Dilemna on Gaming PC

[CanesFan5]

Ok, so I have a HP Pavillion a730n, a fairly outdated computer. Don't remember when it was first released but I know it wasn't recently. Anyways, I am having lots of troubles playing games besides Braid and NBA Live 07 on this computer. I also have a iMac with an ATY, Radeon X1600 and tried to game on there with a program Parallels to make my OS Windows. That didn't work so I tried Boot Camp, but there are some errors there that it will not let me fix regarding unmovable (spelling?) files. So my choices are between getting Time Capsule (500 GB, $299) for the Mac and hoping that works or getting a video card that fits in my a730n (ATI Radeon 3850, $90-$145).

What do you guys recommend doing because I have no idea what would be better for gaming (Fallout 3, Half-Life 2, etc).

Thanks in advance,

CanesFan5


EDIT: It might be relevant that I currently use Windows XP on my a730n and Vista on my Parallels.

 

[snowsurfer]

The CPU on the Pavillion should be a 3.0GHz P4, which are kind of outdated but it's not the worst you can have. The graphics are integrated so it's surprising that you can play anything. On the plus side, there is a free PCI-Express 16x slot, which means that you can upgrade the graphics card. I wouldn't recommend to spend too much, since the CPU will bottleneck a mid-high or higher GPU. Something like this Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100265HDMI Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards would be a good buy at 90$ after rebate and much, much, much better than trying to play on Boot Camp on your iMac. I don't know what resolution you are planning to use, but Half-Life 2 and any source game should run well, for Fallout 3 you will have to use lower details but you will be able to play it. Oh and I hope that you have 2Gb RAM.