graphics card or ram?

[Burack]

Oops! Sorry my friend. I mixed it up pretty badly.
I thought it was a laptop :/

[sfade]

Well, the entire system is in pretty dire shape as far as any modern gaming - but you make do with what you have. Been there before.

If I had to upgrade something, I suppose I'd probably choose memory. It would provide improved responsiveness across the board. Any GPU upgrade is going to be bound by the low system specs anyway, so return would be limited - not to mention it would likely exceed the budget you have available.

[cannondale06]

really there is not much point in doing anything with that pc if you wanting to play newer games. you need more ram, a new cpu and new gpu. that also means you need to upgrade that cheap 250 watt psu. also your mobo might not even support decent cpu. plus some of the parts you need such as ram will be more expensive than faster modern parts. you would do better to save up money for a new pc and sell that thing on craigslist for 75-100 bucks.

[JustRed]

why is everyone assuming he wants to play skyrim or something? lol
If he gets 50fps in whatever he plays, then his setup is fine (nothing wrong with some fine tweaking though)
I will jump on the bandwagon and say you could do with a new one though, cause I've been there. At the bottom. Hanging on...Ive got an old Xeon server board here I still use, ancient little thing, but I beefed it up to play BC2 lol

If your stuck for cash, you can buy board/ram/cpu bundles that should do you nicely. Just make sure you get a motherboard with plenty of room for upgrading, buy cheap components just so the thing runs, then upgrade them as/when you get some spare moolahs.

For now if you want to continue beefing your old one, I would recommend a gig of ram first, then new graphics later on if you still wish to improve it

[POWERMAN]

Originally Posted by cannondale06

you would do better to save up money for a new pc and sell that thing on craigslist for 75-100 bucks.

Originally Posted by JustRed

For now if you want to continue beefing your old one, I would recommend a gig of ram first, then new graphics later on if you still wish to improve it

+1

5char

[chocowalnut4]

Originally Posted by cannondale06

as for as I know a stock 6600 comes clocked at 300mhz. going from 30 to 50 fps is a 65% increase. that means you would likely have to oc your 6600 from 300 to 495 and have have it scale perfectly with no cpu limitations from your 2.8 P4. in other words I do not see how that is possible. lol, sorry to keep busting your balls here though.

i actually have it at 510. i just pushed the slider up and tested until it said failed and went back one and kept it at that and it really helps a lot

Originally Posted by JustRed

why is everyone assuming he wants to play skyrim or something? lol
If he gets 50fps in whatever he plays, then his setup is fine (nothing wrong with some fine tweaking though)
I will jump on the bandwagon and say you could do with a new one though, cause I've been there. At the bottom. Hanging on...Ive got an old Xeon server board here I still use, ancient little thing, but I beefed it up to play BC2 lol

If your stuck for cash, you can buy board/ram/cpu bundles that should do you nicely. Just make sure you get a motherboard with plenty of room for upgrading, buy cheap components just so the thing runs, then upgrade them as/when you get some spare moolahs.

For now if you want to continue beefing your old one, I would recommend a gig of ram first, then new graphics later on if you still wish to improve it

i actually needed more fps so i can play phantasy star online 2 smoothly. to me, 30-60fps is pretty decent. i dont think its bad at all but i know higher fps is a lot better. but if you spend years playing games on this computer i have, you adapt a lot to these standards lol yeah im just going to buy a new computer in the future

[cannondale06]

Originally Posted by chocowalnut4

i actually have it at 510. i just pushed the slider up and tested until it said failed and went back one and kept it at that and it really helps a lot

to go from 300 to 510(70%) makes that the highest gpu overclock oc I have ever heard of without touching the voltage.

[chocowalnut4]

Originally Posted by cannondale06

to go from 300 to 510(70%) makes that the highest gpu overclock oc I have ever heard of without touching the voltage.

lol is that a lot or what? i honestly dont know =p

[cannondale06]

Originally Posted by chocowalnut4

lol is that a lot or what? i honestly dont know =p

70% gpu overclock is insanely high and without voltage adjustment almost unheard of. even with tweaking the voltage, it is not common to safely get more than 25-30% out of most modern gpus. the fact that you just moved your slider from 300 to 510 and it worked is crazy.

EDIT: you are probably going to burn your low end 250 watt power supply out really soon with your gpu oced that high though.

[chocowalnut4]

Originally Posted by cannondale06

70% gpu overclock is insanely high and without voltage adjustment almost unheard of. even with tweaking the voltage, it is not common to safely get more than 25-30% out of most modern gpus. the fact that you just moved your slider from 300 to 510 and it worked is crazy.

EDIT: you are probably going to burn your low end 250 watt power supply out really soon with your gpu oced that high though.

maybe. ill have to research this

[cannondale06]

Originally Posted by chocowalnut4

maybe. ill have to research this

if that's the original 250 watt power supply in there then you are lucky it has not died already. most of those power supplies rarely make it more than 5 or 6 years in a basic Compaq pc even without a real video card never mind one that is highly oced. after all of these years that cheap thing cant even come close to making its advertised wattage. heck its only rated for 168 watts max on the 12v and in reality cant even do that when new.

[chocowalnut4]

Originally Posted by cannondale06

if that's the original 250 watt power supply in there then you are lucky it has not died already. most of those power supplies rarely make it more than 5 or 6 years in a basic Compaq pc even without real video card never mind one that is highly oced. after all of these years that cheap thing cant even come close to making its advertised wattage. heck its only rated for 168 watts max on the 12v and in reality cant even do that when new.

you are talking about the power supply that supplies the computer with power right? sorry for my lack of knowledge but im not good with the insides of computers. if you are talking about that then a couple years ago a power surge blew it and so it was replaced with a brand new one

[cannondale06]

Originally Posted by chocowalnut4

you are talking about the power supply that supplies the computer with power right? sorry for my lack of knowledge but im not good with the insides of computers. if you are talking about that then a couple years ago a power surge blew it and so it was replaced with a brand new one

lol, well that explains that then. I knew there was no way the original stock one would hold up.

[chocowalnut4]

i decided i will keep the GPU at normal to help maintain a healthy computer until i need a push in FPS