Need help improving machine on a budget

[captainvera]

Hi,

My friend is trying to improve his old machine to play modern games, his specs are:

Pentium 4 @ 2.8 ghz

1 gb ddr1 or ddr2 I'm not sure...

A nvidia geforce 6200

Is budget is 128$ but I think I can make him extend it a bit...

He plays at 1280*800


My thoughts would be getting a 4gb ddr3 ram stick and some old GPU, the problem is I'm not familiar with old GPU models, only the last generations....

 

[AntiZig]

getting a ddr 3 stick for his ddr1 motherboard will do absolutely nothing as his motherboard won't be able to use it.

Same with GPU, without knowing what his motherboard is or PSU there's nothing much to recommend.

find out the motherboard make and model and PSU make and model.

 

[captainvera]

getting a ddr 3 stick for his ddr1 motherboard will do absolutely nothing as his motherboard won't be able to use it.

Same with GPU, without knowing what his motherboard is or PSU there's nothing much to recommend.

find out the motherboard make and model and PSU make and model.

How can I find that? Sry for the noob question...

 

[vrumor]

For $128 you wont be able to do anything to that PC to make it run modern games better. Its like what? 8 years old? Maybe more? Tell him to save his money and buy a new system.

 

[maui67]

For $128 you wont be able to do anything to that PC to make it run modern games better. Its like what? 8 years old? Maybe more? Tell him to save his money and buy a new system.

^+1

He would be throwing $128 away.

 

[po1nted]

Yep, there is no beneficial upgrade path for that PC. Even a cheapo 200 or 300 barebones or subsidized system would be a better investment.

 

[captainvera]

So, any suggestions for one of those "cheapo 200 or 300 barebones system"?

He won't need a mouse, OS, monitor, keyboard, case and fans.

 

[vrumor]

A brebones system will still require you to drop another $200-300 on CPU, RAM, vid card etc etc. Can MAYBE put together an APU base system for $350 but youd be scraping the bottom of the barrel. Tell your friend to save his money towards a proper upgrade and not screw around replacing bits and pieces on a 8 year old PC.

 

[captainvera]

Yeah, you're probably right, that's what I told him, but he insisted... I'd like to hear more opinions though...

 

[vrumor]

More opinions about what? A barebones system is just that, barebones. It isnt complete, itll still need him to buy more hardware. And at you price point, it isnt going to happen. Thats why there hasnt been anymore responses.