Better PC: What to improve?

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Garci

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Hi there,

I have some questions on how to make my pc better. It's rather old (from 2003), but I've made some upgrades to it over time. Here are the current specs:

- Asus A7V400-MX SE2 motherboard
- AMD Athlon XP 2400+ processor (1.99 GHz)
- 512 MB of RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce 6200 A-LE video card
- Crystal SoundFusion audio card
- Windows XP SP 2 (not hardware, but meh)

The thing is that I want to have a computer on the which I can play the latest games (such as The Orange Box stuff or Gears of War) smoothly. By smoothly I mean without the computer being a total drag when it comes to speed and that I don't have to turn off every bloody in-game texture or resource just to be able to play that game. I also use my computer for image, audio and video editing, but I believe that by having my computer ready to play said games I can use Photoshop or Adobe After Effects perfectly.

I'm not sure about what I should be looking at, I mean, I don't know a lot about speeding up my cpu, but I do know that my Video Card is pretty much, well, a piece of crap. Is that what I should be looking at? And I know I'll need some more RAM to play the latest games, but I can't even get to play Halo 1 smoothly without setting graphic detail to mid-low.

So, all in all, what would you recommend? I don't really have a lot of cash, so please focus on the essentials. Sorry if I'm a total newb, but I need to know, and I'm really new here. I don't know if you need anything else, if you do, let me know.
 
I really see no point in upgrading that system... but Halo runs smoothly on my system at full settings at 800x600 with decent FPS... and ur vid card is a lot better than mine... CPU too.... but if I run Halo Legendary it tends to run super slow...

For your system.. I'd start by getting more RAM, with 512mb, XP tends to get slow, overclocking that CPU is a second choice, and overclocking your video card is another one... (also is upgrading it...)
 
Yeah, I've been thinking about getting 2gb of RAM and end the RAM race once and for all (at least for a few years), you reckon that if I do I'll be able to have everything running well? And I thought about changing my processor because it doesn't support SSE2 (it only has SSE, MMX (+) and 3DNow! (+), according to CPU-Z), so I can't run Adobe Premiere Pro, for example.
 
(Sorry for the bump, but I thought that this was better than starting a new thread).

Okay, so I've browsed some webpages and I've found some stuff, but before spending any money I thought I'd ask you guys since you obviously know more than I do.

RAM:
I found two Kingston 1GB sticks (Model kvr667d2n5/1GB) for $49.99 each. Are they any good?

Video card:
I looked at an Nvidia Geforce XE 6800, but I don't really know if it will be much of an improvement to my actual video card, since vernon said it was rather good. It would cost me about 100 bucks, so I have to think about it very carefully. Any ideas on what I should try to find? Or maybe what I should look at (Pipelines? RAMDAC?:confused: )

Processor:
Now here's where it gets tricky. I know squat about processors, besides that AMD GHz > Intel GHz, so I looked at AMDs, and also because that's what I've been using (so far, so good). I looked at an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4000. But I don't know if it'll fit my motherboard. On the upside, it has a lot of instruction sets and it's multicore. I don't know a lot about multi-core processors and GHz, but if it says, for example, 2GHz, does it mean that each processor is 2x2GHz or 2x1GHz?

Please answer me, because based on this thread is what I'll be getting. My main focuses are the RAM and the Processor, but if the video card is a lot (and I mean A LOT) better than my current one, I might look at it. Also, bear in mind that prices/availability of products in Uruguay aren't the same as those in the USA, so please don't mock me :).
 
Snap, so I'd have to get a new motherboard for it? How much improvement would the new processor bring to the table?
 
I dont think your motherboard will support the ram you picked out.

General
MPN: A7V400-MX SE

Product Type: Motherboard

Form Factor: Micro ATX

Width: 24.5 cm

Depth: 24.5 cm

Compatible Processors: Athlon XP, Sempron

Processor Socket: Socket A

Chipset Type: VIA UniChrome KM400A / VIA VT8237

Max Bus Speed: 400 MHz

BIOS Type: Award

Storage Controller: ATA-133, Serial ATA

Processor
Installed Qty (Max Supported): 0 ( 1 )

Memory
Supported RAM Technology: DDR SDRAM

RAM Installed ( Max ): 0 MB / 2 GB (max)

Supported RAM Speed: PC2100, PC1600, PC2700

Thats your mobo specs

you have to have socket 939 for ->Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

as for video card, it looks fine, but you might want to get your processor back in the game before you even look at a gpu


How much money do you have, you might be better of starting a new build...
 
What do you mean by a new build? About the money, I have about $200 to $250, that's why I can't spend as much as I'd want to. Either way, it doesn't have to be done at the same time, I can wait, that's why I asked what I should be getting first. And I will be selling the parts that I don't need anymore, it won't give me much cash but it might add something. So I'd need a new motherboard, but I need to know whether the improvement given by those parts would be worth it.
 
If i was you i would save your money untill you have at least 800 and then build a new comp from the start.

if you want to though, i think another 512mb ram stick might help a little...


edit: make sure its the same speed
 
you could build a pretty good computer for under 250 seeing as you have a monitor, and os. Also you don't really need a keyboard, mouse, case (potentially).

but you could get something that is pretty good for under 250. i've done it for someone.
 
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