Upgrading on a budget

[C.Calvin]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on upgrading my computer. I am about to make the switch from a computer gamer to a consol gamer but my wife just bought me Battlefield Bad Company 2 for the PC and I absolutely love the game. Problem is that I am having some really slow frame rates at times, which is making it very difficult to be competitive online and even harder playing the single player campaign even with everything turned as low as it goes. My wife and I have decided that we are willing to throw a little money into my desktop for the soul reason of improving game play in BC2. Obviously there are a few key things to upgrade like memory, processor, video card… but not being a computer hardware genius I don't know which of these key components I should upgrade, again I am only looking to spend a little bit of money, just for BC2 as I retire into the world of PS3. I'm looking for the most bang for my buck. Any help would be fantastic, oh and because it's a Acer built machine I can't over clock… anything. =(

Currently:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Core Processor 4000+ 2.10GHz
2 Gig Ram
NIVIDA Geforce 8500 GT
Windows 7

 

[95BlackGA]

Well, first and foremost, we need the model of the Acer branded computer. This way we can see if upgrading will be a possibility with the CPU and RAM. I'm fairly sure the computer has a PCI-E slot, so that's not a limiting factor. For the best game play of BC2 on a PC, a high-end dual core, and a high-end video card are the best bet. However, if you don't mind lowered graphics, and mid-level video card would suffice. Personally, I would suggest at least a mid-level quad core, and a mid-level GPU, along with at least 4GB of RAM. I play it decently with a low-end dual core CPU and a higher end GPU. Not very many people are lucky enough to get the framerates I do, with a setup similar to mine.

 

[Trotter]

Most importantly... what's your budget? Once we have that we can see what we can squeeze out of it.

 

[C.Calvin]

Its a Acer AST180, and it does have a PCI-E slot. It originally came with 1GB of ram which I upgraded to 2GB a couple years ago. I don't mind low-mid graphics, its how I have always been forced to play games, doesn't bother me one bit, I just want it to run smooth.My budget is around $100.00. If I'm staying back out of the major firefights I runs good enough to snipe stationary targets but if I move in its like a flip book.

 

[Alive.777]

I highly recommend you DO NOT go into the world of console, you will sevearly regret it. if you can save up for a while and get a better system, than you will enjoy yourself alot more. better graphics, more functions, better games. REALLY, dont switch to console (of course its still up to you)

 

[Trotter]

This will stretch your budget by $10 plus shipping, but it's the best you are going to do with it.

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100295HDMI Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
$70 w/$10 MIR card

Newegg.com - FSP Group SAGA+ 400R 400W ATX12V Power Supply compatible with Core i7
$40 (card requires 400W and your PSU is a 300W)