Upgrade for Family PC

[HisoKa]

i got a pc running at living room with specs as follows:

Intel P4 2.0Ghz (oc @ 2.20 in stock HSF)
MSI 845PE MAX
Leadtek 6600GT TDH (128MBMB)
Kingston ValueRam 768MB (1x512 & 1x256)
WD Caviar 80GB
Maxtor DiamondMax 40GB
Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Iomega 24x24x48 CDRW
Asus DVD 16x
Samsung SyncMaster 700NF
Altec Lansing 321

Use it mainly for my family and friends... play occasional games with it but not much... i got my personal gaming rig, but i am looking to upgrade this pc... recently bought 6600GT but i still found that pc a bit laggy to play games such as NFS most wanted if i run it at high detail (1024x768) without any AA/AF any suggestion for where should i start...? that mobo only got 2 memory slot... so i got to throw the 256MB sticks if i want t add 1GB... looking for cheap upgrade that will give decent boost... thx guys ^^

 

[godlyatheist]

I think you should up the ram to 1gb but 2x512mb might be better. Two different rams with different sizes usually don work well, like my pc (256+128). Use CPU-Z to see what timing they are running at. If it's different, then you can probably modify it to make it the same. Your video card looks fine. As for the CPU, I don't think it is causing that much trouble as most games depend on the GPU

 

[HisoKa]

yea... i think memory upgrade is the only way out for me right now... as mobo+cpu upgrade will be too expensive... haha, but im just wanderin... how long do u think my 2.0 P4 and 6600GT will be able to last with all the new games comin out? say if i already have 1GB memory... got to do a little planning for the future :roll:

 

[godlyatheist]

the 6600gt does I think 10-20 frames per second on most new games in max without any eye candy I think(AA and AF that is). However, you gotta take into account that the other components in the test setup are better than your computer though. The exceptions are FEAR with 40 and Quake 4 with 60. It is okay for occasional gamers. 60 is what your monitor usually runs at and that already strains your eyes, so think about that..... I'd guess give it three month max and it will start getting tired or not run at all.

So if you are not looking for the newest games and eye candies, the 6600GT is very suitable for you as it runs BF2, COD2, CSS,HL2, FEAR and other goodies at playable level