Upgrading this old computer.

[CrunchyRoll]

I want to get a new video card and ram. what is a good and not really expensive video card i can get? I want to use this computer to play games... T_T how can i upgrade it so that it can handle these games without much lag and other problems? 500$ to spend... what should i get to upgrade it..... current computer info below

Spoiler!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<speccydata version="1.01.132" formatversion="1.0">
<mainsection title="Summary">
<section title="Operating System">
<data title="">MS Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3</data>
</section>
<section title="CPU">
<data title="Intel Pentium 4"></data>
<data title="Northwood 0.13um Technology"></data>
</section>
<section title="RAM">
<data title="">512MB Dual-Channel DDR @ 159MHz 2.5-3-3-7</data>
</section>
<section title="Motherboard">
<data title="">ASUSTek Computer Inc. P4SD-VX (CPU 1)</data>
</section>
<section title="Graphics">
<data title="Default Monitor @ 1280x1024"></data>
<data title="128MB GeForce FX 5200 (ASUStek Computer Inc)"></data>
</section>
<section title="Hard Drives">
<data title="156.29GB Seagate ST3160021A (ATA)">40 °C</data>
</section>
<section title="Optical Drives">
<data title="PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D"></data>
<data title="HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B"></data>
</section>
<section title="Audio">
<data title="Creative Audigy Audio Processor (WDM)"></data>
</section>
</mainsection>
<mainsection title="Operating System">
<data title="">MS Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3</data>
<data title="">Installation Date: 03 April 2010, 16:04</data>
</mainsection>
<mainsection title="CPU">
<section title="Intel Pentium 4">
<data title="Cores">1</data>
<data title="Threads">2</data>
<data title="Name">Intel Pentium 4</data>
<data title="Code Name">Northwood</data>
<data title="Package">Socket 478 mPGA</data>
<data title="Technology">0.13um</data>
<data title="Specification">Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz</data>
<data title="Family">F</data>
<data title="Extended Family">F</data>
<data title="Model">2</data>
<data title="Extended Model">2</data>
<data title="Stepping">9</data>
<data title="Revision">D1</data>
<data title="Instructions">MMX, SSE, SSE2</data>
<data title="Bus Speed">199.6 MHz</data>
<data title="Rated Bus Speed">798.3 MHz</data>
<data title="Stock Core Speed">3000 MHz</data>
<data title="Stock Bus Speed">200 MHz</data>
<section title="Caches">
<data title="L1 Data Cache Size">8 KBytes</data>
<data title="L1 trace cache">12 Kuops</data>
<data title="L2 Unified Cache Size">512 KBytes</data>
</section>
<section title="Core 0">
<data title="Core Speed">2992.7 MHz</data>
<data title="Multiplier">x 15.0</data>
<data title="Bus Speed">199.6 MHz</data>
<data title="Rated Bus Speed">798.3 MHz</data>
<section title="Thread 1">
<data title="APIC ID">0</data>
</section>
<section title="Thread 2">
<data title="APIC ID">1</data>
</section>
</section>
</section>
</mainsection>
<mainsection title="RAM">
<section title="Memory">
<data title="Type">DDR</data>
<data title="Size">512 MBytes</data>
<data title="Channels #">Dual</data>
<data title="DRAM Frequency">159.7 MHz</data>
<data title="CAS# Latency (CL)">2.5 clocks</data>
<data title="RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD)">3 clocks</data>
<data title="RAS# Precharge (tRP)">3 clocks</data>
<data title="Cycle Time (tRAS)">7 clocks</data>
</section>
<section title="SPD">
<data title="Number Of SPD Modules">2</data>
<section title="Slot #1">
<data title="Type">DDR</data>
<data title="Size">256 MBytes</data>
<data title="Manufacturer">Infineon</data>
<data title="Max Bandwidth">PC2700 (166 MHz)</data>
<data title="Part Number">64D32300GU6B </data>
<data title="Serial Number">0259CA22</data>
<data title="Week/year">64 / 03</data>
<data title="SPD Ext.">EPP</data>
<section title="JEDEC #2">
<data title="Frequency">166.7 MHz</data>
<data title="CAS# Latency">2.5</data>
<data title="RAS# To CAS#">4</data>
<data title="RAS# Precharge">4</data>
<data title="tRAS">8</data>
<data title="Voltage">2.500 V</data>
</section>
<section title="JEDEC #1">
<data title="Frequency">133.3 MHz</data>
<data title="CAS# Latency">2.0</data>
<data title="RAS# To CAS#">3</data>
<data title="RAS# Precharge">3</data>
<data title="tRAS">6</data>
<data title="Voltage">2.500 V</data>
</section>
</section>
<section title="Slot #2">
<data title="Type">DDR</data>
<data title="Size">256 MBytes</data>
<data title="Manufacturer">Infineon</data>
<data title="Max Bandwidth">PC2700 (166 MHz)</data>
