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Since it's a laptop, upgrading isn't particularly easy. It's possible, but not as straight-forward as a desktop would be. The age of the computer would also make finding new parts tricky. But even if you found all the new parts you need, 5 years is extremely old for a computer, especially a laptop. Buying new will not only give you a faster and more powerful computer, but today's laptops are lighter, more efficient, better looking and more compact than those of 5 years ago. It's also likely to be cheaper (or about the same) to buy new rather than upgrade.

Aquw VettelS 776 wrote:

The largest expense would be the motherboard. You would have to steer clear of any motherboard(s) with integrated graphics on it, to be able to play source games and the latest games. Then, you would have to find a compatible "independent" graphics card, and ram. You might be able to keep the orginal battery, but after you have bought parts, you would have to pay a specialist to install the parts.

In the end, you'd be paying more then you would be paying for a new one.

Also, What, are you mainly using the computer for?

Cheers, dafin0 :lol:

Rather then quote you all, I'll just give a reply. To start, this is a desktop running XP. We bought it in 2005 I believe. It seems that I'm gonna have to either get a new machine or replace a bunch of parts on this. I don't know a lot about buying a PC or buying components so can someone give me a few pointers and maybe a ballpark price to do either?

Have to ask, laptop or desktop, and which OS?

Depending on those, you might want to consider just getting a new desktop for gaming. In that case, I'd also advise against the AMD processors, they aren't that great...but it also depends on how badly you want to play those games, and what your budget is. These days, 1GB of RAM is woefully inadequate for gaming.

Germanisland, is there a budget you have in mind for upgrade vs new? Like if we can get a good build laid out for you for under $300 you'll stick with mostly the old hardware, or if it's more than that new?

No real use helping you upgrade if you're not going to have the money / just going to buy new anyway.

Author:	Germanisland [ November 6th, 2010, 12:35 pm ]
Post subject:	Upgrade or buy new?
Hello hardware nerds, I have a dilemma. This computer is nearing the end of its life cycle. Its 5 years old or so now, and the age is showing. According to "Can I run it?" I cant run games like TF2 and SC2. (I think it lies. It said I couldnt run portal but portal works fine). The main issue is the graphics card. It's an ATI Radeon Xpress 200. The rest of my specs are: AMD Athlon 64 processor, 2.9 GHz and 960 MB of RAM. I cant run anything that's come out in the past year or 2. So, my question is, should I get a new graphics card and maybe some RAM? Time for a new system? I'm also considering getting an Xbox 360 for gaming. The rest of the computer is mostly fine, but it just can handle some of the games I want to play.

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Author:	King Kulla [ November 6th, 2010, 2:34 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
Have to ask, laptop or desktop, and which OS? Depending on those, you might want to consider just getting a new desktop for gaming. In that case, I'd also advise against the AMD processors, they aren't that great...but it also depends on how badly you want to play those games, and what your budget is. These days, 1GB of RAM is woefully inadequate for gaming.

Author:	Pfkninenines [ November 6th, 2010, 2:46 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
Via Wikipedia, that graphics card is for a notebook, in which case you're not going to be able to upgrade anything other than the RAM at this point. And given the age of the laptop, it'd likely be worth getting a new laptop or desktop and have more options for future upgrades and better hardware to start off with. If, by chance, you do have a desktop, you're probably going to be able to upgrade the processor + graphics card, and definitely the RAM. In that case, do that. Make sure that your current PSU will be able to tolerate the new hardware, then give it a go. But given the graphics card, I'm suspecting you're on a laptop, so ignore this bit.

