Next Upgrade

[kimbo.ati]

Hi all need some help in deciding for an upgrade.
i have a job at subway so my cash flow isnt great keep that in mind
i like to game but system wise i only play games with graphics like BF2 and Quake 4. i have noticed lately my computer getting fps lag in World of warcraft this game is not graphics intensive so i rule of graphics card issues but i suspect a cpu/ram/motherboard problem ?

spec:

Amd athlon 64 3200+ 939
Foxconn NF4K8MC motherboard
1gig of generic ram 2x 512mb sticks
saphhire x800gt 256mb pci-e g-fx card
2x 250gb HDD's IDE
thermaltake 420w psu

 

[Op2]

Do you know you RAM's cas latency?

D.

 

[sghiznaneck]

First off, I understand the cash flow problem of a lot of gamers, but the graphics card that you have really isn't that powerful, nor is the core clock speed. In addition, your RAM should be upgraded. It's best (but not reququired) to run sticks of RAM in pairs. This best utilizes the speed of the RAM. You didn't list RAM that your mobo will run on nor the number of DIMM slots that the board has, but that's neither here nor there for this exercise.
I would upgrade the graphics card and up the RAM to at least two sticks of 1 gig RAM.
Try this site: http://tigerdirect.com/
This site usually has deals with rebates on RAM most of the time. Just be sure that the RAM matches what your motherboard can handle. I'm not sure about the power supply (psu). It's rated at 420 watts, but a lot of psu's do not operate at their peak rating at all times. It may state 420, but it could be lower than that.

 

[wolfram]

For PCI-E, you can find great, cheap cards. A X850XT would kill your current GPU, and it runs happily with a quality 400W PSU.

If you can afford it, a 7600GT would be great also.

 

[nickslick74]

THIS appears to be your mobo. It has 2 memory slots and supports up to 2GB of DDR400. Depending on what type/spped of memory you have, this may be your bottleneck. It could also be you GPU, but the x800gt is a decent card. If you can afford it, the 7600GT would be nice or the 1950 Pro from ATI.

 

[kimbo.ati]

alright cheers guys ill look into it i think my mobo is crappy aswell look shocking ill go for a new mobo first off then prolly ram then g-fx thanks alot !!