Is it cheaper/easier to upgrade my computer or buy new?

Question

My computer is as follows:
Packard bell imedia (i think its nearly 2 years old)
pentium (R) 4cpu 2.80GHz
2.80GHz 504 MB of RAM
Intel extreme graphics 2

I would like to be able to play the latest games exspecially the sims 2 with all expansions.
What do I need to upgrade and would it be cheaper/easier to upgrade or buy new?
Any help appreceiated

Answer 1

Well after reading the answers, I guess no one figure out you do not have a video card. You have an integrated video card. You will disable this when you do put a video card inside one of your slots.

You need to find if you have a AGP slot or not. You did not give a model number as there are about 20 that fit that description. But if you can not put an AGP video card in then it is time to get another computer.

But you could get a barebones system; a computer case with a 500 v powersupply and a motherboard with a dual core that can handle 2 Gb of memory as a minimum. Now you can use the hard drive from your old computer and transfer it over. So when you start your disk drive up you will have the same windows and files as before. Transfer the disk drives over to the barebones and you are ready to go. But you need to see what it would cost. I am not into the Vista hype as i read mail, and play games. Besides in two years, they may work all the bugs out of Vista.

Now go to pcworld.com and you can study up on what a computer is. Like what type of motherboard you would want. Now a motherboard may have a AGP slot and a PCI Express slot. Then you can study about the two and how much each costs. The more money you spend the better the video card is. But remember what kind of graphics your card will put out. You will need a monitor that can handle high end graphics too. So now use getting a $400 video card and then you got a cheap monitor that can handle the graphics of a $100 video card. Waste of money. Like buying 8 spark plugs for your car and your car is only a 4 cylinder. Your car can handle only 4 plugs. If you had the engine to put 8 spark plugs in then your car would run faster.

Answer 2

I agree with the people that say keep it and just add a graphics card. That seems to be the only thing that would be keeping you from playing The Sims. Do some research on that particular computer and see if it has a graphics card slot and whether it has a AGP or PCI Express slot. If it doesn't have the option to add a graphics card you might want to buy a new one considering Windows Vista Home Premium (the new version of Windows) won't run well on a computer with "integrated graphics". A good place to buy a graphics card is Newegg.com. I bought my graphics card from them and they are just awesome. You should spend about $100-150 on a decent graphics card.


On a side note Anki if you don't know what you are talking about don't say anything. Increasing the speed of her ram isn't going to help her run games any better and by "overclocking" the stock ram that is in her computer she is taking a risk on damaging it.

Answer 3

If you just replace the CPU you might not get as much of a performance boost as expected. Important to overall speed of a computer is the bus speed on the motherboard and the rated speed of the memory chips. On some boards it might be possible to increase the bus speed by changing a setting. In other cases you have to replace the motherboard. When it gets to be that much trouble you would probably be better off getting a new system that has been optimized for what you want to do.

Answer 4

Most often it is cheaper to upgrade. The processor seems to be up to speed, RAM should be doubled at minimum for gaming, and last but not least, if not on XP yet, make sure you check to see if your internal hardware components are compatible with XP. You can see if you hardware is in the Windows Catalog by going to www.microsoft.com/windows/catalog/. Often times buying a new computer is easy but locating all the software installed over the two years is most difficult, transferring most settings have to be manually done, and ensuring you save, copy, and restore your files can be a chore.

Good Luck....

Answer 5

That computer sound like a decent one. I would recommend buying a new video graphics card since I'm sure you are using onboard video which degrades system performance. Check with Best Buy or Circuit City on buying a graphics card for your system. Definitely have a decent machine for games.

Answer 6

Hey! are you sure you CAN'T play Sims with your CPU spec???

2.8 Ghz is FINE already
504 RAM is absolutely GOOD

hmmmmm.....
Extrem Graphics 2 Intel
Correct me if I'm wrong your using your Built-in video card..
and i think its memory is 96MB
that's why your RAM is 504 well in fact it is 512..

built-in video card use memory from your RAM
(depending on how much capacity of memory your built-in video card has)

But still, I'm really sure you can run SIMS with that vedoecard memory, because the sims minimum requirement for its
video is 32MB... i doubt your game sims is bug..
with your memory of 96MB you can run games like

DOTA,STARCRAFT,WARCRAFT,CRAZY TAXI,HALF-LIFE, COUNTERSTRIKE ZERO,DIABLO II EXP,GTA,HEROES 2,RENEGADE,GENERALS,SIMS 2 3 and all expantions.. EVEN ON LINE GAMES...

I have the same memory of 96MB all games worked for me...

BUT I suggest you buy a video card...

with a memory of 128, OR if you really want to play the latest and
all those upcoming games, buy 256 or higher video card...
but it will cost you ($-$)
your RAM memory will not be deducted..
because a video card(not built-in)has its own memory
and does not need to get any memory from your RAM..

OK.. have nice day... ('',)

Answer 7

That computer looks like its fine except the graphics. Just find out if your computer supports AGP or PCI-E (probably AGP, do a little search on yahoo images etc..) and buy a new graphics card. A 7600gs should do nicely from www.newegg.com which are pretty cheap. If thats too much then consider a lower grade graphics card.

Answer 8

Your computer isn't that bad to begin with. Surprised you can't run Sims 2 already. Mostly I just suggest you get a graphics card, which are easy to install. You'd need to check out your motherboard to see what kind of video cards you can use though.

Answer 9

So you want to play the latest games ah? Then, you must buy the proper computer, called "Game machines" :)

There are powerful computers with plenty of RAM memory, large hard disks and ultra fast CPU! But don't worry, you can find them very easy and sometimes in very good prices.

I think it's time to buy a new one my friend.

Answer 10

upgrade ur graphic card and u are ready to play the sims 2.