Need Advice - Upgrade or new computer? GW has 25 fps =*(

Hi, I am unsure of what to do upgrade my current computer or get a whole new computer.

My current computer is an eMachines t6520 (http://www.emachines.com/support/pro...es&model=T6520) but with a ATI Radeon X1050 256 MB DDR graphics card (Yes, I know it sucks).

My current computer is pretty crappy, I play Guild Wars on the lowest settings possible and only get 25 fps best,and under 20 fps when fighting so I get very "choppy" gameplay.

I want to play Guild Wars at a higher fps, and play some newer games (Bioshock, Orange Box, Oblivion), but I am on a tight budget as a high schooler my budget is around $600 dollars. I plan on reusing my current monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I know many of you will tell me to build I new computer, but I don't know much about computer hardware, and don't feel comfortable building it. I looked in the phone book and found a store that builds custom pcs and might see if they could assemble one for me if I specify the hardware.

Alright, thanks for talking the time to read this. I didn't mean to write a whole essay....

Could probably throw an 8600GT in there and not get much bottle necks, would upgrade to 2GB of RAM too.

My other PC has a 1.8ghz AMD Sempron (Single core, really bad) 1 gig of DDR PC3200 RAM, and a 8600GT 256mb and it gets 60 FPS in some places still, if it wasn't for the CPU bottle neck mainly it would get better performance, but since you have a 2.4ghz dual core in that (according to the specs) this shouldn't be a problem for you.

And, considering replacing a video card is relatively easy, then it shouldn't be much trouble for you.

How do you know whether your cpu is single core or dual core?

I'm pretty sure mine is a single core...

AMD Athlon™ 64 3400+ Processor (512KB L2 cache, 2.4GHz, 1600MHz FSB)

Oh uh, might have over looked it. I had an AMD Athlon 3200+ in my old computer, sorry about that.

Either way, at 2.4Ghz it should be just fine.. some people run Guild Wars on only one core anyways because of troubles (like I have on XP) and with my 3.0ghz athlon Dual Core running Guild Wars on only one core, and an 8600GT, I still got 60FPS while playing usually, so I don't think you should have much problems either.

I'd just wait to upgrade your computer fully, theres some new stuff coming out kind of soon I think, but then again I doubt you'll be able to afford any of that new stuff on only a 600$ budget.. but 600$ can still get you a pretty decent PC right now anyways.

For example:

*CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103228

*Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128014

*Graphics Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130318

*RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148076

*Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153042

*Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119077

Total combined value of roughly 614$ USD (Don't know where you live, just using this as an example) and that's a pretty nice setup in my opinion, of course you can tweak brands and stuff, just giving a basis here, this was all without shipping either, but it comes close.

I looked up a 8600GT on new egg and have no clue what to look for...

What is MB? How much do I need? There was 512, 128, and 256.

What is GDDR? Some cards have GDDR2 and others have GDDR3

Brianna could you link me the 8600GT you were referring to?

For all of your questions about RAM, and the likes, refer to Rahja's Ultimate Memory Guide, I think it has explanations on Graphics Card RAM there too. http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10288946

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130085 Here is the 8600 I was talking about, I own one, you definitely want to get a video card with GDDR3, stop looking at anything with GDDR2 now. But in short: Graphics Double Data Rate 3 = GDDR3, it is a graphics card-specific memory technology, you will notice the RAM you put into your motherboard is labeled DDR2, DDR3 (respectively to what your motherboard uses) and that is just Double Data Rate X.

256mb (megabytes) of RAM on the card at minimum is another recommendation, 512mb is better for higher resolutions though (such as 1680x1050). Oh yeah, and you can check if your CPU has one or two cores by going Start > Run > Type in "DxDiag" without quotes and where it says ''Processor:" It should have something along the line of ''2 CPUs'' in the specification written there, if it doesn't then it's probably not a dual core.

Don't forget that, if you're getting a more powerful graphics card, you're probably gonna need a better power supply to feed it. The card's specifications usually lists how powerful your power supply at least should be; always get a power supply a bit bigger than you need. Also get a quality brand like Antec, OCZ, Enermax, or Silverstone; you pay a little more but they're much more efficient and reliable. Worth a few more bucks to make sure your system is stable.

$600 is more than enough if you build your own rig. I got a premade from HP with 2 gigs of RAM, a nVidia 512 MB 8500 GT card, 250 GB hard drive, and dual core processor (Forget which one), and an HP w17e monitor (17" widescreen) for around $800 back in August, and premades are usually ~$100 more than self-built rigs. I get around 60 FPS in zones in GW, and play Portal through Steam with no problems.

Some advice: Get around 2 gigs of RAM, especially if using Vista. Since you're gaming, don't opt for any less than 512 MB video cards.