Newbie Upgrading his PUTER.. need help :(

[lreyes66]

Not really a pc newbie...more around a hard warde noob. Well Recently Ive started getting into gaming/computer stuff. When i was younger i always dreamed of making a badass computer. But i had no money...same story now =(. Well Ive been getting real frustrated with fps dropping in certain areas when i play games such as team fortress 2 and garrys mod. I just ordered a new graphics card, which triggered my inner fat kid from the past, and well now i want to upgrade my computer into a badass(not HARDCORE) system. I dont have alot of money considering that im a 17 y/o student with a crap paying job, and like 50% of my pay goes to my girlfriend( yes i know im whipped) and food. It surely doesnt help that christmas is around the corner. Well i have a serious amount of newbie questions to ask about upgrading my puter. I would really appricate it if anyone is kind enough to help me by answering these questions. Remember i have a low budget :cry2:

My computer is a HP Pavilion a350n, which is all stock parts execpt the video card and i also had added 1.5g of ram in the past.
PC SPECS:

• Windows Xp Home Edition
• 160 GB HDD
• 2gb Ram Memory(two 256mb, 512mb, 1gb)
• 2.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor
• ATI Radeon x800 Pro 256 MB AGP *ORDERED a PNY Geforce 8500 gt 512MB pci express card*
• 250W Power Supply (i think)
• and i dont know the motherboard...its stock

QUESTIONS

Q1) Should I take the two 256 mb ram out and buy 2, 1g sticks which will make it a total of 3.5 ram or is 2 g fine.

Q2) Shouild i buy a bigger HDD say around 200 and 320 gb and make it my primary while using my current as secondary. (I dont have alot of files, and i have about 70% free space on my current HDD) or should i just save money and just maintain my hdd and just clean it of junk every onces ina while.

Q3) Is it possible to upgrade some components such as my processor (or is my processor good enough for a while), and mother board( because i might want to try the SLI with my video cards in the future) while keeping the other components i have.

Q4) Im not a hardcore gamer, more like casual when im bored, or if i want to play a new game. What other things would you recommend for me.

I know that the 8500 GT is getting dissed for having low performance compared to the 8600 but it was only for $90, $70 after the rebate from newegg. But if im not happy with it when i get it, i will return it and prob get the PNY GEforce 8600 GT 512 mb and i think its overclocked.

Q5) Whats your opinion on my graphics card situation? If i get the 8600 then i would also have to get a new power supply so it can support it which means more $$$ :sad:


pretty much i want to make whatever i have right now BETTER. I know how fast tech can get out dated but i want my machine to handle good for games/work for now and for a couple of years. I NEED HELP T_T

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by lreyes66 [*]ATI Radeon x800 Pro 256 MB AGP *ORDERED a PNY Geforce 8500 gt 512MB pci express card*

You can't replace a AGP video card with a PCI-Express video card...the PCI-Express video card doesn't fit in the AGP slot.

Originally Posted by lreyes66 Q1) Should I take the two 256 mb ram out and buy 2, 1g sticks which will make it a total of 3.5 ram or is 2 g fine.

2GB is fine.

Originally Posted by lreyes66 Q2) Shouild i buy a bigger HDD say around 200 and 320 gb and make it my primary while using my current as secondary. (I dont have alot of files, and i have about 70% free space on my current HDD) or should i just save money and just maintain my hdd and just clean it of junk every onces ina while.

If you hardly have anything on your current HDD why do you need a larger one?

Originally Posted by lreyes66 Q3) Is it possible to upgrade some components such as my processor (or is my processor good enough for a while), and mother board( because i might want to try the SLI with my video cards in the future) while keeping the other components i have.

Upgrading a pre-build name brand computer isn't really recommended unless you love to pull out your hair.

Originally Posted by lreyes66 Q4) Im not a hardcore gamer, more like casual when im bored, or if i want to play a new game. What other things would you recommend for me.

What about a game console? I'm not a computer gamer but I do have a PS2 for when I do feel the urge to play something.

Originally Posted by lreyes66 I know that the 8500 GT is getting dissed for having low performance compared to the 8600 but it was only for $90, $70 after the rebate from newegg. But if im not happy with it when i get it, i will return it and prob get the PNY GEforce 8600 GT 512 mb and i think its overclocked.

No point since you can't use a PCI-Express video card in your current computer.

Originally Posted by lreyes66 Q5) Whats your opinion on my graphics card situation? If i get the 8600 then i would also have to get a new power supply so it can support it which means more $$$ :sad:

You would need a new power supply no matter what. The PSU in the HP is too low powered to even support the 8500GT. That PSU is meant to handle some extra RAM and maybe another HDD but it'll drop to it's knees with a more powerful video card.

Originally Posted by lreyes66 pretty much i want to make whatever i have right now BETTER. I know how fast tech can get out dated but i want my machine to handle good for games/work for now and for a couple of years. I NEED HELP T_T

I would leave your computer as is and save your money so you can build a real computer from scratch.

Cricket

[Lespaul20]

1. You better make sure your motherboard can handle the 1GB sticks. But if it can, I wouldn't buy too much more as you need DDR which is old and not cheap any more.

2. Unless you have a SATA port I wouldn't bother getting a bigger HDD since ATA is not the standard any more.

3. Basically you have a dated computer and would require new everything if you wanted to upgrade much.

4. You could try a better video card and more RAM. Just note, the Video card you bought will not work with you motherboard. You only have AGP and no PCIe slots.

5. You need an AGP card.

The short of this, you don't' really have much to upgrade from. Just about every component has a different standard now you would be better off building new. There is not whole else you can do.

I type slower than Cricket.

[liambl]

Also a 250w PSU ,regardless of quality, is far too low for an x800pro or any other card worth getting for that matter. You might want to check it's wattage and brand.