Should I get a new computer?

[Wololo]

Ok, first off, I'm somewhat hardware illiterate so bear with me. My computer right now is a Dell Dimension 3000. It's 2-3 years old with these parts:

40 GB IDE hard drive
1.25 GB RAM (one 1 GB stick, one 256 stick that came with the computer)
GeForce FX 5500 (Normal PCI)
2.4 ghz Intel Celeron processor
Default motherboard, sound card, CD drive (no DVD/write capabilities), case fan, etc. The motherboard has no PCI-E or AGP slots and as far as I know is compatible with only IDE hard drives and PC3200 or slower RAM.

I use this computer for everything (school and gaming). Right now I get 15-25 fps playing CS source on low settings, to give you an idea of how it performs. The case fan is extremely loud and can be heard from 30 feet away through 2 walls.

I was pretty sure I wanted to upgrade until I posted this same question on another forum, where they told me I should just upgrade my motherboard, sound card, and CD drive instead of getting a whole new computer. Will upgrading the motherboard improve the performance of my computer? If so, would building a whole new computer be a big improvement over just upgrading the motherboard? And if I upgrade the motherboard, wouldn't all my other parts be incompatible with the new motherboard, since they're all pretty old? The hard drive is IDE and not SATA, the video card is plain PCI, the RAM is PC3200 while most motherboards today use 6400, right? Need some serious advice on what to do... Thanks.

 

[Deathawk]

LOL, the forum that said that to you must be ****ing with you, because upgrading all of those wont change performance at all.

I say you should buy a new computer.

 

[Vista12]

yea if moneys not too tight for you just go out and buy a new computer instead of wasting money on useless parts...they must have been ****in with u

 

[Wololo]

Hmm well I don't think they were messing with me... one was a forum root admin and the other was a senior mod.

 

[Nukem]

get a new system... don't bother wasting your time trying to upgrade something that is out-dated...

 

[Snake91839]

Wow, those guys are idiots lol, you need a new system if you're getting that kind of FPS.

If you want, you should maybe look into building a computer, that or having a friend do it... MUCH cheaper, but if not, get a nice dell

also, there are often good deals from advertisements in PC Gamer which I get, not advertising, but sometimes they have better deals, so you could check that out as well

 

[Quintox]

I read the first sentence, saw "Dell", so yes, you do need a new one.

 

[RisingFalls]

I read the first sentence, saw "Dell", so yes, you do need a new one.

Hahaha, seconded!

 

[siddanth3]

well, u should definately build one. if u have a budget, let us know and we'll suggest the best bang for ur buck parts.