Is this good enough for gaming?

[JeffK91]

Hi, I was in Best Buy yesterday browsing for a new comp for hours trying to fit in a $1000 budget and I think I found a pretty solid comp. I'm not an extreme gamer and don't expect to have top of the line comps like some of you dedicated gamers but I'd like a comp that'll just run smoothly and solidly in todays newest games. To be honest, I'm a little worried that my proccesor maybe a little outdated and when I get a new comp, I usually don't upgrade for another 3 years or so. Here are my specs:

Compaq Presario
AMD Atlon XP 3200+
Windows XP Home
2.2 GHz
200 gig HD
512 MB DDR SD pc 2700 Ram (will upgrade to 1gig next month)
256 MB BFG GeForce FX 5500 OC AGP Vid Card
17" Flat Screen Compaq (will upgrade to 17" flat panel next month)
Double CD Drive + DVD/CD Writer
1MB L2 Cache
Compaq keyboard and mouse (will upgrade to optical next month)
Labtec headset

That's all I know for now, if you need more specs just tell me. So what do you guys think, good enough for gaming?

 

[MADWAD]

It would seem ok to me, your specs are very similar to mine except you have AMD instead of Intel. Not sure about your graphics card but it is 256 mb,so i'm assuming it's good.Your right about your processor, i have to upgrade mine as well. But after saying that i have no problem playing any game that is out right now. Hope this gives some insight....

 

[macdude425]

Sounds good to me.

 

[JeffK91]

Can someone please give me some more opinions on the processor. I'm a little ticked off I got this processor but you see I was there for 4 hours and I had to make a decision before I would go crazy. I don't really want to upgrade my proccesor till I get my new comp because I don't know much about building a comp and putting stuff in and just don't wanna go through the trouble.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

It would seem ok to me, your specs are very similar to mine except you have AMD instead of Intel. Not sure about your graphics card but it is 256 mb,so i'm assuming it's good.Your right about your processor, i have to upgrade mine as well. But after saying that i have no problem playing any game that is out right now. Hope this gives some insight....

Having a 6600GT is very different than his card

No offense but that system is crap. For that price, if your comfortable building a computer we can make one with at least doubble the peformance of that one.

An 5500 can barely run today's games at OK settings, let alone tommorow's games.

And for the processor, it's ok.

So, either learn to build your own PC (it really is not that hard) or take your budget to a place that does custom gaming PC's.

 

[JeffK91]

Ok, thanks for letting me down.

 

[DoomUK]

When you upgrade your RAM, be sure to get PC3200 (DDR400) to match the CPU's FSB, otherwise your current PC2700 will be streched, depending on what brand it is.

Otherwise, that CPU is absolutely great for all of today's games. Very important though: what Motherboard are you looking at getting (or if you already have one, what is it)?

The graphics card is an issue- look at getting a 6600 GT imho...

 

[JeffK91]

Most the reviews I see on the net say it's a great price and it works very well on todays top games such as WoW, Doom 3, Half-Life 2, CS Source, etc. Once again, I'm not an extreme gamer just a guy who likes to kill some time on his comp playing games. I'm not sure what you mean by what motherboard I have, all I know is that I have an AMD Athlon XP 2.2 GHz.

I'm not a rich guy and I can't update my comp frequently. All I'm looking to upgrade next month is my monitor to 17" Flat Panel ($300), PC3200 ($100?), and my mouse ($20). Please, try to be as positive as possible with my comp as this is my first real gaming comp and I don't want to feel bad about having it for the next 2-3 years.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Ok, thanks for letting me down.

Im not letting you down, 1 grand gets you a gaming PC that is really good.

Your just not shopping in the right places.

EDIT: If you already bought that, a 6600GT AGP for 200$ would do your system wonders. At least 3x better peforming than the 5500

And even the 5500 will still play HL2 and CSS. Hell, i have CSS running on a mx440.

 

[JeffK91]

Wow, I thought those went for $300-500. Now that I know it's only for $200 which might drop when I get it, I'll really look foward to upgrading in a bit. Thanks!

How long do you suggest I wait till I get the new vid card? Remember I just got my 5500 and I want to use it for awhile.