Upgrade or Replace?

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.80 GHz
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
RAM: 512 MB DDR1
Speakers/Sub: Altec Lansing Speakers
Keyboard: PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse: PS/2 Mouse

(I know I definitely need serious upgrading.)
Should I just upgrade some parts or should I replace the whole thing?
Which would be cheaper?

 

The processor speed seems fine, it depends on what you use the computer for. I would just upgrade the memory, go to Crucial.com to scan your computer and see how much RAM it can hold. Also what size is your harddrive?

As I said it really depends on what you need to use the computer for

 

Uhm, it seems ok, just upgrade the RAM. It gives a boost in performance.

 

Yeah the RAM needs an upgrade.
notch up

 

What do you plan on using it for? If you are going to use it for the latest new PC gaems coming out... You may want to upgrade it... If you are going to just use it for neo... you may not even need to upgrade it and/or could just get the ram.

 

I wouldn't bother uprading the ram.

You can build a hugely upgraded system for a couple hundred bucks.

$60 motherboard with integrated Radeon 3200HD graphics
$70 Dual-core processor
$30 for 4 gigs of DDR2 ram (watch the deals!)
Salvage your old hard drive, disc drive and power supply.

Do you know if your hard drive is IDE or SATA? I'm guessing IDE. Does it connect with a big fat ribbon cable, or a small little cable about a centimetre in width?

Also, do you know the wattage on your Power Supply? That would help too.

 

i'm using IDE.
120 GB hard disk.
I use my PC for gaming.
It does tend to run slow with some games i've played.
Games minimum requirements have raised to 1GB ram and 256MB video cards.

Would it also be advisable to buy a gaming laptop? I'm thinking Alienware.

 

I think you would be surprised at the speed difference of simply replacing a motherboard. That is one spec you didn't post that really should be in there. If you have an older motherboard, you can simply replace it with a newer one (that will take the CPU and memory that you already have) and see a considerable difference in speed. Look into things such as what your Front Side Bus speed is on the motherboard.

Also, how much are you planning to spend? What do you use the computer for now, and what do you plan to use it for after the upgrade? Is there a specific thing that you do and get irritated because it takes too long? Do you get jitters when playing games or movies?

 

I have to agree with Hally, you can do some major upgrading increasing bus and processor speeds and gain major performance increases pretty cheap.