Upgrade system or get a graphics card?

[kedarmpster]

Hi! I own an old computer. My younger brother will be using it mainly for programming, word processing, watching an HD video here and playing an occasional game there. Nothing close to hardcore gaming. The comps's specs are:
Pentium 4 2.66Ghz
1GB RAM
No graphics card(Just the 256 MB internal graphics)
ASUS P5KPL-AM/PS mobo
500GB HDD

I'm on a pretty tight budget right now ~130 USD max. What's the best thing to buy here that'll show a decent(or close to that, with my little budget!) improvement in performance?

Thanks!

 

[FinneousPJ]

You're not gonna get a new system for 130. I'm thinking you won't be gaming AT ALL with the integrated GFX on that board so if that's a concern then yes, buy a GFX card. 6770 should be within your budget. Maybe even 6850, that would rock for gaming.

 

[swifty_morgan]

for that system a 5670/5750/5770 and another gig of the same exact memory if you can find it.... or 1 - 2gig stick and scrap what you have. tough to spend only $130.

 

[kedarmpster]

You're not gonna get a new system for 130. I'm thinking you won't be gaming AT ALL with the integrated GFX on that board so if that's a concern then yes, buy a GFX card. 6770 should be within your budget. Maybe even 6850, that would rock for gaming.

What about AMD X4 640 or Intel i3 530 or any other decent processor in that range? Won't it give me a performance improvement?

 

[FinneousPJ]

But you will also need a new motherboard and RAM.

 

[kedarmpster]

Right..I guess I'd be better off with the ATI 5750 DDR3 (1GB) plus 1 GB RAM..

 

[kedarmpster]

By the way my PSU is a 300 W. How much extra wattage do I need?
All my devices are as:
1 SATA 7200RPM
1 DVD RW
2x1GB DDR2 RAM
Plus this ATI 5750

Btw, http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp gave me a recommended rating of 295 W.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

that is a pretty old system. pretty much none of it will transfer to a new computer.

 

[theuniquegamer]

i think your cpu will bottleneck your new gpu.because i have a p4 3.0ghz ht and amd 4850 gpu and 2gb ddr2 so my gpu is bottlenecked and i can only run games at lower detailed at 800x600.So my advice upgrade your cpu,mb,gpu and ram.
At almost $180 you can get amd quad core and MB and Ram and at $60 buy a amd 5670 or 6670

 

[theuniquegamer]

oh i forget you can get combo deals or rebates if you check newegg or tigerdirect you can get new cpu,gpu,ram,mb at $220 or 210 may be less

 

[ScrewySqrl]

everyone is forgetting... his Pentium 4 will have ann IDE hard drive and IDE dvd drive!

 

[tsnor]

Hi, your MB support PCIe video cards. If you spend $100 on a video card then you can reuse it later on another system. In the meantime it will give you frame rates that work for some games.

With a total Budget of $130 I'd get an HD6770 (also called hd5770, same thing) and a bit more memory say 2GB dimm. That should work with a 300 watt PSU if you don't overclock. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148235