What are the specs for your PC?

What should I upgrade on my PC (full specs listed), any guru's out there?

  • I don't know whether I should buy a new PC, or if there's any component I could upgrade that would make my PC faster, it's an old, so I generally play older games on it, but I'd like to be able to play stuff that's a bit newer. Here are the specs, taken using Everest: Computer: Computer Type ACPI Uniprocessor PC Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Pro Internet Explorer 6.0.2900.2180 (IE 6.0 SP2) DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c) Motherboard: CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 1600 MHz (16 x 100) Motherboard Name HP Vectra VL420 Motherboard Chipset Intel Brookdale i845 DIMM1 512 MB PC133 SDRAM (3.0-3-3-6 @ 133 MHz) (2.0-2-2-5 @ 100 MHz) DIMM2 [ TRIAL VERSION ] BIOS Type AMI (11/07/01) Display: Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (128 MB) 3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce 6200 AGP Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (GC084O1942) Multimedia: Audio Adapter Analog Devices AD1885 @ Intel 82801BA ICH2X - AC'97 Audio Controller [C-0] Storage: IDE Controller Intel(r) 82801BA Bus Master IDE Controller Disk Drive Brother MFC-235C USB Device Disk Drive ST380021A (80 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100) Optical Drive _NEC DVD_RW ND-1300A (DVD+RW:4x/2.4x, DVD-RW:4x/2x, DVD-ROM:12x, CD:16x/10x/40x DVD+RW/DVD-RW) Optical Drive SONY DVD RW DW-Q30A (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:4x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/24x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)

  • Answer:

    The 3 biggest influences on performance for gaming would be the processor speed, the RAM available and the graphics card capabilities. Your RAM is decent, 512 is decent, but not good enough for new new games. It would be sufficient for newish games such as GTA San Andreas, games from a year or 2 ago, but not for new new games. And the processor would need to be upgraded. 1.6Ghz (Yours) is definitely not fast enough for the newer games on the market. For processor, consider going for dual core or intel core2duo. Both are 2 cpus built into one, but core2duo is a lot faster and more efficient than dual core. graphics card - go for at least a 512meg graphics card or more, and RAM, as said before, go for at least 1gig or 2gigs and you should be set... Although check first if the newer parts are compatible with your motherboard... Relatively new technologies such as the core2due and dual core, may not work in your current motherboard. So you may have to consider upgrading that too. If you want to keep your motherboard, you must make sure of the following, your parts must be... For the graphics card: Must be AGP (NOT PCI or PCIe) and must be 4X or less. For the processor: Must be single core. and an Intel proccessor. For the RAM: Must be PC133 SDRAM Really hope this helps... Is a bit complicated to help properly over Yahoo! Answers. if you need further assistance, email me on [email protected] and I'll gladly help you with any further queries you may have or problems you may encounter. Best of luck:)

pantocoo... at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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your RAM is low and for a p4 system you need a ram of atleast 1gb.if possible do get a 2 gb ram.

kumar11in

your pc is ok no need to upgrade. if you want any ? that is the HDD you may change it to 120 /250 gb & 1/2 gb ram that is all thus you can even run Vista neatly

sajimunna

For older games you are playing now its ok but if you want to start playing newer games, I would suggest buying or building a new computer. CPU should be at least 2.0 ghz RAM 2 gigs or more for gaming Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GTX or higher Here is a good site to look up prices and reviews on computer hardware http://www.newegg.com/

Wickedpez

If you want to play demanding games, better to buy a new one. You're restricted to AGP graphics card which have limited bandwidth, and your CPU options are limited.

El Cid

Probably better you buy a new board. Expecially since Intel dropped the prices of their new Core 2 Duo boards by nearly $100 its at a steal. Since your running an old AGP board you can't buy a new graphics card even if you wanted too, they all use pci-express now. If you want a cheap good mid range card go for the 8800 GT if they still sell it. Its the only card in the 8000 series which is updated using the 9000 series manufacturing. An it can still play alot of modern games at 90% of all the best settings. An can handle crysis on full. If you want a 9000 series card I would wait for some time, right now the market is bouncing up and down cause of a recent law suit for the GDDR 3 Ram on the graphics cards long story. But ya. Buy a new comp probably the best option.

DR Tech

If your pc is over 3 years old I say bin it and get a new one. The new generation slimmer PC types with dual processors are great and leave the old Pentiums standing. Mine is an HP slimline with 2GB RAM and 500GB storage I'm very happy with it.

Huge

Really you should offer that to the local museum. PC 133 memory went out with a groan about the time before slot processors. Do your self a real favor and upgrade. The good news is that a really good fast modern AMD 64 dual core and Asus motherboard is really cheap. And check out the price of fast DDR2 memory. Upgrade combo M/B + CPU + 1 gig $199.00 in NZ You may need to upgrade your power supply as well.

nitram9857

I can tell you that for what it would cost to upgrade your system's memory and processor, it's really not worth it. Instead, I'd just build a new one with the following specs - Intel Core 2 Duo e7200 or better, or AMD Phenom 8000 series or better (also, if you can budget it, get an aftermarket CPU cooler so should you decide to over clock later, the option is there) Motherboard based on Intel 3-series, 4-series, or nVidia (SLI and Crossfire capability are positives, make sure it supports more than 4 GB RAM so you're future proof) 4 GB DDR2 RAM (the fastest that your board supports and you can afford; DDR3 is currently a rip in price and a draw in performance) Geforce 8800, 9600, 9800, or ATI Radeon 3600/3800/4800 (again, the fastest you can afford) SATA Hard drive (get the size you need, and they're both huge and cheap) SATA DVD+-RW DL is optional (if you don't get one, just use the Sony from your HP) Stay with Windows XP if you're going with 32-bit, otherwise get Vista 64-bit Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate Hope this helps.

been there done that got shirt

because your pc is a brand name there are very limited upgrades that you can do . although on those older hp computers one thing you could do to significantly increase your performance would be to download and burn a full set of drivers from hp.com and then get a regular windows xp disk and do a reformat and re-install using the non branded disk as that will get rid of the hp bloatware that chokes what little system resources you have. although with that old of a system you probably wont notice much difference .

glenn w

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