Author:	dafin0 [ November 6th, 2010, 8:10 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
You were definitely right about "can you run it" lying about what kind of games it can run. That processor you said that was in your system was part of a line of processors released in 2003. That's even before counter-strike source came out. The graphics card is a desktop one. The graphics card only has support for DDR-RAM, so you are lucky to be running some of the games you are right now. The card is integrated which means, impossible to change without taking the motherboard with it. Might as well get a new computer if you want to play games like modern warfare 2 and black ops. It wouldn't be worth it trying to run around for new parts.\ Here are some useful links that you can visit. They provide useful information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpress_200#Radeon_Xpress_200 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlon_64 I hope this helped. Cheers, dafin0

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Author:	Duke Juker [ November 6th, 2010, 11:45 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
I'd say if it were either a laptop or a desktop, you should definitely get something new. Could upgrade for a desktop, but at this point, the specs are so low you might as well go for something newer (at least if you have the cash).

Author:	dafin0 [ November 6th, 2010, 11:57 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
To be frank: What modern game (2006-present) can run DDR-RAM? The only good games it could run is all of the original Counter-strikes (Counters-trike, condition zero, deleted scenes), and a few others. And all of the old half-life games since, valve's base processor requirements for these games and most of their current ones is a pentium III processor. And TF2 was made using the source engine, so you definitely cant run it. Cheers, dafin0

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Author:	newhero [ November 7th, 2010, 3:52 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
Do you have a budget ??

Author:	Aquw VettelS 776 [ November 7th, 2010, 4:32 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
Since it's a laptop, upgrading isn't particularly easy. It's possible, but not as straight-forward as a desktop would be. The age of the computer would also make finding new parts tricky. But even if you found all the new parts you need, 5 years is extremely old for a computer, especially a laptop. Buying new will not only give you a faster and more powerful computer, but today's laptops are lighter, more efficient, better looking and more compact than those of 5 years ago. It's also likely to be cheaper (or about the same) to buy new rather than upgrade.

Author:	dafin0 [ November 7th, 2010, 7:59 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
Aquw VettelS 776 wrote: Since it's a laptop, upgrading isn't particularly easy. It's possible, but not as straight-forward as a desktop would be. The age of the computer would also make finding new parts tricky. But even if you found all the new parts you need, 5 years is extremely old for a computer, especially a laptop. Buying new will not only give you a faster and more powerful computer, but today's laptops are lighter, more efficient, better looking and more compact than those of 5 years ago. It's also likely to be cheaper (or about the same) to buy new rather than upgrade. The largest expense would be the motherboard. You would have to steer clear of any motherboard(s) with integrated graphics on it, to be able to play source games and the latest games. Then, you would have to find a compatible "independent" graphics card, and ram. You might be able to keep the orginal battery, but after you have bought parts, you would have to pay a specialist to install the parts. In the end, you'd be paying more then you would be paying for a new one. Also, What, are you mainly using the computer for? Cheers, dafin0

Author:	Earth [ November 7th, 2010, 8:58 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
dafin0 wrote: Aquw VettelS 776 wrote: Since it's a laptop, upgrading isn't particularly easy. It's possible, but not as straight-forward as a desktop would be. The age of the computer would also make finding new parts tricky. But even if you found all the new parts you need, 5 years is extremely old for a computer, especially a laptop. Buying new will not only give you a faster and more powerful computer, but today's laptops are lighter, more efficient, better looking and more compact than those of 5 years ago. It's also likely to be cheaper (or about the same) to buy new rather than upgrade. The largest expense would be the motherboard. You would have to steer clear of any motherboard(s) with integrated graphics on it, to be able to play source games and the latest games. Then, you would have to find a compatible "independent" graphics card, and ram. You might be able to keep the orginal battery, but after you have bought parts, you would have to pay a specialist to install the parts. In the end, you'd be paying more then you would be paying for a new one. Also, What, are you mainly using the computer for? Cheers, dafin0 From what has been said, I would assume gaming

Author:	Germanisland [ November 8th, 2010, 11:41 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
Rather then quote you all, I'll just give a reply. To start, this is a desktop running XP. We bought it in 2005 I believe. It seems that I'm gonna have to either get a new machine or replace a bunch of parts on this. I don't know a lot about buying a PC or buying components so can someone give me a few pointers and maybe a ballpark price to do either?

