What should I upgrade?

I have been a casual PC gamer for a while, while mainly playing on PS3 with my friends. However, I really want to make PC my main platform. I have a decent PC right now, which doesn't NEED any improvements, but if I want to get into gaming on PC, I think I should upgrade one of the components eventually. I currently have:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU E7400 @ 2.80GHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4800 series
RAM: 2 gigs
OS: Windows XP Professional
Sound Card: In the device manager it says "ATI Function Driver for High Definition Audio - ATI AA01"

So, im thinking either the GPU or the RAM, what do you think?

Reply to EvanW

If you upgrade your gpu your cpu will drastically bottleneck it. Imo it isn't a very "decent" pc :S What is your entire budget?

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Reply to amuffin

Maybe if you could get your hands on a cheap Core 2 Extreme like the Q9550, 2 more gigs of ram, a 64 bit OS and a AMD 6950 you might stretch some mileage out of you current system but even those older Quad cores still fetch a decent price, sometimes greater than that of a new i5 2500K.

Reply to tinmann

I recomend you build a new computer if you get a new gpu it will be bottlenecked by your cpu and if you try to get a new cpu the socket will be diffrent whats your budget?

Reply to Stanistheman

In reply to amuffin: At the moment I'm not entirely sure what my entire budget is, I didn't want to say this in my original post, but I'm only 15 but feel like I don't act like a kid online. So, that said, my budget is pretty much whatever my parents (mainly my dad) are willing to pay. So not too expensive, but I'm pretty sure I can talk my dad into getting something that's not complete garbage. I would guess the highest he would pay for a GPU is $200 and the highest for a CPU is $250, but probably would prefer lower.

EDIT: Scratch the prices, I don't think he would go that high, maybe $150 for GPU and the same for CPU, but I don't know

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Message edited by EvanW on 02-16-2012 at 02:58:06 AM

Reply to EvanW

In reply to stanistheman and tinmann: We (my family) really don't have the budget to build an entirely new PC. Should I continue on consoles until I can get a really nice rig? Or should I just work my way up, buying one piece at a time?

Reply to EvanW

that PC is actually not bad for win xp gaming, in fact it's a very common set up for a current gaming PC config (intel dual core + ati 4850)

2GB of DDR2 RAM is overpriced compared to DDR3 RAM so I would not purchase more RAM. 2GB is actually fine for win XP gaming

I would OC the CPU and start saving for a new build. start purchasing new items that you can transfer over to a new build with little issue like a new PSU (if needed), new case (if desired) followed by a new GPU. then go for the cpu, mobo, ram, OS upgraded.

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Reply to dirtyferret

dirtyferret wrote :

that PC is actually not bad for win xp gaming, in fact it's a very common set up for a current gaming PC config (intel dual core + ati 4850)

2GB of DDR2 RAM is overpriced compared to DDR3 RAM so I would not purchase more RAM. 2GB is actually fine for win XP gaming

I would OC the CPU and start saving for a new build. start purchasing new items that you can transfer over to a new build with little issue like a new PSU (if needed), new case (if desired) followed by a new GPU. then go for the cpu, mobo, ram, OS upgraded.

Just saw the reply feature

So you think that I should stick with what I have now, and just work my way towards a better PC later on? And I'm a little bit of a noob when it comes to overclocking a CPU, are there any risks involved? And do you need any physical requirements to OC something?

Reply to EvanW

Look for a core 2 quad on ebay.

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Reply to amuffin

EvanW wrote :

In reply to amuffin: At the moment I'm not entirely sure what my entire budget is, I didn't want to say this in my original post, but I'm only 15 but feel like I don't act like a kid online. So, that said, my budget is pretty much whatever my parents (mainly my dad) are willing to pay. So not too expensive, but I'm pretty sure I can talk my dad into getting something that's not complete garbage. I would guess the highest he would pay for a GPU is $200 and the highest for a CPU is $250, but probably would prefer lower.

EDIT: Scratch the prices, I don't think he would go that high, maybe $150 for GPU and the same for CPU, but I don't know

It's ok I'm 14, way to get money is sell things. Sell things you do not use on craigslist and to your friends.

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Reply to amuffin

amuffin wrote :

It's ok I'm 14, way to get money is sell things. Sell things you do not use on craigslist and to your friends.

I'll try, but I don't know how much I have that's worth selling. Thanks for all the advice everybody!

Reply to EvanW

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