Upgrading Comp .. need a hand or two.

AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2500+
1.83Ghz,1.00GB of RAM (Kingston DDR 400 or summin, 500MB Ea)

Nvidia 6600(lol) 256Mb Graphics Card (thats PCI)

Erm, dunno what the mother board is, but thats PCI .. no PCI-E =p


im asking mailny becuase of annoying FPS lagg on CSS .. my FPS is like 40, but when ever i run, its like the screen kinda goes blurry, which is really annoying, is this the graphics card?.. if so what should i upgrade too ..

i got like 500 pounds to upgrade.

Also, is it worth clocking my CPU to 2.00 Ghz? or upgrading to more RAM?


Thanks =]

CPU for sure, after you do that then start looking at 3D cards.

Well thats it really...

I would change your motherboard, but doing so will most likely result in changing the cpu, ram and video card because of compatibility

if you change your motherboard, you can still get some with 939 sockets (thats the socket type for the cpu you have) but it really isnt worth it since you can go with the new AM2 socket since the 939 cpus arent being produced anymore.

changing your motherboard you will also most likely encounter the new Ram form factor, DDR2 or DD3 (which isnt too good right now) DDR2 is the way to go now.

About your video card, you must be realising that it is one part that must go. Your current video card woudnt work if you changed to a new motherboard, as PCI-Express isnt compatible with PCI, nor is PCI-Express 16x

Thats the problem you see

So am i just better of saving a bit more and buying a whole new comp lol

Definitely, you can buy a system that beats those specs these days for under £400, and if you want something really good build your own!

My current system I built for about £300, and that was almost a year ago! Now you can get even more powerful parts for the same money as I spent on mine.

Oh, and if you are up to replacing a graphic card you are up to building a system.

Wol

For 500 quid you can get a decent cpu, RAM, mainboard, gpu, case & soundcard if you are willing to build the machine yourself which is actually not that hard.

500 quid wont buy you much on the highstreet, at least, not much that doesnt actually suck for gaming that is because they tend to cut corners to maximize profit and always make choices and compromises.

My advice, check some sites like Tomshardware, Extreme Tech and Ars Technica for their 'self build' guides and they usually also have example specs that work well together and wont cost you a fortune.

As an example which fits your budget probably (note that this list is probably not quite up to date) you might want to look at this:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1822641,00.asp

In the UK you pay VAT but considering the current exchange rate that should give you an idea whats possible with 500 pounds.

Athlon XP 2500+ is most likely socket A. Waaaaaaay older than 939. The only CPU upgrades that are going to be available for socket A are other Athlon XP's, which probably means "don't waste your money".

To be honest, I would save your pennies until you can do a full platform upgrade (mobo, video, memory, cpu)...otherwise you'd be spending money on a stopgap measure that's not going to last you very long at all, and may not even be worthwhile as a temporary measure.

Instead of posting a new thread I thought I might just add my question here too.

I currently have my own built pc which I am happy with for my gaming and general work, but I now find myself in need of a laptop for my photography.

Basically the only things I'll be using it for will be Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Guild Wars in the garden or away from home. I'm already investing in a portable hard drive unit so I can sacrifice storage space for other stats. The main thing I want is nice graphics running at a respectable speed.

My budget range will be £300 - £400 + any lil' extras... If its something special I'll pull out £500.

Having no experience with laptops at all, what do you guys suggest?

I'd suggest that trying to do any serious gaming on a sub £400 laptop would be a mistake. Either budget higher (£700 and upwards) on your laptop, or spend your money elsewhere.

Wol

Do you recommend something like this then?

Acer Aspire 5920WSMi Laptop