Author:	Aquw VettelS 776 [ November 8th, 2010, 12:08 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
Germanisland wrote: Rather then quote you all, I'll just give a reply. To start, this is a desktop running XP. We bought it in 2005 I believe. It seems that I'm gonna have to either get a new machine or replace a bunch of parts on this. I don't know a lot about buying a PC or buying components so can someone give me a few pointers and maybe a ballpark price to do either? Okay then, desktops are fairly easy to upgrade. You could add a graphics card (or replace the current one), add RAM, upgrade hard drives, etc. However, you're still going to be left with the same CPU, and that's the most limiting factor in your computer. You could upgrade the lot- basically strip out everything except the motherboard, but if you do that, you may as well buy new. Like I said previously, 5 years is very old for a computer. We had an XP computer from about 2005, and it it replaced about 16 months ago. I'd already upgraded RAM and HDD, but it got to the point where I'd be spending more and more money on new parts to keep it going, I may as well have bought new. And I really think that's what you should do too. If all you want is a basic desktop for Office, browsing, etc, you'll be looking at around £450/$700. But if you want a GPU, which you do if you intend to play RS, add another £50/$80 or do. If this is more money that you were expecting, bare this in mind: there's no point in buying super-cheap because in a year or two time, you'll be wanting to upgrade or replace. Spend a little more money now, and you'll save money in the long term. A computer around the $700-800 mark should be expected to have at least 3 years use. If after 3 years you find you need more RAM or hard drive space, that's cheap and easy to do. What you don't want to happen is find your CPU, motherboard or, to some extent, your GPU needs upgrading. Invest now and your computer will have a long life. Here's an example. I bought my computer about 2 years ago. I'm not a PC gamer (apart from RS), and all I use it for is Office, browsing, watching films, coding, etc. But nevertheless, I ended up spending about £900/$1500 on it. When I bought it 2 years ago, I guess you'd have described it as reasonably high-end, and a bit of an over-kill for what I needed it for. But 2 years later all I've done is upgrade the hard drives, and I'm expecting it to last at least 3 more years without expensive new parts. If I'd bought cheap originally, by this time I'd have spent a lot upgrading, and I'd be looking to buy new in a year's time. See what I mean? I'm not saying you have to spend this much (depending on you needs), but it's usually better to spend too much than too little.

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Author:	Ranging God [ November 8th, 2010, 4:35 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
King Kulla wrote: Have to ask, laptop or desktop, and which OS? Depending on those, you might want to consider just getting a new desktop for gaming. In that case, I'd also advise against the AMD processors, they aren't that great...but it also depends on how badly you want to play those games, and what your budget is. These days, 1GB of RAM is woefully inadequate for gaming. Not true. My AMD 4core phen II BE is faster than it's Intel core at the same price. I would just buy a new one. 5 years is way to old. You could get a 499 comp + GPU and be set. Don't let anyone tell you lies, AMD is the way to go ;p

Author:	Pfkninenines [ November 9th, 2010, 11:37 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
Germanisland, is there a budget you have in mind for upgrade vs new? Like if we can get a good build laid out for you for under $300 you'll stick with mostly the old hardware, or if it's more than that new? No real use helping you upgrade if you're not going to have the money / just going to buy new anyway.

Author:	Germanisland [ November 10th, 2010, 10:26 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Upgrade or buy new?
Pfkninenines wrote: Germanisland, is there a budget you have in mind for upgrade vs new? Like if we can get a good build laid out for you for under $300 you'll stick with mostly the old hardware, or if it's more than that new? No real use helping you upgrade if you're not going to have the money / just going to buy new anyway. If you could get a good build with mostly the old hardware for under $300 I would love you in a completely non-gay manner. $300 is pretty reasonable for me. But to buy new I would need financial aid from my parents.