Noob needing help upgrading Comp. $250 budget

[Z e i g]

yay here to learn! lol yes. i really find all of this very interesting and i think it is acualy fun..lol i am such a computer geek >.<

uhh.. okay that answered all but one. what is the best windowsxp that i can get for gaming and around how much would it cost? or will mine work just fine?

EDIT- wht is a CPU? lol and what does this do?

 

[b1gapl]

Which version of XP do you have? As long as you have the cd and the cd key, you're good. It doesn't really matter which XP you go with, but the Home version would be cheaper. If you were to buy XP Home, it's about $90 on newegg.com

 

[Z e i g]

uhhh i know i have a home edition...not sure which. how do i find out which i have? and i have the cd (lost my first one and delll sent me another) but how to i know the key? is that the lil number on the side of my computer casing?

 

[peterhuang913]

its the shiny label with a burnt hole
product key XXXXX-XXX...

 

[Z e i g]

yea that thing..it just says windows xp home edition

 

[peterhuang913]

it shouldn't, take a picture and show us

 

[Z e i g]

well it has the code and other stuff but i'll take a pic tomarow and post it k?

nvm i don't need a new OP so idc lol.

i looked up stuff on duel channels and i didn't understand somthing. can i mix diff amounts of RAM? such as my currend 250 ( i think ) and a 1gig?

 

[b1gapl]

In order to run your memory in dual channel mode, your memory sticks have to match in speed, timing, and size. You can mix your current 256mb stick with a 1gb stick, but it won't run in dual channel.

 

[Z e i g]

so then i would just put the 1gig in a diff channel or the same. such as both in the yellow slots or one in yellow and one in black? ( i'm getting the slot colors from that tutuorial u sent me (which helped alot thx)).

 

[b1gapl]

It varies on different motherboards. But since you're mixing sizes, you won't get dual channel either way. So it doesn't really matter where you put them.