Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Thanks!

[PWCraddock]

Hello there,

I am really rather enjoying playing computer games at the moment but I think that my PC is not up to scratch. To me it sounds fantastically fast but it doesn't run games as quickly as I reckon it should. I think it is the graphics card that is letting me down. But I was hoping someone would be able to help me decide that...!

This is what I have (I'm pulling this directly of a 'dxdiag' because Im not sure about some of the stuff!):

Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80Ghz (2CPUs);
2046MB RAM;
Radeon X1300/X1550 Series (ATI)

I think they're the main three things I have to be concerned about?

So, is it the graphics card? Can you tell from that information what I would need to upgrade in order to run games like 'Crysis' and, the one I'm really rather looking forward to "Medieval II: Total War"? (Diverse tastes... I know!)

I hope you can help!!!

Thank you!

Best,
Paul

 

[heister]

Re: Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Than

for crisis def the GPU.... im shocked you can play it at all to be honest

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Re: Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Than

The graphics card is the biggest problem but a cpu upgrade wouldn't hurt either.

 

[NightSurge]

Re: Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Than

That's an LGA 775 dual core Pentium D correct? If so, then yes I would recommend getting a newer CPU and a better video card if your motherboard has a PCI-e x16 slot (not sure if those old cards are PCI-e x16 or not).

Get this CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200
And this GPU: HD 4830 512mb

That will get you any game on max settings and Crysis on high settings with good frame rate up to 1680x1050 resoultion.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Re: Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Than

Do you know what chipset your motehrboard uses and is the system a prebuilt?

 

[carlitos]

Re: Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Than

with out a doubt you need to start with a new graphic card, i think the rest is fine unless you want your system to FLY, then make the ram 4 gigs and get yourself a faster cpu

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Re: Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Than

As long as his system can support a newer CPU and that much RAM with out throttling the ram down.

 

[meat_helmet]

Re: Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Than

That's an LGA 775 dual core Pentium D correct? If so, then yes I would recommend getting a newer CPU and a better video card if your motherboard has a PCI-e x16 slot (not sure if those old cards are PCI-e x16 or not).

Get this CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200
And this GPU: HD 4830 512mb

That will get you any game on max settings and Crysis on high settings with good frame rate up to 1680x1050 resoultion.

Sorry, but i doubt that would be playing crysis on high. Medium maybe.

PWCraddock, have you got a budget we can work to??

 

[PWCraddock]

Re: Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Than

Wow! I didn't expect so many people to respond so quickly. Thank you - that's all fantastic. I don't know anything about the chip set, only it is pre-built. I will have a look into those particular upgrades and have a bash with them. I'll need to update my knowledge a little bit, too, I think. Last time I knew what I was talking about with computers, I was running DOS and was 14...!!!

Thank you all for your help!!!

 

[Trotter]

Re: Could anyone please help me know what upgrades will do what to my computer?! Than

Give us the make and model of the computer and we can look up what it can, or cannot, handle.