[jt80]

Oh, thanks i didn't know that.
The reason why i want to upgrade is that there are games that don't work on my computer properly and i wanted to upgrade my computer so they could work. Is there anything i can do to get them to work besides upgrade my graphic card and my ram (i have 1gb now).

Thanks

jt80

[thingie2]

it depends, if you need a better gfx card for it, there isn't anything that can be done, except get a new card, it all depends what's not working. Do you get an error message when you try to play the game, or install?

[jt80]

In two games an error message came up saying my graphic card isn't good enough yet i can play on lowest settings. In one game it goes all bitty and slow and the graphics aren't great at all.

Thanks

JT80

[thingie2]

Doesn't sound like there is anything that you can do to improve those graphics without buying a new graphics card then.

[Carbon]

The Athlon 64 3200+ is a single core. Depending on what games you play, that might hinder performance. You're still going to get a boost in most applications due to the fact that games generally aren't CPU limited, but if you play at low resolution or you play certain ones, you might be a little disappointed.

[jt80]

So lets say i were to get the corsair 450W PSU, the GeForce 9600GT 512MB and 1gb Ram. Would this speed up the game play and enable me to play on high settings? Or do i have to buy a dual or quad core processor too? If this works how long would this last before i would have to upgrade again to play new games? Also would it be more worthwhile to wait abit and sell my old computer inorder to buy a new one with better specs?

Thanks

JT80

[jt80]

What do you sugguest i do?

Thanks

[Carbon]

You would essentially be buying a new PC if you got a new CPU and motherboard along with the rest.

The graphics card will carry over, the RAM will not - and the RAM is actually more expensive for these older systems than buying new DDR2 RAM.

You will get a boost, so I recommend a 9800GT and the PSU now, because those can carry over, and then replacing the rest of the system later. Alternatively, you could sell it, but I'm not sure how much you'll get for it.

[jt80]

ok, but would my processor slow down the graphics card and keep it from speeding up my gameplay? Also would updating the ram also speed it up?

Thanks

JT80

[Carbon]

Maybe, but the idea is if it doesn't you save yourself the expense of the rest, and if it does you can just use the stuff you bought, and pop in a motherboard, RAM, and a CPU, and you're good.

You're running a decent single core processor, even though it and the RAM will be hurting you at low res, I think it's definitely worth the upgrade. Generally speaking you won't get as much out of the card as you would with a modern processor and DDR2 RAM, but I would give it a shot.

I would be hesitant to upgrade the RAM as original DDR is pretty rare and pretty expensive nowadays. If you aren't getting adequate performance with 1GB and a new card then it's not likely any more will help that much and paying out the nose for another 1GB or matched 2GB would be less cost efficient than putting that toward new, modern components.

If money is less of a concern than time, I'd order the whole shebang and use your old HDD, opticals, and case. Obviously either way you can carry over the graphics card and PSU, but if you've got the budget to just overhaul the whole thing and don't want to hook up the PSU and graphics card and test rather than knowing it'll work on the first go that would be the optimal solution. In that case it should run you very little. I'm going to edit/do a new post of the part selections in a little bit, bear with me.