PC Upgrade Advice

[NoHotAshes]

Hi everyone, I'm a new user and this is my first post.

I wanted to know if any of you guys could give some good advice on upgrading, im a gamer, and basically just want to make my computer better for games, i want better graphics, a higher frame rate, and faster loading times. I plan to upgrade my graphics card and ram sometime soon.

Ok, so right now I'm on a P4 3ghz processor, 1 gig of ram, and a crappy pci express graphics card, and my plan is to upgrade to 2 gig of ram, and then up to $500 on a new graphics card.

So a few questions on my plan.

1. Is 2 gig of ram going to be a significant improvement over 1 gig? or should i go for more?

2. What graphics card are the best with a $500 limit?

3. Finally, is my processor going to hold me back on getting a big improvement in my computers performance?

Thanks

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Q1) What currency is that $500 in ?

Look for these parts:

- Core 2 Duo E6400 (2.13 GHz, 2 MB L2) or E6600 (2.40 GHz, 4 MB L2)
- Gigabyte GA-965P-S3, DS3, DS4 or DQ6 mainboard
- 2 x 1 GB DDR2-667 (PC2-5300 / PC2-5400) or DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) at 1.8 volts
- GeForce 7950 GT or Radeon X1950 Pro, XT, etc (or better)



8) - TabrisarkPeace

 

[apt403]

1. Is 2 gig of ram going to be a significant improvement over 1 gig? or should i go for more?

yeah, 2gb is basiclly the sweet spot for ram right now.

2. What graphics card are the best with a $500 limit?

an 8800gts, hands down. second only to the almighty 8800gtx, the performance king right now. the 8800gts will run you about $450, and its worth every penny.

3. Finally, is my processor going to hold me back on getting a big improvement in my computers performance?

to a certain extent the 8800gts/gtx is bottlenecked by the cpu, so you would get better frames if you got a C2D as well.

you'll probably need a new psu too, the gts is a power hungy card.

 

[NoHotAshes]

thanks for the help guys, i appriciate ur replies, the amount is in US dollars by the way.

yea i thought the processor i have would drain a bit of performance, but if i have $500 to spend on a graphics card, i kinda thought id be better getting a top graphics card and keeping my processor. Than adding more money to my budget to get a new core processor and a mid range graphics card... and wouldnt i get better performance my way, or would i not?