I need help with this motherboard upgrade

bottled

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Feb 16, 2012
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10,510
hello,

When using my computer. I have 2 main vices
A: Long loading times, slow speeds during games
B: My computer constantly freezing.


I am considering doing 2 things

A: upgrading my ram
B: Upgrading graphics card

which one should i do (i am using a ECS P4M890T-M (V2.0) )
 

zolton33

Distinguished
Jan 25, 2012
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A complete list of all your system components (so we know what you have already) and how much you are looking to spend (so we know what to recommend) and where abouts you live (so we know what links to give) and what store you most shop from (amazon newegg tigerdirect microcenter? would help give the best advice
 

bottled

Honorable
Feb 16, 2012
4
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10,510
I live in london, i don't mind checking around pc world, currys or amazon, another place would be fine

My specs so far is

º Integrated S3 UniChrome Pro 2D/3D Graphics
º Share memory : 64MB

º 1 x PCI Express x16 slot
º 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
º 2 x PCI slots


1 gb ram,

my budget is around £40


I do not wish to be playing crisis, but pretty good ames (mostly mmo's) at decent qualities, whilst turning super saiyan

help appreciated
 
Maybe you could say
processor (e.g. pentium 4, ...)
operating system (e.g. xp 32-bit or vista64 or ..)
disk (e.g. 500 gb, sata)
power supply wattage and brand
pc form factor (slim, mid, laptop.. ?)
-or- model name.number

Long loading times: If the OS is XP, then run defrag. If the OS is win7 then that's automatic. How full is disk ? New disk really expensive now -- flooding in Thailand wiped out much manufacturing capbility. Wait 6 months before buying disk if possible.

Memory: 1GB too small and memory is really cheap. Get another 2GB for total of 3 with a 32-bit OS.

Video. S3 doesn't game. Use this reference. Make sure card will fit your case. Make sure your power supply is big enough for the card. THIS is the most important upgrade for gaming. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
 

QuietPC

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Feb 10, 2012
400
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18,860


Hdd size and speed?
Monitor resolution?
Power supply brand and size (wattage)?
 

bottled

Honorable
Feb 16, 2012
4
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10,510
oooh.

I see my bad i was kinda vague

I have 1 gigabyte DDR2 ram
Pentium 4 dual Core 1.6 ghz
monitor resolution is about 1600 x 900

don't know a lot about my hard drive i only know that it's about 100 gigabytes
Micro ATX form factor of 244 x 210 mm. ( the motherboard)

I have about 300watts minimum power supply i need to double check some time
 

QuietPC

Distinguished
Feb 10, 2012
400
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18,860


Your system is soooooo far out of date that you may not want to spend any money on it. Her's why:

Ram: 1gb is the core of the problem. Shoud be 4gb. However, DDR2 is much more expensive now than DDR 3. Here is a link to the Newegg DDR2 page: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007611%20600006042%20600006066&IsNodeId=1&name=4GB%20%282%20x%202GB%29

Video: You are probably running AGP which isn't sold anymore except used. Not worth spending the money

Psu: Won;t run modern equipment

Suggestion: Strongly consider buying a new system. In the US you can buy a complete system prebuilt for $500 or less (uses onboard graphics which you could upgrade later).