[hassinator]

I'm looking to upgrade my video card so that I can play battlefield 2 on medium to high graphic settings. I know I really should get a new motherboard, cpu, etc. but money is tight so I was hoping to upgrade to something around $100 or less that could do the trick for a year or so. My system is a Emachine t2698
Cpu: AMD Athlon XP 2600+
2 gigs of RAM
Radeon X700 AGP video card

Any recommendations that would work?

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Hi hassinator, welcome to Geeks to Go!

One of the first things I noticed was the Emachine brand-name, these have been known to come with power supplies that are not recommended for upgrading. It would be the first thing to be upgraded, if this were my machine.

According to the chart on this page, your current card is powerful enough, any recommendations I could make would either take you well over your budget, or would not give you a noticeable difference.

If your CPU is socket 939, I have a feeling this would make a decent upgrade.

Of course, if you wait a bit somebody else may find a good deal or recommend something that may help you.

Cheers

[Troy]

Hi hassinator, welcome to Geeks to Go!

One of the first things I noticed was the Emachine brand-name, these have been known to come with power supplies that are not recommended for upgrading. It would be the first thing to be upgraded, if this were my machine.

According to the chart on this page, your current card is powerful enough, any recommendations I could make would either take you well over your budget, or would not give you a noticeable difference.

If your CPU is socket 939, I have a feeling this would make a decent upgrade.

Of course, if you wait a bit somebody else may find a good deal or recommend something that may help you.

Cheers

[hassinator]

Yeah, my CPU is a Socket A (462) so I think Im screwed with trying to upgrade the processor.
What would you recommend upgrading the power supply to?
If I raised my budget to $200 what would then recommend video card wise?

[Neil Jones]

Not worth upgrading past your current card on a Socket A board because the technology will be slower than the new card. You'd be better off waiting in all honesty. Replace the power supply if its a Bestec power supply though, before you're forced to upgrade the lot. Any PSU is better than Bestec.

[hassinator]

Any Advice on what size of power supply I should upgrade to?

[Troy]

I would be looking at a minimum of 600W to help future-proof your system. I have this exact one, currently a very good rebate. I'm very happy with the quality of this unit.

Of course, I'm thinking with a new system in mind. As Neil has mentioned, upgrading anything with that socket A system would be a complete waste of time. Just enjoy it while you can, and save.

[jst42day]

hassinator,
I have been going through a similar situation with my old t6212.
I went with a 500 watt Enermax Liberty PSU and it is trouble free.
I think the Corsair PSU's are better but you need to google for psu reviews and then for the lowest price.

As for the rest of your rig, maybe saving the money and then getting the CPU and motherboard and whatever other parts you'll need would work for you.
I'm going that route myself.
Also, before you spend any money, check into your operating system.
If all you have is what came with your pc you may need to either buy a new os or to pay M$ a fee to be able to keep using the one you have.
You should be able to get some good advice in this forum in the os or software section.
Good luck.
jst42day