<data title="Part Number">64D32300GU6B </data>
<data title="Serial Number">0259CD26</data>
<data title="Week/year">64 / 03</data>
<data title="SPD Ext.">EPP</data>
<section title="JEDEC #2">
<data title="Frequency">166.7 MHz</data>
<data title="CAS# Latency">2.5</data>
<data title="RAS# To CAS#">4</data>
<data title="RAS# Precharge">4</data>
<data title="tRAS">8</data>
<data title="Voltage">2.500 V</data>
</section>
<section title="JEDEC #1">
<data title="Frequency">133.3 MHz</data>
<data title="CAS# Latency">2.0</data>
<data title="RAS# To CAS#">3</data>
<data title="RAS# Precharge">3</data>
<data title="tRAS">6</data>
<data title="Voltage">2.500 V</data>
</section>
</section>
</section>
</mainsection>
<mainsection title="Motherboard">
<data title="Manufacturer">ASUSTek Computer Inc.</data>
<data title="Model">P4SD-VX</data>
<data title="Version">28477333</data>
<data title="Chipset Vendor">Intel</data>
<data title="Chipset Model">i865P/PE/G/i848P</data>
<data title="Chipset Revision">A2</data>
<data title="Southbridge Vendor">Intel</data>
<data title="Southbridge Model">82801EB (ICH5)</data>
<data title="Southbridge Revision">02</data>
<section title="BIOS">
<data title="Brand">American Megatrends Inc.</data>
<data title="Version">2002</data>
<data title="Date">09/19/2003</data>
</section>
</mainsection>
<mainsection title="Graphics">
<section title="Monitor">
<data title="Name">Default Monitor on NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200</data>
<data title="Current Resolution">1280x1024 pixels</data>
<data title="Work Resolution">1280x1024 pixels</data>
<data title="State">enabled, primary</data>
<data title="Monitor Width">1280</data>
<data title="Monitor Height">1024</data>
<data title="Monitor Bpp">32 bits per pixel</data>
<data title="Monitor Frequency">60 Hz</data>
<data title="Device">\\.\DISPLAY1\Monitor0</data>
</section>
<section title="GeForce FX 5200">
<data title="GPU">NV34</data>
<data title="Device ID">10DE-0322</data>
<data title="Revision">A2</data>
<data title="Subvendor">ASUStek Computer Inc (0018)</data>
<data title="Technology">150 nm</data>
<data title="Transistors">47 M</data>
<data title="Release Date">2003</data>
<data title="DirectX Support">9.0</data>
<data title="DirectX Shader Model">2.0</data>
<data title="OpenGL Support">2.0</data>
<data title="Bus Interface">AGP</data>
<data title="AGP Aperture">64 MB</data>
<data title="AGP Rate">64x</data>
<data title="SLI">Disabled</data>
<data title="GPU Clock">250 MHz</data>
<data title="Memory Clock">405 MHz</data>
<data title="Driver">nv4_disp.dll (6.14.11.7519)</data>
<data title="ForceWare version">175.19</data>
<data title="BIOS Version">4.34.20.42.00</data>
<data title="ROPs">4</data>
<data title="Shaders">Vertex 4/Pixel 4</data>
<data title="Memory Type">DDR</data>
<data title="Memory">128 MB</data>
<data title="Pixel Fillrate">1.0 GPixels/s</data>
<data title="Texture Fillrate">1.0 GTexels/s</data>
</section>
</mainsection>
<mainsection title="Hard Drives">
<section title="ST3160021A">
<data title="Manufacturer">Seagate</data>
<data title="Form Factor">3.5&quot;</data>
<data title="Cache Size">2MB</data>
<data title="Interface">ATA</data>
<data title="Capacity">156.29GB</data>
<data title="Real size">160,041,885,696 bytes</data>
<section title="S.M.A.R.T">
<data title="01 Read Error Rate">066 (058 worst) Data 0007A36908</data>
<data title="03 Spin-Up Time">097 (096) Data 0000000000</data>
<data title="04 Start/Stop Count">100 (100) Data 000000002C</data>
<data title="05 Reallocated Sectors Count">100 (100) Data 0000000000</data>
<data title="07 Seek Error Rate">084 (060) Data 0025360FC9</data>
<data title="09 Power-On Hours (POH)">085 (085) Data 00000034FB</data>
<data title="0A Spin Retry Count">100 (100) Data 0000000000</data>
<data title="0C Device Power Cycle Count">098 (098) Data 0000000BD4</data>
<data title="C2 Temperature">040 (049) Data 0000000028</data>
<data title="C3 Hardware ECC Recovered">066 (057) Data 0007A36908</data>
<data title="C5 Current Pending Sector Count">100 (100) Data 0000000000</data>
<data title="C6 Uncorrectable Sector Count">100 (100) Data 0000000000</data>
<data title="C7 UltraDMA CRC Error Count">200 (200) Data 0000000000</data>
<data title="C8 Write Error Rate / Multi-Zone Error Rate">100 (253) Data 0000000000</data>
<data title="CA Data Address Mark errors">100 (253) Data 0000000000</data>
<data title="Temperature">40 °C</data>
<data title="Temperature Range">ok (less than 50 °C)</data>
<data title="Status">Good</data>
</section>
<section title="Partition 0">
<data title="Partition ID">Disk #0, Partition #0</data>
