Hi, my name is Storm.

[StormFirestar]

I'm new to the forums, and looking for advice on pcs.
My current pc is an old Gateway 510 Pentium 4 2.6ghz, 512mb ddr ram,
250 watt PSU, Geforce FX 5200 128mb shared ram. With an open AGP 8x slot.

I've tried playing Minecraft on this pc but the game lags so bad it is unplayable. By that I mean that I get below 20fps when moving around and it never gets above 20fps. The game has actually crashed a few times too.

I would really love to just upgrade my hardware enough to play Minecraft and maybe Spore, but money is tight right now so I can't get a new system. Is there any way to upgrade this so I can play games on it again? If so what would you suggest I get?

 

[Yami]

How much do you have in the way for upgrades, exactly?

I'll say now that it'll be very difficult to upgrade just one piece of hardware. You'll need a better CPU, more RAM, and a better GPU to play Minecraft. As a result, you'll need a new motherboard to fit a higher-performance CPU, and you'll also have to get a new power supply to power it all.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Unfortunately there's not much you can do with a system that old.
I'd suggest buying a new HDD, you can get even a 1TB drive for under $50 these days and it'll be re-useable in the event you get enough money to buy a new system.

I'd also try upgrading that ram. Back when I was a broke college student (and before that too ) I used to go scavenge parts from old computers people threw away. Check with your local PC shops too, try and talk to the techies in back. They're usually more friendly might decide to help you out.