Upgrade advice

[FightingRooster]

I foresee a problem. Your CPU is 2.6ghz and a dual core, chances are your ram is somewhere in the 800 range if not lower, due to you probably having a motherboard that is old if it can run a 2.6ghz dual core.

 

This is just guessing, but I bet your motherboard doesn't have a pci-express 2.0 slot. Thus making all cards above 8800gt's out of the question, due to them requiring that 2.0 slot. So their 'get 9800gt and 260gts' advice is invalid if your motherboard cannot support them.

 

8800 geforce cards are good, but last I checked, newegg doesn't even have any more in stock which could pose a slight problem of trying to find them.

 

 

 

So while they're getting in a pissy fit about voltage or whatever, it could be all for nothing unless you tell us what motherboard you have.

 

 

Edit:

If your motherboard is indeed old 1.0 pci, then if you want to upgrade to 9 series or 200 series graphics cards, you'd have to get a new mobo, which would most likely require a new CPU, and RAM depending on what RAM type you have.

 

Something I can finally understand =]

 

How can I check what motherboard I have? Check if I have a 2.0 PCIe slot?

[Shadowex3]

Download a program called CPU-Z and give us the results.

[FightingRooster]

Here are screenshots:

[tinkerbell]

honestly, your processor is out of date, but depending on your motherboard, you could consider overclocking it a little if you feel confident, but you would need a better HSF (HeatSink Fan), you can get a good one for $30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125 and you could push the CPU upto 3GHz

 

ok, from the chipset u have on ur current mobo, it looks like you can get better ram, at the moment its pretty slow, so spending $40 on better ram would increase your performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227181 = $31.99

 

then i am assuming that your graphics are along par with your setup at the moment, buying a new graphics card would increase your framerate and the quality of the graphic you can get good cheap cards for less than $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150340

 

the 9600 GSO is an amzing card for the price, and will play all the games you currently can play at the moment, but i suspect that your CPU is hold you back.

 

so unless you got $400 - $500 to build your self a new rig, this would be the cheapest option for you to increase your performance

[FightingRooster]

honestly, your processor is out of date, but depending on your motherboard, you could consider overclocking it a little if you feel confident, but you would need a better HSF (HeatSink Fan), you can get a good one for $30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125 and you could push the CPU upto 3GHz

 

I'm not very computer savvy, so I don't think this is the route I will be taking. Thanks though!

 

ok, from the chipset u have on ur current mobo, it looks like you can get better ram, at the moment its pretty slow, so spending $40 on better ram would increase your performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227181 = $31.99

How many additional FPS do you think I could get on CS?

 

then i am assuming that your graphics are along par with your setup at the moment, buying a new graphics card would increase your framerate and the quality of the graphic you can get good cheap cards for less than $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150340

 

 

the 9600 GSO is an amzing card for the price, and will play all the games you currently can play at the moment, but i suspect that your CPU is hold you back.

 

 

 

This is mainly what I was looking for. I can get a 1GB Graphics card (up from 256mb) for under $100?

 

so unless you got $400 - $500 to build your self a new rig, this would be the cheapest option for you to increase your performance

 

Nowhere near

[tinkerbell]

its not about the amount of VRAM, its at what speeds the VRAM and GPU speed are at. with the new gfx card and ram i would say an extra 20 - 40 fps, but its your CPU thats causing the bottleneck

[FightingRooster]

its not about the amount of VRAM, its at what speeds the VRAM and GPU speed are at. with the new gfx card and ram i would say an extra 20 - 40 fps, but its your CPU thats causing the bottleneck

 

Thats what I was afraid of. I don't know if $90 is worth a 20-40fps jump. How would a 9800GT work in terms of FPS jump?

[tinkerbell]

Thats what I was afraid of. I don't know if $90 is worth a 20-40fps jump. How would a 9800GT work in terms of FPS jump?

 

same, its your CPU thats the bottleneck, you could have a 295GTX, it would look shit hot, but you would still only get 20-40 fps more

 

9800GT's arent really worth your while

 

honestly. buy better ram then see how much more performance you get, then see about getting a new GFX Card. just remember, dont use mis-matched ram modules as they will run at the slowest one installed

[FightingRooster]

same, its your CPU thats the bottleneck, you could have a 295GTX, it would look shit hot, but you would still only get 20-40 fps more

 

9800GT's arent really worth your while

 

honestly. buy better ram then see how much more performance you get, then see about getting a new GFX Card. just remember, dont use mis-matched ram modules as they will run at the slowest one installed

 

Hmm...

 

Thank you very much for your input. I'll go hide in a corner and make my decision.

[Ultramarine]

replace your 2GB RAM you have with newer 2GB RAM that is around 1066 MHz, or atleast 800 MHz.