Yet another upgrade post...

[acetic]

Sorry about adding another update post to the barrage, but I'm slowing getting money, and I would like to know what you guys think would be the upgrade that would increase my performance the most. (specs in sig) Unfortunetly, I have a very limited budget (somewhere in the range of $140 CAD) I was looking at:

New Video Card: ATI Radeon 9600 128MB vid (~$135 CAD at a local store)

or More Ram: Kingston ValueRAM 512MB PC3200 (EDIT: ~$160 CAD at the same local store)

Oh, and my parents think buying online is satanic (or something of that sort) so thats ruled out.

Any suggestions welcome.

 

[intercollector]

Depends what ya do with the computer. If it's games, then I can't believe that you're just using onboard video. So I'm guessing that you're not much of a gamer.

In that case, it really depends on what you're doing with it. If it's any video encoding, then probably a faster processor might be in order (512MB should be enough for that). But if it's photoshopping or anything like that, memory would be a good idea. If you can't afford a new processor, going to 1GB of memory would be your best bet for just about anything.

But of course, if you do game, definately get the video card.

 

[acetic]

I game as much as I can on my monitor (S-VGA, stuck at 640x480 res.) That my father is replacing for me

And Yes, I play UT2003, with just about all settings cranked, and I get about 50-60 FPS. Good enough for me. I do mild photoshop stuff, and host an FTP server, and a tightVNC remote access server. With the servers barely taking up any resources. All I need is suggestions on things to overall improve performance... On anything, games, photoshop, making small videos... just overal performance increases.

 

[wayne]

are you upgrading the computer in your sig?

if so, i would probably jump for the video card first because 512mb of ram is decent-er than onboard video and you would probably get more performance with a new video card

 

[intercollector]

If you're playing UT2003, definately invest in a new video card. Once you get that monitor it will be useless, cause you'll still have to run it at that resolution to make it playable. That game is not meant to play that low, and must really look like ass.

You're about to join the world of real gaming.

As for the rest of your system, it should be fine. You are running quite a bit of stuff, so going to 1GB of ram would not be a bad upgrade at all, but I still think the video card is almost a must, especially since you're getting a better monitor soon.

 

[acetic]

are you upgrading the computer in your sig?

Yes, I am upgrading the computer in my sig. I am leaning towards the video card aswell, but maybe also a DVD burner, $140ish for a Lite-On W811S DVD-/+RW 4x DVD-R/RW, 8x DVD+R/RW, 40x12x40x CD-RW and it comes with DVD X-Copy. Any other suggestions welcome too. Or is there any different video card I should look at, or a different DVD-RW I should look into?

 

[acetic]

That game is not meant to play that low, and must really look like ass.

It looks better on my computer than on my friends computer with a 128MB Radeon(not sure which one..) and a 15" LCD

 

[intercollector]

Originally posted by acetic
Yes, I am upgrading the computer in my sig. I am leaning towards the video card aswell, but maybe also a DVD burner, $140ish for a Lite-On W811S DVD-/+RW 4x DVD-R/RW, 8x DVD+R/RW, 40x12x40x CD-RW and it comes with DVD X-Copy. Any other suggestions welcome too. Or is there any different video card I should look at, or a different DVD-RW I should look into?

The only thing I can recommend with getting a DVD burner is that you should make sure that whatever one you get does have DVDX-Copy (like the one you're leaning towards). It's a must have, as the Sonic DVD that comes with it, is basically crap for backing up movies. DVDX-Copy is a must, so if you get a drive that comes with it, you've basically saved yourself 50 bucks.