<data title="Size">6.00 GB</data>
</section>
<section title="Partition 1">
<data title="Partition ID">Disk #0, Partition #1</data>
<data title="Disk Letter">C:</data>
<data title="File System">NTFS</data>
<data title="Volume Serial Number">887D6F6D</data>
<data title="Size">80.00GB</data>
<data title="Used Space">49.40GB (62%)</data>
<data title="Free Space">30.60GB (38%)</data>
</section>
<section title="Partition 2">
<data title="Partition ID">Disk #0, Partition #2</data>
<data title="Disk Letter">D:</data>
<data title="File System">NTFS</data>
<data title="Volume Serial Number">30697A44</data>
<data title="Size">63.04GB</data>
<data title="Used Space">292MB (1%)</data>
<data title="Free Space">62.75GB (99%)</data>
</section>
</section>
</mainsection>
<mainsection title="Optical Drives">
<section title="PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D">
<data title="Media Type">CD-ROM</data>
<data title="Name">PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D</data>
<data title="Availability">Running/Full Power</data>
<data title="Capabilities">Random Access, Supports Removable Media</data>
<data title="Config Manager Error Code">Device is working properly</data>
<data title="Config Manager User Config">FALSE</data>
<data title="Drive">E:</data>
<data title="Media Loaded">FALSE</data>
<data title="SCSI Bus">0</data>
<data title="SCSI Logical Unit">0</data>
<data title="SCSI Port">1</data>
<data title="SCSI Target Id">0</data>
<data title="Status">OK</data>
</section>
<section title="HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B">
<data title="Media Type">CD-ROM</data>
<data title="Name">HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B</data>
<data title="Availability">Running/Full Power</data>
<data title="Capabilities">Random Access, Supports Removable Media</data>
<data title="Config Manager Error Code">Device is working properly</data>
<data title="Config Manager User Config">FALSE</data>
<data title="Drive">F:</data>
<data title="Media Loaded">FALSE</data>
<data title="SCSI Bus">0</data>
<data title="SCSI Logical Unit">0</data>
<data title="SCSI Port">1</data>
<data title="SCSI Target Id">1</data>
<data title="Status">OK</data>
</section>
</mainsection>
<mainsection title="Audio">
<section title="Sound Card">
<data title="Creative Audigy Audio Processor (WDM)"></data>
</section>
<section title="Playback Device">
<data title="SB Audigy Audio [B800]"></data>
</section>
<section title="Recording Device">
<data title="SB Audigy Audio [B800]"></data>
</section>
</mainsection>
<mainsection title="Peripherals">
<section title="HID Keyboard Device">
<data title="Device Kind">Keyboard</data>
<data title="Device Name">HID Keyboard Device</data>
<data title="Vendor">Logitech</data>
</section>
<section title="Microsoft PS/2 Mouse">
<data title="Device Kind">Mouse</data>
<data title="Device Name">Microsoft PS/2 Mouse</data>
</section>
<section title="HID-compliant mouse">
<data title="Device Kind">Mouse</data>
<data title="Device Name">HID-compliant mouse</data>
<data title="Vendor">Logitech</data>
</section>
<section title="Disk drive">
<data title="Device Kind">USB storage</data>
<data title="Device Name">Disk drive</data>
<data title="Vendor">SONY</data>
<data title="Comment">Sony UMH-U HS-CF USB Device</data>
</section>
<section title="Disk drive">
<data title="Device Kind">USB storage</data>
<data title="Device Name">Disk drive</data>
<data title="Vendor">SONY</data>
<data title="Comment">Sony UMH-U HS-MS USB Device</data>
</section>
<section title="Disk drive">
<data title="Device Kind">USB storage</data>
<data title="Device Name">Disk drive</data>
<data title="Vendor">SONY</data>
<data title="Comment">Sony UMH-U HS-SM USB Device</data>
</section>
</mainsection>

</speccydata>

[Miyuki]

Your CPU will be the bottleneck, and AGP cards are so expensive and slow.
Suggest to build a new pc instead, you can just build up your pc unit, while re-using the existing monitors, keyboard, etc.

[oXdacyXo]

hmm If it is possible. Try and save up more and buy a new computer...
Doesn't look worthwhile to do an upgrade to the computer anymore...

[kag]

like what others said, doesn't make sense to upgrade

It has reach that age

1. IDE is slow
2. AGP is slow
3. DDR is slow

still quite amazing your harddisk is still surviving

If you have 500, save a little more
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System <-- even a new pc is <500, though you still need a graphics card and you can reuse your old monitor

I know people will start screaming here when you talk about branded desktops >.<
Don't buy branded or everyone here will scream at you.