Upgrading Old Mobo GPU

Simps

Distinguished
Oct 1, 2011
2
0
18,510
Hey guys

Here's the deal:

I have a pretty old PC...

Operating System
MS Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 3400+

RAM
1.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR @ 198MHz (3-3-3-8)

Motherboard
NEC COMPUTERS INTERNATIONAL MS-7168

Graphics
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series (Packard Bell B.V.)

And, since I won't be able to get myself a new rig until next year, I've decided I'm going to (try to) upgrade this old dinossaur.

I've looked around for some 512MB RAM Modules on Amazon and found these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000097O5F/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A1IE2T48Y49NKD

They seem to fulfil every spec that the current RAM I run have, so they should work... Right?

And secondly, the GPU. The motherboard I have has one PCI-E 1.0 16x slot, and I realise I can't go and get a high-end card and expect it to run.

I also realise that my CPU will also bottleneck anything too powerful.

So what are my options? I was thinking of a 5570 or a 5670, and was wondering if they would be compatible with my motherboard. I believe the 5000 series run on 2.1 PCI-E but I also believe 2.1 is backwards-compatible with 1.0.

Thanks in advance, hopefully someone who has been ina similar position can help me out here.
 

Simps

Distinguished
Oct 1, 2011
2
0
18,510
Thank you very much for the advice, you might have just saved me from the frustration of buying one of the cards I mentioned and having it fail on me. Let's hope the RAM does work!

Once I mod the old thing I'll come back to tell any one in a similar situation whether it works or not.

Thanks again!