[willy_principal]

This is my computer:

Micro: AMD K6-II 500MHz
Mobo: Soyo 5EMA
RAM: a 64MB PC100 DIMM card. a 128MB PC100 DIMM card.
HD: Samsung ATA 80 GB (i bought it last week)
video card: XFX GeForce 4 MX 64MB VRAM. AGP4x.
Audio card: 32-bit Crystal Fusion.

i was thinking to upgrade these components:
Micro: AMD Sempron 2400
Mobo: Asrock K7VM3
RAM: a 512 MB DDR400 card.

what do you think?

these specs would be enough to play HL2?

[WMCoolmon]

Upgrade the video card and we'll talk.

[willy_principal]

not enough money...

well...let's suppose that i get some more money...
to which video card should i upgrade it?

[brugger]

I have the same video card and was also thinking about upgrading can you get anything decent for about 100 bucks

[Blitzerland]

ATI 9800 Pro. Pretty nice card, $150.

[WMCoolmon]

Well, for $180 you can get the 6600 GT. Comes in AGP and PCI-Express flavors, I believe, and is pretty much universally known as the best bang-for-the-buck card around. And it's equal to a Radeon X700.

And it runs HL2 pretty damn well, even with the DX9 code path.

9800 Pro, or even a 9600 XT, are also pretty good cards.

If you just want to *play* HL2, and don't care how it looks, I've seen people tweaking it so that it'll run on low-end systems. However, at that point it gets to looking like a Doom remake. You could try the demo (I think it's out) and see how well it runs.

[mitac]

HL2 runs best with ATI. Get the stuff you listed plus a Radeon 9600-class graphics card. That'll do, there is no need to spend twice the money.

[Fineus]

How much money do you have? And where are you intending to buy your upgrades from?

You may find we know some cheaper places or better solutions for your cash

[Ypoknons]

6600GT is cooler than 9800Pro, and consumes less power. Less headaches.

Are you planning to overclock your Semperon? If not DDR333 would do. HL2? Ouch. I don't have much faith on that unichrome on the mobo; I won't have much more with the GF4. It would probably work, but you'll be missing out on a lot.

[Liberator]

Stop pulling prices out of you're ass, post links.  I have yet to see a 6600gt for less than $200.

Assuming you have a budget of $300:
*NOTE* this is a Socket A solution, I don't think you can get in under $300 for A64 or Intel.
$67.00 - Sempron 2400
One downside to the Sempron is that it will not function if you plug it into a 266mhz FSB.  So you can't "skimp" on the board and get a really good 266mhz FSB mobo, which are dirt cheap these days.
$51.99 - Asus A7X8X-X
Quite possibly the best Socket A mobo available for less than $70.00USD.
$60.00 - Crucial 512MB PC2700
Memory is not something to skimp on.  Get as much as you can afford.  While I like and use Kingston ValueRam, the techs at work tell me that it doesn't like being mixed and matched with other brands, including the higher end Kingston stuff.  So you may want to stay away from it.
$104 - Chaintech SA6200 GeForce 6200 AGP 8X 128MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out & DVI
Like all budget video cards this chip hasn't been getting a lot of press.  But what little is available to read on it suggests that it soundly thumps the FX5200 and the 9600 in most of the tests.

67+  104 + 60 + 52 = $283

Overall not a bad system, you may want to mix and match and see what you can come up with.  But ZZF has free 2nd shipping on almost everything.

[Fineus]

I'd also just like to chuck the notion of future-proofing into the air. Given the Sempron is a SocketA solution, which are being fazed out.. you'll also be looking at a motherboard upgrade the next time you want to boost things up.

[Taristin]

Sempron is a Socket 754, IIRC. But that too is being phased out. Look for Socket 979... or whatever the 900 series equivalent is.

[Liberator]

754 is being tossed.  But, AFAIK, they're still going to make Socket A Semprons.  939 is A64/FX exclusive.  You can't build a 939 system for under $500.  The parts just arent' cheap enough.

[willy_principal]

thank you all!!!

remember that i'm in Argentina, Buenos Aires...so...
US$ 1 = $3

these things are three times as expensive as in US...
...plus the importation costs...

to buy the system mentioned by Liberator...
...i would need US$283+importation costs= around...$900-$1000
working the sundays twelve hours here in the cyber i earn $30 per day...plus $10 my dad give me every saturday.
I have $120 stashed...

so....at this rate...when am i going to have enough money to buy everthing?

[Fineus]

Originally posted by Liberator
754 is being tossed.  

Are you sure? They've just introduced it as far as I know... I thought the SocketA was being tossed in favour of the 754 being the new low-end and the 939 being the new high-end.

[Taristin]

I've heard from more than one person that 754 is on it's way out.

Socket A is probably going to be dropped, too, though, since it's the old style Athlons, and not the new Athlon 64's.

[Lukeskywalkie]

I bought the GeForce 6600 GT, and I've never been happier.

Well...almost.
I am NOT happy with my motherboard, however. I've been having issues with it + graphics heavy software ever since I've bought it. this is my third vid card, and still I get the same pipeline issues.

Anyone have a suggestion for a mobo? Multiple price ranges, preferably.

[WMCoolmon]

Originally posted by Liberator
Stop pulling prices out of you're ass, post links.  I have yet to see a 6600gt for less than $200.

http://www.pricewatch.com/

[BlackDove]

Originally posted by Liberator
754 is being tossed.  But, AFAIK, they're still going to make Socket A Semprons.  939 is A64/FX exclusive.  You can't build a 939 system for under $500.  The parts just arent' cheap enough.

I beg to differ.

www.newegg.com

Maybe not if you're going from scratch, but Mobo+Proc+RAM is definatly possible.

[Grey Wolf]

OK, let's go over this, shall we?

Socket A: Introduced with the Athlon. Stayed through Athlon XP and Sempron.
Future: Being phased out.

Socket 754: Introduced with the Athlon 64.
Future: Sempron

Socket 939: Introduced with the Athlon 64.
Future: Mainstream socket, will be used until AMD adopts DDR2 or DDR3, including the dual core parts available at the end of this year.