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[frankthurk]

So I have an old PC, I've not been playing many PC games for a while so I've been out of the loop. I'm starting to jump back in and naturally found my PC just didn't cut it. I couldn't even run Supreme Commander wouldn't even start, I tried out LOTRO and damn it's slow and chugs loading in stuff as I run around.

So I decided to try to upgrade what I have to see if I could get it playable instead of buying a whole new machine, the plan was: new video card, double the ram, new much faster hard-drive and see what happens.

So I took the first step and ordered a GeForce 7800 GT card without doing sufficient research it seems. I excitedly open up my PC and go to switch out cards only to find... I don't have any PCI 16x slots...

So yeah, I'm wondering at this point what my best options are for getting to a decently playable state. Can I get a good enough video card without the 16x slot? Should I replace the mother board (I've done just about everything else but I've never done a mother board replace... seems a bit risky)?

I don't need top of the line and I'd like to keep it under $1000 if possible, any suggestions?

BTW my machine has an ABIT IS7 motherboard and I believe I'm running like a Pentium 4 2.6mhz currently with 512m or ram about to jump to 1Gig if that info helps.

Is this salvageable or is it time to start over? Help me GAF!

 

[TemplaerDude]

8x agp slot eh. i'm out of the agp loop so i have no idea what cards there are for it.

 

[Manp]

don't buy new ram if you plan changing your motherboard soon

just go for a Core 2 Duo + new mb + 1-2 gb of the appropriate ram

 

[ghst]

So I have an old PC, I've not been playing many PC games for a while so I've been out of the loop. I'm starting to jump back in and naturally found my PC just didn't cut it. I couldn't even run Supreme Commander wouldn't even start, I tried out LOTRO and damn it's slow and chugs loading in stuff as I run around.

So I decided to try to upgrade what I have to see if I could get it playable instead of buying a whole new machine, the plan was: new video card, double the ram, new much faster hard-drive and see what happens.

So I took the first step and ordered a GeForce 7800 GT card without doing sufficient research it seems. I excitedly open up my PC and go to switch out cards only to find... I don't have any PCI 16x slots...

So yeah, I'm wondering at this point what my best options are for getting to a decently playable state. Can I get a good enough video card without the 16x slot? Should I replace the mother board (I've done just about everything else but I've never done a mother board replace... seems a bit risky)?

I don't need top of the line and I'd like to keep it under $1000 if possible, any suggestions?

BTW my machine has an ABIT IS7 motherboard and I believe I'm running like a Pentium 4 2.6mhz currently with 512m or ram about to jump to 1Gig if that info helps.

Is this salvageable or is it time to start over? Help me GAF!

Wait till July and you can get a Quad Core processor, a couple of gigs of DDR2 ram and a new Motherboard for under $500. Which will be ready for whenever you want to upgrade to DX10, and will serve you for a good few years of High-Settings gaming.

 

[TemplaerDude]

hmmm, yeah, i honestly don't think it's worth it to pimp out this motherboard, it is significantly holding you back, slow ass ram, slow ass gpu slot, processor is a little dated. you take that 1000 bucks and put it away for a few months, prices gonna drop like a rock pretty soon you can get some pretty nice stuff for under 1K.

 

[frankthurk]

Wait till July and you can get a Quad Core processor, a couple of gigs of DDR2 ram and a new Motherboard for under $500. Which will be ready for whenever you want to upgrade to DX10, and will serve you for a good few years of High-Settings gaming.

Hmm so it's sounding like a motherboard replacement is my best bet, guess it's time to do some research on it. Why July in particular?

 

[Espada]

Hmm so it's sounding like a motherboard replacement is my best bet, guess it's time to do some research on it. Why July in particular?

Apparently there's another round of price cuts for quad core processors around that time. It'd be the best time to jump in and pick one up.

 

[borghe]

Hmm so it's sounding like a motherboard replacement is my best bet, guess it's time to do some research on it. Why July in particular?

I'm in the exact same boat (Well, your system is a bit worse than mine). July is when the new Core2Duo's hit, and hopefully around when an nVidia refresh will hit. Bottom line is that CPUs will be dirt cheap (2.4GHz Quad and 3GHz Duo for $266 each) and video cards might even be a little cheaper. Hopefully we'll even see high performance 2x2GB DDR2 800 sets available by then for under $300.

 

[frankthurk]

Hmmm ok, that will give me some time to get up to speed. Thanks all.

 

[ghst]

On second thought, ignore this thread. Gaming PC's cost atleast $3000.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

On second thought, ignore this thread. Gaming PC's cost atleast $3000.

moar liek $5000 amirite?!

 

[frankthurk]

moar liek $5000 amirite?!

Oh noes! I don't have teh monies! Guess it's a Wii for me.

 

[TemplaerDude]

moar liek $5000 amirite?!

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