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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