Need help upgrading.

[Alphonso]

Here is what im running atm, Im looking for the best way to upgrade for around $300 to cut down on some of the lag.



Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20 GHz

Memory: 1024MB ram

NVIDIA Geforce FX 5500 256mb

Any suggestions you guys make would be very helpful as the only computer person I know told me to buy a new one...

[Lyion]

I'm assuming an AGP slot.

I'd recommend another gig of RAM, and a ATI 1950 PRO 512M AGP card. That'll last you two more years.

I'd start with this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102071

and get the RAM after,

[Tikker]

video card is Probably AGP, but it could be pci-express

need to find out for sure


upgrading from a 5500 to a 7800, or 7900 would make a world of difference
that should leave you like $100 for another stick of ram

need to know your actual MOBO tho, and how many sticks of ram you already have

[Alphonso]

Ok, well when i dxdiag on the video part I do see AGP a couple times in there, and I have two 512 sticks of ram in, and two slots left.

edit- how do I find out for sure AGP or PCI

[Tikker]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130274

best agp vid card you'll find likely (most pixel pipelines anyways, which is best indicator of actual performance usually)

[Lyion]

The one I listed destroys that one, Tik. I have it in my old AGP system at home and it crushes my 7900 GS in benchmarks. It's 229 bucks and 512M with a lot more headroom for games.

[Alphonso]

a ATI 1950 PRO 512M AGP card

picked this up and wow. I went from playing games like wow and oblivion on the lowest settings with lots of lag to playing them at the highest settings with no lag. thanks for the tips

[Lyion]

Sure. If you bump up your RAM to 2 GIG it'll improve even more.