I have a fairly solid computer that’ll play most computer games made before 2009. The main thing that bugs me is that all the games I play have choppy frame rates. So I thought maybe upgrading or buying a new computer might help what do you think?
Current computer:
Windows XP
GeForce 7500
Intel 2.1 Ghz processor
2 GB Memory
298 GB harddrive
Well, the real decider is “what can you upgrade”.
Can you add more RAM without having to buy ludicrously expensive chips? (How many RAM slots on the motherboard? How many are full? How much total does the mobo support?)
Can you upgrade the graphics card? (Does the mobo have a PCIE 2.0 slot? Is the power supply of a sufficiently robust wattage?)
Can you upgrade the processor? (Does the mobo support modern processors, or has the processor slot-type changed lately?)
Hard drives are almost always easy to upgrade, but I personally view them as a low-reward item in terms of improving performance (You’ll see faster load times, but your frame rate probably won’t change at all.)
It all really comes down to what the motherboard and, to a much lesser extent, the power supply, can handle. Once you’re replacing the motherboard, you’ve by and large stepped across the line from “upgrading” to “building a new PC in an old case”.
It’s worth upgrading until it isn’t. 
I find mid-life RAM, Disk and occasionally Graphics card upgrades are pretty good deals (generally not requiring a full reinstall of the OS), but over a period of time, enough things change (RAM tech, CPU/Chipset, USB3, Low Power consumption, etc.) that You’re better off buying a new system as the sum of the parts is cheaper than one or two upgrades piecemeal.
Case in point:
I’ve got a Dual Core Pavilion that really benefitted from $60 in RAM and $120 in GPU…but when the time comes, I’ll be replacing the P4 File server (plus 6 drives) with an Atom powered system and fewer drives…it’ll be MUCH more power friendly, and take up quite a bit less space.
The graphics card is your biggest bottleneck. If your power supply and motherboard can handle it, a new graphics card will most likely fix your problems. And if you get a whole new computer, you’re going to have to buy the graphics card anyway.
Your video card does suck, but your processor sucks just as much. You might as well just buy a new computer. No point replacing your video card to bring your machine from 24 months out of date to 20 months out of date.
A more realistic situation for an upgrade instead of re-purchase is what I run:
Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz
640 MB 8800 GTS
6 GB RAM.
My processor is solid enough, especially if I crank it up to 3.0 GHz. The real laggard is the video card. If I had any money, I’d get a 4870.
I’m seeing a lot of really high RAM numbers from folks lately. Are you all running Windows 7 so you can actually do something with it?
I can’t speak for other people, but I use it for virtualization. I use a Mac Book Pro with 8Gb and frequently pull up a Windows VM for windows only administration tasks, and Backtrack 4 (Linux) for network security/pentesting/forensics stuff.
Can you identify the model # for the intel processor? Do you know if the graphics card is PCI express?
Also, in order to get decent advice, it is a good idea to give people some sense of your goals. You say you want to play some pre-2009 games without chop. Can you give some examples of these games? What monitor (model#)/resolution are you playing at?
Although the limited information you gave concerning the computer implies that it might be able to be upgraded, it is far more fun to get a new one.
2.1ghz Pentium 4 Im assuming? Hmm, thats still on the low end, even with the fastest P4 that board might support. I would think you can get a NVIDIA 8800 card and shove it in there as a short term fix. If the board is only AGP then Im not sure what card you can put in there. I think this is the best AGP card. or maybe this. For NVIDIA that last AGP card was the 8600 I think. Which is a small step up for you.
If you want to be able to play games at a resolution higher than the lowest settings and with the lowest textures, I would suggest just getting a new machine. Everything about your current machine is outdated.
I usually upgrade my video card every few years, I get the best card I can for around $100-$150. I’d go with 4GB of RAM too. But if your CPU isn’t dual or quad core, I’d buy a new motherboard and CPU too.
Intel Core duo 2 x86 family 6 model 15 stepping 6 genuine Intel 2133 Mhz.
Playing at 800x600.
PCI bus 1 whatever the heck that means.
The one that bothered me the most was Titan Quest, but truthfully I’d like to play some of the video games that have come out since 2009 without buying a new computer. I can’t think of any game in particular but they all seem to mention graphic options I’ve never heard of as well as a bigger processor.
You really need to confirm that your PC has a PCI Express 16x slot. Assuming your PSU can cope, all you really need is a new graphics card - ATI Radeon 5xxx. A CPU upgrade will be cheap, but won’t give you the same benefit a new graphics card will.
Yes.
That makes it an E6400, I believe? That’s three and change years old, but shouldn’t be a bottleneck for the most part. In order I would suggest:
Those options would probably cost you around $300 total and carry you for at least a couple more years at a healthy performance level… probably what I would do given your situation and wanting to stay within a reasonable budget.
If your board doesn’t have a PCI-E slot that can take a current video card, though, I’d probably just go new computer, so that’s really the key.
That’s not a bad CPU at all, the bottleneck will definitely be your graphics card. A graphics card upgrade would be a much more cost effective move than a new system. What is your budget?
There is a good guide to buying graphics cards here:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-gaming-graphics-card,review-31807.html
The higher end graphics cards draw a lot of power, you’d need to check your PSU could cope. if that is a concern, then an ATI 4670 would be a good buy. If your PSU is up to it, then an ATI 4850 or 5750 would be a good match for the CPU. I wouldn’t bother with anything faster than that.
Your GeForce 7500 is a really slow card. Even a budget 4650 or 4670 will give you a big increase in performance (they can manage 1650x1050 pretty comfortably).
The other thing to consider is how much memory you have in the system. If you only have 1GB an upgrade would be worthwhile.
Hope that is of some help.
I agree that this thing needs a graphics card and that’s about it. I am surprised to see that 800x600 is still an option! I don’t even look for it :). I can’t imagine you are using a monitor that is limited to this resolution. So get ready to set your resolution to 1024x768!
I am nearly 100% sure you have a PCI-E slot. Graphics cards that are designed for that slot will be labeled PCI-Express x16 on most online retailers or in a store. PCI-Express x16 2.0 should also work with your computer.
Kiros’ advice is what you should follow generally. The only place where I differ is I think a 5000-series card is overkill at this point, while the 4000-series cards give you the most performance for the money you spend.
That said:
a radeon 4650 would be great for you.
If you get a widescreen monitor, then:
a radeon 4670 would be great, while a a radeon 4850 has treated me right for a couple of years now
Also, in case you are interested in a new processor, here is a list of all the processors that should fit into your motherboard:
Intel processors with a LGA775 socket