How Do I Upgrade??

Alright I attempted this once before...and everything everybody said was so confusing and mixed opinions that everything was just lost...

Alright so let me start off this is my computer...

eMachines - T6520 Media Center Edition

And here are specs..

Graphics Card - Radeon X700 Pro

Memory - 1022MB RAM

Processor - AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3400+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.4GHz

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Last time i attempted to get help some people were saying its not possible to upgrade my computer, i need to buy a bigger power source, something about my motherboard...

all i know is all i really wanted to do is upgrade my RAM and my graphics card...that should be good enough to play games right?? All i really want to play is Battlefield and Company of Heroes, and maybe a couple more games...but mostly stuff thats already out....dont care about Crysis and all that stuff...

I used to be able to play battlefield on almost all maxed out settings, now i cant even play it on low/medium...have no clue what happens...

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Alright...so...with all that said...i want to know what to get...

I have $1000 to spend, and id prefer to save as much as possible...but id rather get something thats gonna be worth it...

So if i were to buy a new graphics card, i can just put it in where the one i have in now is right?? And I have a ATI, if i were to get an NVIDEA dont i need to uninstall drivers and a whole bunch of stuff??

And if i were to buy a new RAM stick, i already have a 1Gb im pretty sure, if i were to buy say a 2 GB one, is there another slot i can put it in...therefore ill have 3 GB ram??? And something about duel 1 GB sticks...what do i do with those??

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Im gonna leave it at this for now....any help at all would be greatly appreciated...

*Note

Id rather not buy anything over online....id prefer to just walk into a best buy, and buy it there....

I'd build a new rig and sell that computer on craigslist. Just being honest, and it's going to be way less of a head ache.w7w7w7w7w7

i seriously doubt that... 

[QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"]I'd build a new rig and sell that computer on craigslist. Just being honest, and it's going to be way less of a head ache._-B_Smooth-_

i seriously doubt that...

[QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"]

[QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"]I'd build a new rig and sell that computer on craigslist. Just being honest, and it's going to be way less of a head ache.w7w7w7w7w7

i seriously doubt that...

what would happen if i just upgraded a graphics card and ram.... 

[QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"][QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"]

[QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"]I'd build a new rig and sell that computer on craigslist. Just being honest, and it's going to be way less of a head ache._-B_Smooth-_

i seriously doubt that...

what would happen if i just upgraded a graphics card and ram....

[QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"][QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"][QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"]

[QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"]I'd build a new rig and sell that computer on craigslist. Just being honest, and it's going to be way less of a head ache.w7w7w7w7w7

i seriously doubt that...

what would happen if i just upgraded a graphics card and ram....

I have PCI-E, and 2 free RAM slots....i just dont know what i do with either of them...

and about high end graphics card and power supply...as i said earlier, i dont care about ruinning games like crysis...im just interested in a graphics card that can run me Battlefield and Company of heroes on all high settings...and maybe some other games...but mostly for those 2...and as i said earlier, battelfield used to run on all high settings on this computer, i dont know what happened though.. 

[QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"][QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"][QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"][QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"]

[QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"]I'd build a new rig and sell that computer on craigslist. Just being honest, and it's going to be way less of a head ache._-B_Smooth-_

i seriously doubt that...

what would happen if i just upgraded a graphics card and ram....

I have PCI-E, and 2 free RAM slots....i just dont know what i do with either of them...

[QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"][QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"][QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"][QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"][QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"]

[QUOTE="w7w7w7w7w7"]I'd build a new rig and sell that computer on craigslist. Just being honest, and it's going to be way less of a head ache.w7w7w7w7w7

i seriously doubt that...

what would happen if i just upgraded a graphics card and ram....

I have PCI-E, and 2 free RAM slots....i just dont know what i do with either of them...

is there a way i can check? It just says on the front of my computer "PCI-E exress slot available"

what does that do though? 

You open your case and look inside, if there is a long slot available above the normal pci slots (white) then it's x16

If it's a short slot it's x1 or x4.

Are you sure you have an x700Pro? It says on your specs that you have an x200

Also, you probably have a malware infection if you noticed any slowdown in performance. 

You open your case and look inside, if there is a long slot available above the normal pci slots (white) then it's x16

If it's a short slot it's x1 or x4.

Are you sure you have an x700Pro? It says on your specs that you have an x200

Also, you probably have a malware infection if you noticed any slowdown in performance.

neodragon

Yeah when i first bought it i upgraded the card....and i dont know what PCI slots are to know wha id be looking for.. 

Well if it was a PCi-e x700pro then you obviously have a x16 slot lol!

In that case, I would run a full system scan with updates of Ewido Anti-spyware. It gets rid of most stuff.

Try that first.

Also, go to start>run>msconfig and go the startup tab, turn off anything you dont need starting up at boottime.

Also exit everything else when you play and see if that helps. 

Well if it was a PCi-e x700pro then you obviously have a x16 slot lol!

neodragon

thats good right??? Anyways..do you know anything about upgrading?? Would walking into a best buy and buying a RAM stick and better graphics card be good enough??? Or is it more complicated than that..

[QUOTE="neodragon"]

Well if it was a PCi-e x700pro then you obviously have a x16 slot lol!

