Gaming Comp. Upgrades

croSSeduP · 11-20-2008, 12:11 AM

I'm a computer NEWB... Big time. I bought a computer for cheap for gaming. Mainly I bought it to get started gaming, but I'm hoping it is upgradable. Here's what it is right now:

Intel Pent. 4 CPU, 3.00Ghz; 2GB RAM; Western Digital WD1600JS H.D.; Biostar P4M90-M4 M.B.; NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB V.C.

I have the complete DxDiag.txt available if that would help anyone troubleshoot the next logical step. What should be the next thing I upgrade with this Frankenstein monster? The H.D.?

Thanks!

TG

RogueSeven · 11-20-2008, 12:32 AM

what kind of motherboard do you have? you have a pretty decent setup atm, only thing that would be necessary is that pentium 4 you got. if you upgrade that to a core 2 duo e8400 or something like that you will get a veyr nice performance boost

if your mobo doesnt support a new processor you'll have to get a new one...what kind of RAM do you have? ddr, ddr2, ddr3? if you are going to end up getting a new mobo i'd suggest upgrading to the next step of RAM if you can afford it. but, lets not get ahead of ourselves...

just leave it at "what kind of mobo do you have?" for the time being

edit: if you really really want to, you could also upgrade your graphics card to an ATI 4870, however i dont believe that would be necessary, it wouldnt be worth the money (not as giant as a step)

grasswater · 11-20-2008, 12:45 AM

What about your power supply, if you intend to do many upgrades you should need upgrade power supply also.

croSSeduP · 11-20-2008, 01:57 AM

Thanks for the quick replys.
Motherboard is a Biostar P4M90-M4. I think it is a NOS one because it was new when I bought the computer a couple of months ago, but there are no driver updates on the web that I can find. It also only has 1 PCI-E slot, so I can't SLI any vid. cards together. I just bought the vid card so I hope that one will do me for awhile. I also just bought a new power supply to support the vid card. It's a Power Up! 450W ATX unit. I know, not the greatest brand, but I crossed my fingers and rolled the dice. So far it's working flawlessly.

The ram is ddr2.

TG

Nagasama · 11-20-2008, 11:44 PM

theres no way you should put a 4870 behind a P4.
thats a socket 478 mobo, which is before LGA775 (c2d) and i7 (current lineup). so, no worthwhile upgrades there in the CPU department. it also runs only ddr2 667, so no real upgrade there. if you are running ddr2 533, you wont notice any difference. the HDD doesnt really need upgrading, unless you need more storage than 160gb.
ok, in a nutshell...save up and start all over. you can keep the HDD, gpu, and peripherals (dvd, mouse etc etc) and use them in a new build. then you can get an SLI mobo and use another 320, which can be found for CHEAP. you would need a new processor, ram and motherboard.

croSSeduP · 11-21-2008, 07:04 PM

Nagasama/Everybody,
Thank you for the direction. One thing I should have mentioned is the way I game: I'm at least a year behind the curve ON PURPOSE. When a new "thing" comes out - whether it's for PC, Wii, PS3, any home entertainment products, etc. - I wait until the hype has died down and I can get the game/console/hardware/camera/tv for cheap. If I stay doing it that way, everything I play and use is new to ME. I do computer stuff the same way. For instance, I just bought Turok and played through it. That is one of the most recent games I have ever purchased. My next purchase for a PC game is going to be the Orange Box (these have been around long enough to be pretty cheap right now), and then after that I'm going to probably purchase Doom 3. You see what I'm doing? Therefore, I'm trying to put together a computer that is about a gen. old. That's the reason I bought the nVidia 8800GTS. My P4 is probably more than a gen. old so I'm into replacing the processor. My computer's performance during Turok gameplay was less than I had hoped, so I suspect the processor is what's holding it back right now - that or maybe the hardrive, or a combo of those two things. This graphics card ought to kick Turok's arse, though. All this to say, I don't want the newest greatest stuff. I want to get the stuff that peeps have stopped buying because it doesn't support the absolute most recent games. One more example: I'm NOT looking to even consider purchasing Crysis until about Christmas 2009. With all this in mind, what should I be looking for now? Thanks a bunch!

TG

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