need help on upgrading a Compaq to making it a gamming machine

[sheldonmud]

Im not to well with computers and the Compaq that I have I know little about. Ive have been playing a on-line game ( Dark Age of Camelot ) for the past 2yrs. It runs it well but their newest expansion has just totally made my comp to laggy in the game & I rarely stay on for a long time without going link-dead. I have the ID # to the compaq, its....S5140WM & it has a Athlon 2600 in it. The only kind of upgrade I have done to it was install a extra 256megs of Ram.( 512 total ) Also a 128 Nividia video card.

Please!!! If there is any more I can do to this computer plz let me know. I want to upgrade the proccessor if possible. Plz give me the best advice to upgrade this comp to a decent machine for gamming. ( and if you can make sure everything is compatible ) Plz anyone out there that can help me?



Jason

 

[Praetor]

Also a 128 Nividia video card

There are probably 40 such 128MB nVidia based video cards; in order to ascertain if this is the bottleneck, we'll need to know the model number. You can find out by running dxdiag and checking on the Display tab

Please!!! If there is any more I can do to this computer plz let me know. I want to upgrade the proccessor if possible.

Upgrades do exsist but nothing horribly worth your money.

Plz give me the best advice to upgrade this comp to a decent machine for gamming. ( and if you can make sure everything is compatible ) Plz anyone out there that can help me?

What's the operational budget?

 

[sheldonmud]

The video card is a GForce4MX 440

Im looking to spend about about $120-150 on upgrading this comp ( was either gonna get another 512megs of ram or see if there was another processor that would go with this comp ) Like I said before....I lagg alot in the game ( yes im on dial-up :/ ) and I know its gonna lag from not being on DSL or a better connection spd but Im still able to play pretty well. BUT...this new expansion as totally killed comp. Its like everytime im logging out of the game my computer will just ReStart. It goes link dead at times im running around but its happening almost all the time now since we gotten new expansion and patches out the butt this week.

Can you tell me what can solve my problem without making me buy DSL or another computer. I know this one is crappy but its all I have at this moment. Plz can anyone help me?

 

[Praetor]

im looking to spend about about $120-150 on upgrading this comp ( was either going to get another 512megs of RAM or see if there was another processor that would go with this comp ) like I said before. I lagg alot in the game ( yes im on dial-up :/ ) and I know its going to lag from not being on dsl or a better connection spd but im still able to play pretty well. but. this new expansion as totally killed comp. its like everytime im logging out of the game my computer will just restart. it goes link dead at times im running around but its happening almost all the time now since we gotten new expansion and patches out the butt this week

your current 512mb of RAM should be sufficient so I think the next best improvement would be to get a better video card.

in light of the budget there are some options available your options are:
- PoweColor Radeon9600pro
- jetway Radeon9600XT
- Sapphire atlantis Radeon 9800
- asus-GFX5700
- Sapphire 9800pro
of the bunch the Sapphire 9800pro is the best performer