_-B_Smooth-_

thats good right??? Anyways..do you know anything about upgrading?? Would walking into a best buy and buying a RAM stick and better graphics card be good enough??? Or is it more complicated than that..

dont buy from best buy, get it from the internet you will save a ton of money.  get two 512mb of ram, and a sapphire 1650 pro and you should see improvements in the games you mentioned, granted your computer wouldnt be future proof, but that isnt important to you, also you might need a new powersupply, prebuilts come with crappy psu's 

[QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"][QUOTE="neodragon"]

Well if it was a PCi-e x700pro then you obviously have a x16 slot lol!

j3ninja10

thats good right??? Anyways..do you know anything about upgrading?? Would walking into a best buy and buying a RAM stick and better graphics card be good enough??? Or is it more complicated than that..

dont buy from best buy, get it from the internet you will save a ton of money. get two 512mb of ram, and a sapphire 1650 pro and you should see improvements in the games you mentioned, granted your computer wouldnt be future proof, but that isnt important to you, also you might need a new powersupply, prebuilts come with crappy psu's

is it only price thats affected?? Or is it i wont find anything good...because i dont mind paying, its a lot easier for me.

I just dont wanna have everything all set knowing what i want to buy...and then they dont have anything... 

is it only price thats affected?? Or is it i wont find anything good...because i dont mind paying, its a lot easier for me.

I just dont wanna have everything all set knowing what i want to buy...and then they dont have anything...

_-B_Smooth-_

Brick and Mortor retailers are physically unable to stock everything that is available on Newegg for instance (I'm assuming you live in the US).

So its both price and selection, although on occasion Best Buy has some pretty good deals even compared to online places most times you are looking at a 20-30% markup over online retailers.

Go to Best Buy to get your movies (their box sets can be dirt cheap), go online to get your computer components. 

[QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"]

is it only price thats affected?? Or is it i wont find anything good...because i dont mind paying, its a lot easier for me.

I just dont wanna have everything all set knowing what i want to buy...and then they dont have anything...

Runningflame570

Brick and Mortor retailers are physically unable to stock everything that is available on Newegg for instance (I'm assuming you live in the US).

So its both price and selection, although on occasion Best Buy has some pretty good deals even compared to online places most times you are looking at a 20-30% markup over online retailers.

Go to Best Buy to get your movies (their box sets can be dirt cheap), go online to get your computer components.

ugghhh...I cant even explain how much i hate buying stuff online....plus if i were to buy stuff at best buy, i can have the computer guys explain some stuff to me because i have abosuley no clue what i would be doing... 

How are these???

ATI RADEON X1650 Pro 512MB DDR AGP Graphics Card

K-Byte 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory

would i have any problems with these?? If i jut went and bought these should my computer be fine and it would run better?? Once again i dont care about extreme computer gaming...i just want to play a few games...

and the price of them doesnt matter to me...i dont care it im getting overcharged... 

How are these???

ATI RADEON X1650 Pro 512MB DDR AGP Graphics Card

K-Byte 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory

_-B_Smooth-_

Things used to be I had a similar stance to buying stuff online, its really not difficult at all after the first time (at least if you go someplace with good webpage design).

Anyways, that Radeon is an AGP Graphics card meaning that your system may not even support it (it doesn't list what kind of expansion slots it has).

The RAM I strongly discourage against, I've not heard good things about that company's RAM in the past and its far more expensive than some equivalent.

Try one of these two:

Corsair Value Select 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory

PNY Optima 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory

[QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"]

How are these???

ATI RADEON X1650 Pro 512MB DDR AGP Graphics Card

K-Byte 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory

Runningflame570

Things used to be I had a similar stance to buying stuff online, its really not difficult at all after the first time (at least if you go someplace with good webpage design).

Anyways, that Radeon is an AGP Graphics card meaning that your system may not even support it (it doesn't list what kind of expansion slots it has).

The RAM I strongly discourage against, I've not heard good things about that company's RAM in the past and its far more expensive than some equivalent.

Try one of these two:

Corsair Value Select 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory

PNY Optima 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory

well i have a ATI Radeon X700 pro...its the same thing only updated and new right??? Why wouldnt it work?

just checked..the one i have now is AGP too...so that means the other card will work...therefore, is it a good buy (price aside)? Will it work? Or will it make my computer explode?

well i have a ATI Radeon X700 pro...its the same thing only updated and new right??? Why wouldnt it work?

just checked..the one i have now is AGP too...so that means the other card will work...therefore, is it a good buy (price aside)? Will it work? Or will it make my computer explode?

_-B_Smooth-_

If you have AGP then it should work. Regarding the price? I don't think so but its about as good as you can expect at your typical retailer.

[QUOTE="_-B_Smooth-_"]

well i have a ATI Radeon X700 pro...its the same thing only updated and new right??? Why wouldnt it work?

just checked..the one i have now is AGP too...so that means the other card will work...therefore, is it a good buy (price aside)? Will it work? Or will it make my computer explode?

Runningflame570

If you have AGP then it should work. Regarding the price? I don't think so but its about as good as you can expect at your typical retailer.

will the performance be a lot better than my x700?? Will it be a big difference that i should be able to notice???

and..one last question then i stop bothering you people...

buying a 1 gb RAM card will be added to my already 1 gb ram card...giving me 2 GB of ram..am i correct?? It wouldnt make much sense to get rid of my 1 gb ram card to add another 1 gb...it just gets added on..right?

x700 to x1650, theres a boost not too much, I would get the x1950pro that  the best agp card... but still agp is dead :(JigglyWiggly2

And yeah i wouldn't even bother upgrading that,you could build something decent for $800.

wow....

so whats the best i can do, keeping this computer..

I dont want to build a supercomputer, im perfectly fine with mine...i just want to upgarade it a little to run a few more games...im not interested in running tons of games because i barely use it for games, ive just been wanting to play battlefield 2 and i havnt been able to...and i wont be able to play company of heroes

I really need to rebuild an entire computer just to play battlefield and company of heroes??? Im wlling to bet there is a way i can make my computer able to run it without buying a entire new one..

So you have AGP? What is your price range?jjj13

I have $1000..but id rather spend something around $200 or less...but i dont mind spending more