I'm trying to totally upgrade my computer..

[ShiningOdin]

Alright, well, I'll start off by saying this: I'm not smart when it comes to computers. That's why I'm here. I'll give you guys my specs and I would appreciate it if you could tell me what will work with my computer and what I should get.

Here are my original specs:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c130/ShiningOdin/CPU.jpg

Now, I already upgraded my video card to an 8800 GT OC, and upgraded my power supply to a 430 Watt (I hope that's enough @_@). My main purpose is gaming, so I figured I should get more ram, and probably a better processor, but I have NO idea about this stuff. So yeah, I have around 400-500$ I'm willing to spend, so I would appreciate it if you guys could recommend me some things to get with it. Thanks in advance!

 

[phucng_10]

How many sticks of RAM do you have right now? Do you have DIMM 512mb? Maybe upgrading the processor to Intel and get a new motherboard would be enough for gaming.

 

[ShiningOdin]

When I say I don't know anything about this stuff, I mean it. What sort of motherboard and what sort of processor should I get? Oh, and I don't know how many ram sticks I have, or ram stick slots, how do I check? I don't know what a ram stick looks like <_<

 

[phucng_10]

Oh oops. What I meant was to ask for your Memory. How many sticks of memory do you have at this moment? and Welcome to Tech Forums!

As for motherboard and processor replacement, if you're wanting a decent build, you could look at the Gigabyte P35-DS3R as a motherboard and the Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 or Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. Then for the RAM (Random Access Memory) you would want to look at the Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC6400. Great sticks that does it's job.

 

[ShiningOdin]

Thanks for the welcome. And uh.. again, don't know what that is If it is a matter of opening up the computer, just tell me what it looks like and I'll crack open the case and check.

 

[phucng_10]

Memory would be those 2 sticks near the Heatsink Fan atop of the Processor. You should see it once you open your case.

And if you still don't know what that is, this would explain it. Random access memory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ShiningOdin]

How much is that stuff going to cost? And uhhh okay I'll check. Wait a minute.

 

[phucng_10]

Well the motherboard would cost about $130, processor would cost about $280, and 2GB of Crucial Ballistix would cost $70. Motherboard and RAM would be from Newegg.com and the processor would be from TankGuys.com. TankGuys guarantee that the processor is G0 Stepping. What that means is that the stepping has a less power and less heat consumption which makes it run cooler and consume less power. But for it to run cooler, you'll need to buy an aftermarket cooler.

 

[ShiningOdin]

Alright, well, I looked. I think I see it. I have 2 sticks in right now, in these blue slots. There are two black empty slots next to them that are empty, not sure if those are ram slots too?

 

[ShiningOdin]

Well that's cool. That's in my price range. What exactly is an aftermarket cooler?