Computer Upgrade Advice.?

Question

Ill have 240 bucks to upgrade my PC any recommendations?

Currently: 2.8ghz P4, 256MB DDR, 80GB HD, RADEON 7000.

I want to be able to play some of the latest games so a vid card upgrade is a must. Thanks to anyone who responds.

Answer 1

Best thing is to upgrade the memory. crucial.com has memory for a great price and the additional memory will definitely improve your system performance. Try to max out your memory - if your PC takes 2 Gigs, go for that first.

Keep in mind that some games would freeze for a couple seconds if you do not have sufficient memory.

Answer 2

You have enough cash to upgrade to at least 1.5gb of ram. After that, I would get a better video card. If you have an PCI Express slot, go to tigerdirect.com and get a good ATI Radeon X8000 or better. If you already have an X7000, stay with that.
You might want to save a $100 and try windows Vista next month, but you definitely need more ram.

Answer 3

get a nvidia 7600gs agp and 2 512 sticks of 3200 ddr and put them in dual channel if ur board allows ... that should do it ... upgrading the memory alone will not play the latest games ... that 7000 card is probably choking on 3 year old games already .. u need a card to ..

Answer 4

First off, it depends what you mean by slow. If you mean when you load programs and after you exit them, you feel a lag, then you need more ram. 512mb of ram is more then enough if all you do is use AOL Instant Messenger and browse the web. If you are playing games or loading big applications, then you need more ram. If you mean slow while playing games, you need a better video card. But I assume you are just browsing the web and loading some mid level applications, so you should buy another 512mb of ram to add to your current 512mb to get 1gb of ram. 1gb of ram is plenty even for games. Unless you play the top end games and max out all the graphics, then you should get more then 1gb of ram total. Right now I am browsing the web, using AOL Instant Messeger, listening to music, and playing counter-strike with only 1gb of ram(pc2-6400), but it is just enough for me. After loading all those stuff, I have about 200mb of ram left over out of the 1gb. I take it that your ram is pc2 - 5300/5400. In conclusion, I think it is your ram, and that you should upgrade to at least 1gb total.

Answer 5

First thing I would upgrade would be the memory, then try and find another video card that is a bit better with whatever is left over from your budget

Answer 6

Start with your memory, I'd go up to 1 Gig. 256 isn't near enough. Then look at your video card.

Answer 7

well since you already mentioned the card, then id suggest next stuffing as much memory as you m/b will accept.maybe even look at a new motherboard.also download latest updates for bios,and whatever your new card will be

Answer 8

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http://www.data-recovery-reviews.com/windows-startup-disasterrecovery.htm?gclid=CMSl0b7X2YcCFSJxYAodKy6Lpw

http://www.winternals.com/

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,25181-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/Windows-XP-PowerPacker.shtml

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,674406,00.asp

http://windows.about.com/od/tipsarchive/l/bltip632.htm
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Answer 9

Add more GB's to make it run faster. That helped me out, when I upgraded my computer.

Answer 10

It depends on what you want to do. My advice is to put LOTS more memory in it.