Uprgrade practical?

[digg98]

Hey guys, I am back for more hardware help. The computer that you helped me get together previously is working perfect I appreciate the previous help. I'm home from college and using the computers here is terrible lol. I don't know how I gamed on this computer years ago. Anyway here is the specs.
Dell dimension 9100 pentium D 512mb ram CPUZ ss. Yea it's bad. Should I replace and upgrade parts or just buy a new computer all together? If upgrading is an option could you suggest some parts. It doesn't have to be great, probably just light gaming such as counterstrike with decent framerates.
If i need to provide more info please let me know. THanks

 

[Trotter]

More RAM would be a must. Pull up the specs from dell's site and see if it can handle a C2D. But even with the present CPU the extra RAM would help it out a lot. Two gigs is a sweet spot and is probably all it can handle, anyway.

I don't know the GPU, nor do I know what slot(s) it has (at work, not able to access everything). A low to mid range card would help you out. A 3650 or so would be great fo that system, but any card would be better than onboard. Try to get at least 512MB on the card if you can.

 

[digg98]

Hey Trotter thanks for the reply. So you would suggest new cpu, gpu, and ram.
Ram: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
GPU: Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100236L Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Wolfdale 2.66GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Assuming those all are compatible and everything, what kind of performance would I see and would I need a new PSU? Thanks

 

[Trotter]

Your mobo has a 945P northbridge. It should be able to handle a C2D, but it will require a BIOS update (unless you are running A03 8/11/2006). That E7300 should work nicely.

That 3650 requires a minimum of 300W. Thankfully you have a 375W PSU, so you are covered.

That G.Skill is good RAM.

Looks like a nice setup. Not bad for a shade over $200.

 

[aaronkupen]

In all honesty, depending on the clock of the Pentium D, it will still be good enough to manage with current games. You mentioned Counter-strike, Pentium D is, by far, more than enough to play Counter-Strike at max settings. Most importantly, you do need to upgrade the ram to at least 1 GB and get a new video card.

You could make that computer suitable for light gaming for less than $100 with tax and shipping.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Your motherboard may support core2's but I seriously doubt it will support the 45nm ones like the E7300. I would look at the E6***, E4***, and e2*** series which are all 65nm.

 

[Trotter]

^^^ Didn't think about that one. Good catch, Puddle. I don't follow the Intel stuff much... old habits die hard.

 

[digg98]

If I could get away with it I would be happy with the pentium D. Next year i'll probly be building a gaming computer for my bro and my mom would take over this one. I'm thinking of just getting the ram/gpu i posted above. I'm gonna order it tomorrow unless there is any last minute changes i need to make.

 

[Trotter]

Looks good.

 

[Nagasama]

holy crap is that voltage right in the cpuz screenie?