Would these be good upgrades?

[JonM]

Current:

Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GhZ;

I want to replace it with:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116175

now that i have a job it should be possible is this a good buy or no? also will this improve my gaming expierence and lag problems sometimes


(128MB ATI Video Card, 1gb of Ram, like 128gb of space or something).

Thanks for your advice After this I will probably be replacing a video card...one step at a time lol.

(P.S. cheap suggestions welcome )

[Steve]

i'd expect you to see a definate improvement

depending on your gfx card, your cpu could have been holding you back quite a bit.

[JonM]

I'm hoping so...and it's $80.00 so i may be able ot order it today.

*EDIT* the question is should i wait and buy a more pricey cpu or should this one do fine? ( i really only play wow...and have been thinking about BF2 ).

[Steve]

again depends on you gfx card, most games rely on the card, but the 1.6 CPU would have been a problem.

[JonM]

I wish i was home so i could give my exact card...all i know is that it is a 128mb card...i know 256mb are the most excepted now and 512mb are top line... when i get home i'll post up my exact vid card

[JonM]

Ok i have an ATI Catalyst * i can't figure out more about it other than it is 128mb and it's called ATI Catalyst it works well and with a better processor i think it could be used to the fullest of what it can do till i get a new card

[Scott]

ATi Catalyst is the driver for the ATi card you have.. download and run this neat lil utility for info on your hardware:

http://www.gtopala.com/about_siw.html

One of my fav tools for finding out hardware

[JonM]

okie dokie i got it great tool (Thanks @ Scott ) and i have a ATI Radeon 9200 128 MB Video card. I have an 80gb hard drive 5400 rpm. in other words i have a pos machine that is going to get every part updated slowly and surely lol.

[Scott]

I would save up more money and just buy 1 piece at a time until you build a new system... Upgrading your current system seems pointless as you are probably running really old hardware like AGP and IDE. Just makes it hard to upgrade efficiently.

Some parts to ponder:

$220 - Core 2 Duo CPU (mid range core2duo, but not by any means slow)
$100 - ATi x1600Pro PCI-e (have this in my laptop, plays everything just fine.)
$50 - ECS Core 2 Duo Motherboard
$100 – DDR2 Memory
$60 – ~400w Power supply

~$530 (Maybe > $500 during / after Christmas..)

Optional
$30 - DL DVD+/-RW
$70 – 250GB 7200rpm SATA HD
$50 – Nice new black Antec case

(All from newegg)

The system above would smoke anything you can put in your current system, and is almost top of the line right now. Just ask Steve, he got a nice new shiny Core 2 Duo . Plus it will be easier to upgrade because all the hardware and slots (PCI-e, SATA etc) are current (for now…).

[JonM]

ok

here's what i'm going to do (i'm a problem solver lol).

1. Buy the part i want for $86.00 (go in half/half with my mom). -- this is because it may be a few months before i can have a new machine built so why not pay the little bit and have a better expierence while i wait? heh.
2. Start saving...
3. Get those parts you have shown after i buy a car
4. Enjoy a new machine lol

Ty guys for all the advice. My machine is old and runs pretty well, but I'm not dumb, it's dying, and all the new games are to advanced for this old pos. :O so ya

[Scott]

Deff. get the $80 cpu, you can also pickup a ATi x1600Pro for around $100. That should hold you off for at least another year.