even regular video playback has been spotty (after my Win 7 upgrade, possible the drivers are not up to par yet)

My current specs;

  • AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2 GHz) processor (Socket 939)
  • ECS KN1 Extreme Motherboard
  • 1024MB PC3200 * 2 Ram
  • Windows 7 Ultimate
  • 250/80/40 GB Harddrives (All SATA I think)
  • Nvidia GeForce 7800GT 256mb video card (1680x1050 rez)
  • Onboard LAN/Audio
  • DELL 2005FPW (widescreen lcd)
  • other stuff (not relevent)

Is there hope with a CPU/Ram/videocard upgrade? PC3200 Ram is pretty expensive and higher clocked socket 939 CPU are hard to find. Upgrading a videocard shouldn’t be a problem.

well 939 processors will find you when you try to find them, they are quiet abundant. but i will suggest you to buy the new athlon x2 based on barcelona architecture. they are new and don't cost much, and they are way faster than you currently have. my freind has just bought one for a total of 20k. Specs: 2.8 GHz Dual Core, 4GHz Bus, 2GB RAM, ASUS motherboard /w SLI & Crossfire support, 300GB HDD, ATI Radeon HD 4770 1GB.