old pc ninor upgrade

[Drogos]

wel i have a hp media center is a p4 2.8 has 879 mb of ram
200 gb hardrive and a radeon 9200 windows xp

i was thinking of getting a new desktop but i dont wana spend that kind of oney at the moment

so what if i buy new video card and more ram u guys think i would run
better for like one more year and be able to play some of the new games
even if is in low resolution?

im not talking on a high brand new vid card either to just get something better than the radeon 9200 that allows me to play something like neverwinter nights 2
maybe

thanks in advance

 

[Merkwürdigeliebe]

yeah, add another 128 MB stick of ram to make the ~1GB mark, I'm assuming it's at least DDR-2700 (333MHz), buy it used

I'm assuming the 9200 is an AGP, but they do have Radeon 9200 PCI cards, so make sure about that. If you have an AGP x8 slot, go with a used 6600GT or 9700/9800PRO. They shouldn't cost you that much, maybe like $40/$50 at most and you'll be able to play NWN2 quite decently.

it really all depends on how much you're willing to spend, but again, I'm assuming you want to pay the least amount of money to get the thing working nicely, however, don't expect to run a game like Crysis on that rig (with the video card and memory upgrade) at any decent settings, if at all... I'd recommend saving your money and getting a new rig completely, since it's an HP, the motherboard is going to blow balls, and so will the memory, but you could salvage the optical drive(s) and hard drive(s) to put into a new setup, if you were to buy a new setup, what would be your budget in USD$?

 

[Drogos]

sweet thanks man

 

[Drogos]

well i can buy this one right now is what i was thinking on buying

Hewlett-Packard Pavilion Media Center TV Desktop with AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 X2 Processor 5600+
Model: m8100n

Customer Rating: 3.714 out of 5 3.7 5
Read reviews (7) Write a review
This media center TV desktop features an ATSC tuner so you can enjoy high-definition TV on your computer, controlled with the convenient HP Media Center remote. The roomy 500GB hard drive lets you store all your favorite digital photos, movies and music.

* Windows Vista Home Premium preloaded
Which Windows Vista edition is right for you? Compare now.
* Learn more about LightScribe technology.


* AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 X2 dual-core processor 5600+* for increased multitasking performance; improved security with Enhanced Virus Protection**; Cool'n'Quietâ„¢ Technology to minimize heat and noise
* 3GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM for multitasking power, expandable to 8GB
* SuperMulti DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media; supports DVD-RAM; also supports LightScribe direct-disc labels using compatible LightScribe media

Our Price: $879.99

but if u think i im better off buying this one i will i just dint want to spend that much if i dint have to

 

[b1gapl]

For $879.99, you can probably build a more powerful system. But since you're not looking to spend that kind of money at the moment, there is no reason to. Neverwinter Nights is not a very demanding game. So you don't really need a fast computer to run it. I agree with everything that Merkwurdigliebe said.

 

[Drogos]

sweet thanks ill do the minor upgrade and save for a better system later on

 

[Merkwürdigeliebe]

yah man, come back here for more advice once you've accumulated some money. If you're the type of person that doesn't like getting screwed over by big companies, don't bother going to Dell or HP. They'll give you a crumby motherboard that can't overclock and crumby, cheap RAM, amongst other things. These companies will build computers with gimmick numbers in mind for marketing purposes, like more GHz or more RAM and they'll pitch their integrated graphics like it can actually run something... they'll push DX10 and Vista on you too, and for now, Vista is a downgrade as far as gaming performance is concerned unless you have a high-end DX10 card.

If you're a little intimidated about building a computer from scratch, go to a reputable online retailer like Newegg and have them build you something from the parts that you choose, right down to the motherboard and power supply.

Good luck, I'm curious to know your results with the minor upgrade, so keep us posted

 

[Jae]

before you start upgrading, make sure you have a durable psu first

 

[Drogos]

i was checking the prices on new egg and omg they dirt cheap i got to get somethings set up fisrt then ill oerder the parts from there ill proly just get everything a new for a whole new rig so ill post as soon as im rdy cuz im gona need some help lol

did i mention this is the most helpfull site ever i havent found one as good as this one

thanks very much