Should I upgrade?

J

jamsoup

New Member
I currently have:

AMD Athlon 3000+
1GB DDR3200 RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
160 GB HD

I have noticed that my computer is coming dangerously close to the minimum specs of new games, and I am already having trouble running some games (BF Series, Source games, etc.) on anything but the lowest settings. Should I consider upgrading, and if so what? I know my graphics card is really outdated, and my RAM isn't great, but I really can't afford to buy a whole new base unit, and I only have a budget of about £120 for upgrading. I have an AGP graphics card slot.

I have been looking at cards such as this:http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/125014

But I have now discovered my power supply is only 300W, and most decent graphics cards need 350+W. So I am also going to buy a new case, but I am wondering how to do this, if cases are universal and how to know if youre computer will work in a new case. I have been looking at http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...eneric+BLACK+/+SIL+MIDI+Tower?productId=21963
Also, how do I tell how much RAM my motherboard can take in total? Although I have 1GB atm I'd like to upgrade to 2, even 2.5GB, but I am not sure if my computer can handle that.

Any help would be really appreciated.
 
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Yes, all cases are the same(basically)so unless you get a big motherboard and a small case it'll work fine. Also make sure you buy your case and power supply separately if you plan to have a nice gpu on it because the power supplies that come with cases generally aren't too powerful.

As far as upgrading I'd say if you want to stay on the leading edge of gaming save up a bit more and go for an 8600gt I don't know conversion rates but its only around $150 us and it's well worth it. This way you'll have the next generation dx10 and the power to run any games out now. Because most cards(including the 8600) use pcix16 now I'd say go ahead and upgrade your cpu, motherboard, ram too, but this is a large upgrade if you just want to get a litte more kick out of your current setup I'd say the x1650 would probably be a good choice and that's all you really need you have enough ram and a decent cpu already.
 
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