PC Gaming Hardware Suggestions

[Blekk]

Well, hearing how much fun games like WoW are, I have decided to upgrade my current so I can play ALL of the new games coming out. Only because xbox and playstation do not satisfy my gaming hunger, and would like to play PC only games. Now, I ask of the people who do PC game, is what they recommend for hardware to play such games. Just in case you were wondering (or like to laugh at peoples poor pc components) these are my specs that I plan on changing:

Windows XP
Intel Pentium 4 Processor 2.4 ghz (@ 4.2 ghz)
Shit motherboard that doesn't have a name
ATI Radeon 9250
230 Watt Power Supply

Things I'm not changing:
Hard Drive
DVD Drives
Sound Card
Case (ATX I believe)

I plan on spending no more than $500.

Go.

[McStarken]

i dont know anything about the prices but...

Go with a better processor, Intel Core 2 Duo of at least 2.3 Ghz, a Motherboard that supports DDR3 RAM and get 4GBs

If you want more than 4 Gbs go with a 64bit Operating System....it handles RAM a bit better

Operating system, dont do Vista, if you want DirectX 10 go with Windows 7 instead or just stick with windows XP and ive heard it gives you a better gaming experience.

GFX card, stick with that one or go with any ATI or Nvidia card that goes above 256 Mb...go with dual display option and have some fun with two screens ;)


With $500 i think you can upgrade Motherboard, More Ram and better processor...and thats it, i guess

[Blekk]

Thanks Mac. One thing though. My graphics card is complete shit. Like, I can't run Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. So, I'll probably upgrade that along with the advice you gave. Also, doesn't Windows 7 support DirectX11? If so, I might look into that. Thanks.

[McStarken]

Yeah, obviously, newer operating system....more support for newer stuff. And yeah, ive used Win7 on some dell laptops and a virtual machine on my MacBook...runs smoothly and looks good...not a big windows fan though.

I did heard from a friend that gaming on Windows is smoother than ever...so, give it a try ;) if not stick with windows xp, dont do vista ;) and if youre sticking with 32bit version of any operating system, dont go above 4GBs of ram...

i know its a lot of money but, i say you go with a new computer ;)

[Blekk]

Yeah, my Dad bought Windows 7 recently, so maybe that could reduce some costs. And I don't think I'll need more that 2gb of RAM anyways. Thanks a bunch amigo.

[xX6PHANTOM6Xx]

well windows 7 just came out and its bound to have some glitches to games so best see if the games run better in vista or 7

[McStarken]

Its definitely less glitchy than vista, and Vista is a no-go ... Win 7 is a lot more stable and runs a lot smoother than vista and...well you get less problems. Im no Win7 Fanboy, but thats the truth xD its kinda like the next big thing for microsoft ever since they released XP Pro ;)