UK Upgrade help required

[keithnewman]

hi people, wondered if you could help me out. I can get round computers quite well but i need to upgrade mine i think so its able to play half life 2 well. I dont really know what information you need, but ask away and I shall tell you.

I have downloaded "Everest" so i can find out about all the intricate bits of hardware that i have if that helps you out.

The computer is made by a major suppplier, it is 3 years old and was very good in its day:

It comprises:
AMD Athlon 1.4 GHZ 266MHZ DDR processor
Asus A7-266 motherboard
256MB DDR Ram (pc2100 spec)
40 GB 7200rpm UDMA 100 hard drive with 2MB buffer
64MB ddr nVIDIA GeForce2 Pro with tv-out
17" monitor
16xDVD ROM DRIve
Sound Blaster 5.1 audio with dolby surround (oem)

I know there are loads of new stuff out there, but I have no idea what to buy that will work with my system. to be honest I am happy with my computer, but i would really like to play half life 2 in a enjoyable way.

I can and have played half life2 on this machine, though i hacve to tell it i have only 2 speakers to be able to get sound and there is some white flickering on screen (what ever that is ?) and sometimes the sound sort of splutters.


thanks to anyone of you who helps me as I am not bright on what can go with what.



Many thanks

Keith in the UK

PS:
Just been down to the local "Expert" shop in my town, not a high street seller,

he reccomend getting another 256 or 512 MB ddr ram, maybe then another graphics card, new power supply, and maybe another mother board and processor. Would cost around £500 including labour.

Seems a lot of money just for one game half life 2 lol, how do you guys know what goes with what, etc what to buy what will work with this and that. Its a mine field to me. Im 33 and work a lot of hours, just enjoy relxing and playing the odd game on line.
Help lol

 

[tombance]

Firstly you could really do with more RAM, 256MB just doesnt cut it for anything anymore. I would say get a stick of 256MB and a stick of 512MB cheap off ebay. You dont need it to be that fast, since its only quite slow RAM speed and that would speed you up a bit. You could also do with a new graphics card, but you dont want something that will leave your CPU as the bottleneck. A good card for your ssytem would probably be the 9700/9800 Pro. Overclockers.co.uk have a deal on at the moment with a 9700 pro for about £94, which is really quite good and something that would serve you well, Im using one right now.

 

[keithnewman]

many thanks for replying so quick, can i just ask though you say get that particular graphics card, but without sounding rude to you and others, would that card be ok with my processor, motherboard, etc ? I have looked inside the computer and the 256MB of DDR ram is there and there is another slot next to it which i would think i then put my 512 ddr ram into, does the computer then pick it up and does it all for me ?

Sorry to sound silly about all this, its a mine field for me, im ok using pc's just not the inside bits, lol.

Thanks for your help so far people.

PS: there is 3 other slots on the mother board empty, any idea what they are for ? all are the same size right next to each other.

 

[endyen]

The other three slots are probably pci slots. You can plug things like modems, nic cards and hdd controllers into them. Your sound card is probably plugged into one.
To install a stick of ram, first make sure it is the right way round, and that the holddown tabs at either end of the slot, are pushed out. Then just gently push the ram into the slot.