What's holding my rig back?

Hey all,

I've noticed the ol gaming PC isn't running quite up to spec on a lot of the newer games, and I was wondering what components you guys think is slowing performance down a tad, along with any tips you might have (upgrade/replace).

Here's my PC:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3200+, MMX, 3DNow

Memory: 1024mb

Graphics: ATI Hightech Excalibur Radeon 9550SE (256mb memory)

I'm also using Microsoft XP and DirectX 9.0c

Thanks!

Hey all,

I've noticed the ol gaming PC isn't running quite up to spec on a lot of the newer games, and I was wondering what components you guys think is slowing performance down a tad, along with any tips you might have (upgrade/replace).

Here's my PC:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3200+, MMX, 3DNow

Memory: 1024mb

Graphics: ATI Hightech Excalibur Radeon 9550SE (256mb memory)

I'm also using Microsoft XP and DirectX 9.0c

Thanks!

Tarantula_Hawk

Processor is kinda weak, 2048mb of memory is where its at right now,videocard is slow

graphics card big time. i would definatley look to upgrade it.

i would recomend http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103048 for dx10 support or HDMI

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161081 for raw power.

but i would check and make sure you have an agp 4 or 8x slot

i think thats all the 9550 came out for but i could be wrong so make sure.

dont think you could, i think your current motherboard is a agp card and i would be looking at a pcie vid card if i were to do a substantial upgrade.

EDIT: im not even sure they make a 8600gts for agp

Thanks for the advice, I'm thinking about building a new rig around an NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS, I'm assuming it would be a pretty bad idea to whip this into my old rig. Any advice on what goes well with this card?Tarantula_Hawk