Gateway DX4200-09 - What do I need to fix?

[xWaffle]

Hey guys. Before I get started describing my problem, I'll give you my desktop's specs. It's rather old (got it in 2008 I think), so this is why I'm going to be asking the questions that I've got.

Newegg product description: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883113088
CPU-Z ID Screenshots: http://i.imgur.com/X0TwSM9.png

I've been experiencing noticeable video lag almost constantly. Not necessarily when playing video files saved on my HDD, and I haven't watched and DVD's on this machine (so I don't know about that), but 100% without fail there is noticeable performance drop when dealing with anything Flash. And online, almost everything is Flash/embedded. I'm comparing the performance to that of my laptop, which I got in late 2010 (Fujitsu Lifebook T-730).

I like desktops better than laptops, which is why I use this machine more than my laptop. But it is getting up there in age. Is my Integrated Graphics really that bad? I checked my laptop, and it has over 1gig of VRAM on its graphics, but my desktop only has 256MB. I feel like in this day and age, that is laughable and embarrassing. If I do need to replace/upgrade my desktop's graphics, this is what I was looking at. Would it be compatible with my system? Are there better ones out there for my system? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102969

And lastly, I don't think this is the problem, but I also thought my CPU being so old it may be causing problems. I don't ever remember having problems with this machine back around the time that I got it. It was out of commission due to a faulty PSU for about a year and a half, and I just got it fixed last summer before returning to university last August. Now that it's back up and running, it may be so out of date (because of the ever increasing specs of hardware) that the performance difference between this machine and a modern machine is just too big to ignore.

Should I replace the CPU along with the GPU? Is this rig even worth modernizing? I have 4gig of RAM with two slots still available, so I do have room to expand in that area. I want to keep my same HDD. What do you guys think? Am I better off building a new machine with modern parts, or would I be okay to replace the CPU/GPU of this machine? Do I even need to replace the CPU at all? Is it okay by modern standards? Thanks for reading, looking forward to getting feedback.

 

[C12Friedman]

My take here is to keep your CPU, add that GPU, possibly upgrade the PSU if needed. The addition of ram shouldn't be needed.
I might suggest monitoring your temps and a thorough cleaning (if not done lately) What make and model PSU do you currently have?

 

[xWaffle]

My take here is to keep your CPU, add that GPU, possibly upgrade the PSU if needed. The addition of ram shouldn't be needed.
I might suggest monitoring your temps and a thorough cleaning (if not done lately) What make and model PSU do you currently have?

This is the PSU I have installed right now: http://www.amazon.com/Logisys-PS480D2-Computer-Power-Supply/dp/B000N519KC

I have really no way of monitoring temperatures right now. The RAM tidbit was just FYI, so anyone reading knows that if need be I could add more. The last thorough cleaning was done about a month ago.

Do you know how to tell specifically if that GPU is compatible with my system? You don't think my CPU is too out-dated?

I would be thinking of keeping it as is and doing a fresh install of the OS.

Thanks for the reply, but I had a fresh install of Windows 7 about a month ago. I also do system maintenance (both software and hardware) regularly. I actually recently upgraded my laptop to Windows 8 and, with some third party additions and tweaks, have actually grown comfortable with it. I have been contemplating installing Windows 8 on this machine too, it's just always a hassle to re-install all my regularly used software.

 

[C12Friedman]

I believe you should upgrade the PSU if you decide to add the graphics card. But I am also going to suggest you determine the graphics card you want to put in, then inquire here at Tom's (Start new thread in the CPU & Components section) about a PSU choice (that Logisys PSU is of an antiquated design and a more current design PSU (we know these things here) should be used since you are adding more draw on the 12V rail A powerful graphics card may be bottlenecked by your system but it will still improve performance of the system. Again asking here with a new thread in the Graphics section. I'm suggesting those sections since that's where the people with the strongest knowledge of the hardware hang out.
Hope it's some help