What should I get to make my computer “good for gaming”?
February 18, 2011 by Meesansel Rahc
Filed under Gaming Computers
Question by Connor: What should I get to make my computer “good for gaming”?
I am big on computer gaming (nothing major like COD) but stuff like Sims 3 and World of Warcraft. I was noticing how much my computer lags on these games and I was wondering what I should get to prevent that. Or should I just get a new computer all together?
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+, MMX, 3D Now, ~2.2 GHz
Memory (RAM): 1022 MB (2 RAM slots in computer)
Direct X Version: 9.0c
Graphics Chip: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor x700 series (256 MB memory devoted to graphics)
Sound: Realtek AC97 Audio (although to me my speakers sound very “mono”; not as clear as I think they should be… My computer speakers are Bose)
So if there is any information that I left out and that you need to know please just ask. I would greatly appreciate it if you can help me on this. So should I get a new computer all together? Or do I just need something simple like more RAM or a new Video Card? Please help!
Best answer:
Answer by Dr. Jack
definitely just try more ram
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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Really a new pc alltogether. To upgrade yours to make it worthwhile is going to require a new motherboard which in turn will make it cost more than what its worth.
If you get a new a intel core 2 duo cpu at 2.8 or better, a ati radeon hd 4870 video card and atleast 2 gb or more of ddr2 memory and a hard drive that has 16mb of cache on it and you should be up and running fine for anything out or coming soon.
And honestly a sound blaster xfi card will help some even as it unlike your soundcard does its own post processing and takes use off the cpu. Not to mention the sound quality would be a vast improvement, xfi cards make even cheap speakers sound better.
i think cpubenchmark.net and videocardbenchmark.net are what you are looking for.
Also ps3 is like 299.- in september. it might be better than a videocard.
ps3 slim VS. videocard.
What motherboard you have will ultimately decide what you can and can’t upgrade.
I suggest upgrading to 2GB of RAM, for starters. I also suggest you consider a better graphics card. Go for at least 512mb of GPU dedicated memory.
The thing that will probably make the biggest difference is the processor though. But you have to make sure your motherboard can support it. If you can, I would suggest upgrading to a ~2.4-2.6GHz processor. That’s for a quad core. You should go a bit higher in clockspeed if it’s a dual core.
You’ll need to figure out what CPU socket types your motherboard supports. I don’t really know how you go about doing this, but I imagine it would be imprinted directly on the circuitry somewhere, or in the motherboard’s manual (which doesn’t generally come with pre-built computers).
The most important things for a gaming PC are:
1) Graphics card
2) Processor type & speed
3) RAM
4) Hard drive space
You also need a motherboard that supports all of that. If you have a bad one you’ll need to buy a new one that will accept the new components, and you will want to buy one that can accept more than what you will put on it so that it can “grow” some more if you decide to upgrade your rig again in the future.