Gaming Graphics Card or Processor?

[Dangy]

So, I need a gaming speed up. Which do you think is more crucial to update?

Also:

Vista, with 3GB RAM.

 

[seedvt]

I would say both if you have the coin. $100 can probably net you a Pentium Dual E5200 and an ATI HD 4670 or something cheap but effective.

 

[Elritha]

What games do you intend to play exactly? A Celeron processor is pretty weak, so I'd upgrade that. If you're intending to modern 3d games, the gpu also needs to be upgraded.

 

[kylehaas]

Personally, I think you're crazy for trying to use Vista on that thing.
Really, switching to XP would be a wise decision.

When it comes to upgrading, it is far easier to go about updating graphics, but because your processor is so bad I would almost be willing to say that you need to buy an entire new mainboard.
Just make sure you stay the heck away from local stores and buy everything from trustworthy online shops. (Newegg, Tigerdirect, etc.)

If I were you, I would spend the extra money and just get a new PC; though it might be easier to rip everything out of your current case and refill it with better parts.
Just make sure you have plenty of room and what not.

 

[Cermage]

you're lucky thats on a 775 socket. like the other dude said, e5200 and a 4670 is a good option for around 100.

 

[VashTS]

get a new CPU, i got the same video card but with a core2quad, q6600 and while games dont run great, i can run Modern warfare 2, although its at 640x480 but its still playable.

 

[Dangy]

I'm looking for something around 100-150 range. Send me your suggestions in Newegg links.

 

[Cermage]

seems price has risen on 4670's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814150450

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819116074

around 140~

 

[Dangy]

seems price has risen on 4670's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814150450

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819116074

around 140~

Thanks, but should I just stick with this GFX card, and focus on the CPU?

 

[BoxShot]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDet...st=Combo.339841

Better deal or for $4 more. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDet...st=Combo.339843

 

[Cermage]

8400gs was never a great graphics card. definitely not for gaming. you can get the new proc and notice and overall improvement in games, but with the 8400gs it won't be much.

 

[Joe88]

we dont even know if his mobo could even support these CPU's

go to your motherboards manufacturers site
search up the newest bios and see if they support 45nm CPU's

 

[CrimsoniteX]

With your budget, you don't have any real options. Why spend 100 dollars to upgrade a shitty cpu/gpu to a slightly less shitty cpu/gpu? Save your money, and make your purchase count.

 

[Dangy]

It supports them.

[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDet...st=Combo.339843]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDet...st=Combo.339843[/url] Looks nice.

Posts merged

With your budget, you don't have any real options. Why spend 100 dollars to upgrade a shitty cpu/gpu to a slightly less shitty cpu/gpu? Save your money, and make your purchase count.

Because all I need is slightly more power to play what I want, but I still want to get the best deal that I can. I don't need an i7 or something like that.

 

[myuusmeow]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDet...st=Combo.339843

Fixed link

 

[Rydian]

Personally, I think you're crazy for trying to use Vista on that thing.
Really, switching to XP would be a wise decision.

No it wouldn't be.

http://anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3666&p=7
Multiple pages of benchmarks showing Vista/7/XP to have the same performance in almost every aspect.

XP also has less security features than Vista/7 (specifically UAC, which finally implements the same sort of user rights and SUDO stuff linux and OSX have had).

While many games may appear to double the memory requirement for games, they're just raising it to a new minimum. While you may see "512MB, 1GB for Vista/7", you sure as hell don't see "2GB, 4GB for Vista/7" in anything official.

No reason to go with XP, downgrading an OS like that is a lot of work.

 

[Dangy]

I could always upgrade to 7.

 

[Santee]

With your budget, you don't have any real options. Why spend 100 dollars to upgrade a shitty cpu/gpu to a slightly less shitty cpu/gpu? Save your money, and make your purchase count.

This if you keep upgrading slightly then you'll just be spending unnecessary money every few years so at least 50 more dollars and get yourself something better.

Edit: Something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDet...st=Combo.346372

 

[Cermage]

With your budget, you don't have any real options. Why spend 100 dollars to upgrade a shitty cpu/gpu to a slightly less shitty cpu/gpu? Save your money, and make your purchase count.

because everyone needs a i5 and a 5770 right? whats been suggested so far is going to be a definite improvement over what he has now, and it will be able to play new games fine at lower resolutions.

i've got a slightly worse set up (amd 64 x2 5000+, 4670) running new games without a hitch, Bioshock 2, ME2, BC2 maxed @ 1280x1024. STALKER CoP on medium, the only game i've had trouble with that came out recently is avp, but avp is a buggy game all around.

 

[Elritha]

I could always upgrade to 7.

There'd be little to no improvement with windows 7 for gaming. A few benchmarks I've seen show it performs similar to Vista with frame rates achieved.