Upgrade Gaming PC

[novacaine98]

Hello I'm new to these boards so if I post this in the wrong forum then I apologize. Anyways we have two houses, our normal one in Kentucky and a summer house in Arizona. I know who would have a summer house in Arizona? Well my parents do. So in our Arizona house we have an iMac G5 as our family computer as well as this Gateway Essential from 1999. My brother and I want a computer on which we can play GTA, Max Payne, and Jedi Knight II. If I bought these products would I be able to run said games and would they fit into the case. Also do I need to upgrade my power supply and/or my fans.

ASRock K7S41GX Socket A (Socket 462) SiS 741GX Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157022

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Barton 333MHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket A Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103377

CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 333 (PC 2700) System Memory - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145407

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8 6E040L0 40GB 7200 RPM 2MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822140133

We already have an ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9000 which my brother says runs these games just fine. We also have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and dvd-rom drive. Also my brother told my mom that it would probably cost around $300. I know the parts only add up to $184.80 but the Radeon 9000 is in his computer back in KY and he was gonna try and get a 6600GT and then put the Radeon in the gateway.

 

[dhw200]

a few things:

1. That motherboard sucks, the brand is terrible. Its a micro ATX board, im not really sure why you are going with a micro board

2. AMD Athlon 64s are MUCH better than the XPs

3. If your going to get RAM, get DDR400, and if you have a gig, you wont have to worry about RAM in any game.

4. Maxtor hard drives suck. Try the Seagate models, and 40 gigs is nothing these days. Id say get at the very least 80 gigs

5. The video card....prolly be able to run that stuff, Max Payne might be pushing it. It is a port, and ports are often a little more demanding. I think you'll want something better.

6. You would probably need a new PSU.

7. Gateways use proprietary hardware, im not even sure if they use ATX cases/mobos. In that case, u cannot upgrade.

 

[novacaine98]

So basically it's going to be nearly impossible to do this upgrade for around $300 cause that's my budget?

 

[Counter-Strike]

About not worrying about 1GB RAM. The only game you should be worried about is BF2, you're gonna need 2GB to run it on medium - high settings.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

So basically it's going to be nearly impossible to do this upgrade for around $300 cause that's my budget?

I think you would need to raise your budget, but I am not 100% sure if gateways are STILL using propertiary parts

 

[Alex81388]

About not worrying about 1GB RAM. The only game you should be worried about is BF2, you're gonna need 2GB to run it on medium - high settings.

I can run it on high with low lighting.

And I only have 1 gig of ram.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

About not worrying about 1GB RAM. The only game you should be worried about is BF2, you're gonna need 2GB to run it on medium - high settings.

I get by with one gig, yes it is cutting it very close, as I am always over 900 meg used, overoflowing up to 1100 sometimes

 

[Syn7ax 3rror]

Looks good except if you have extra cash get a SLi board, only about 180$, because you can pop in another card later, with more demanding games. Also, 2GB RAM MAY be better, depending on your budget.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Looks good except if you have extra cash get a SLi board, only about 180$, because you can pop in another card later, with more demanding games. Also, 2GB RAM MAY be better, depending on your budget.

However 2GB of ram if your not using it is also a peformance decrease...

 

[Syn7ax 3rror]

However 2GB of ram if your not using it is also a peformance decrease...

He said he'll be gaming though.