[chronicatm]

I am going to upgrade my PC because it seems to be slow. I would like to play all new First Person Shooters very smoothly. I have been playing Call of Duty: World at War and after about ten minutes it runs poorly. I am pretty sure this is an issue with cooling but I do believe I could make even more upgrades. I also play about 12 tables of online poker at once and this requires my computer to run smoothly and not close Full Tilt Poker when I am in the middle of a game.

Here are all the specs I was able to obtain, if there is more needed please let me know how to get them and I will.

Computer: Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition OS Service Pack Service Pack 3
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name OWNER-F7E84691D
User Name Owner
Motherboard: CPU Type Unknown, 1866 MHz (3.5 x 533) Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset nVIDIA nForce4 Intel Edition System Memory 1024 MB (DDR2 SDRAM) BIOS Type Award (07/13/06)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1) Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
Display: Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS (256 MB) Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS (256 MB)
Monitor Dell E172FP [17" LCD] (M160943O1HNL)
Multimedia: Audio Adapter Creative Audigy LS Audio Processor Storage: IDE Controller NVIDIA nForce 430/410 Serial ATA Controller IDE Controller NVIDIA nForce 430/410 Serial ATA Controller IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive MAXTOR STM3320620A (298 GB, IDE) Disk Drive HP Photosmart C4400 USB Device
Optical Drive PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D SMART
Hard Disks Status OK
Partitions: C: (NTFS) 305234 MB (170767 MB free)


I do believe I will upgrade to 4GB of RAM .... suggestions?
I am also considering using SLI and adding another graphics card....is this worth it? Will just a better cooling setup be sufficient with my current graphics card/setup? More power supply? I am very confused with what to do...

I also am considering some other things such as: a fan controller?, case organization stuff like cable wraps, and any other cool case mods I can find.

Anything else I can upgrade? ALL suggestions accepted. I have money to spend...but I am not going for TOP TOP products, the mid range ones will be fine. Thanks in advance!

[Carbon]

Motherboard is likely very old. You are probably better off just overhauling it totally or selling the old one - of course you could use the old graphics card but for $100 or so for a new one that plays everything on high you'd be a fool to.

[chronicatm]

I got this PC less than 2 years ago and I picked all the parts at Fry's. There is no way I'm starting from scratch as I spent around $1,000 on this already a year or two ago.

I currently have the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS (256MB). What kind of card would you recommend for gaming? Other mods?

[Hybr!d]

PCs go out of date very fast. It's the nature of the beast.

Posting your budget will help others advise better.

[Hybr!d]

Stick to one thread please. Duplicates are messy and confusing.

Thank you.

[chronicatm]

Sorry about that...

My budget isnt even needed because like I said...I got the money for it. I was just hoping people would post their ideal hardware upgrades for my PC. Like I said, i am DEFINITELY adding cooling. The major issue is if I should use the SLI and get dual graphics cards, or if I should just keep my current card, of if I should just get one new graphics card and use that.

Also, I want to mod my case some too. I know there are cool bay devices. Suggestions?

[Carbon]

That a GeForce 7900 GS would need aftermarket cooling is at best laughable. Why would you add cooling to and mod your case on an outdated computer? LEDs do not add FPS! Skip the unnecessary xxxtremegamer crap and spend $600 on a new setup.

[Bubba]

I'm not quite understanding chronicatm, you picked the parts at Fry's but:

"Motherboard: CPU Type Unknown, 1866 MHz (3.5 x 533) Motherboard Name Unknown"

Carbon may be able to tell what kind of Mobo and CPU from the specs you posted, but I can't. Have you tried running CPUID? It's a free program that will identify your MoBo, processor, and RAM. You can find it here:

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Download, install, run it, and post what kind of MoBo and Chip you have please. It will be easier to suggest something from there. off hand, if you are dead set about NOT buying a new processor and MoBo, I would at least get a new video card.

[serverguy]

The only things you need to upgrade are the RAM, Motherboard, Processor and Graphics Card.

You can keep everything else from your old case, it'll make jack squit of difference.

Like Carbon said, LEDs and fans don't equal FPS.