First off, hello and thanks to moderators for getting me on right track (I hope). I am new to computer gaming, having only an atari, nintendo...Xbox in the past. I am from the Southeast US.
I currently can play F.E.A.R. online without much problem and Halo is playable but sluggish at times. I know so little about graphic cards (and computers in general), that I bought Quake Wars to go online with. However, my system doesn't have the graphic ability (or much else from what I've been reading) to play this game.
So, my question is can I simply upgrade a few things with my current system for Quake Wars and other similar games or do I need all new stuff? I realize my system is for home and light work things, but was hoping to beef it up for mild gaming.
Here are my specs as requested using cpu-z:
Power supply: ATX-300-12EB3 with 300W and 12A
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 530 with 3000MHz core speed
Motherboard:Intel Corporation with Model D915GAG and chipset is 915/915G
MemoryDR with Dual channels and 512Mbytes
Hard Drive recently replaced (crashed) to 200Gigabytes
Drives: cd-rw and dvr-rw
Sound card: I have no clue but it is what came with system
I am willing to spend what it takes to upgrade to play games like Quake Wars but not Crysis. I'd like to limit my budget on graphic card to $200 or less (easier to hide from wife) but I understand that the entire motherboard may need upgrading. Bottom line is if I can upgrade what I have to play without lagging online I would be ecstatic.
Thanks to ho_hoso and the other guys on this forum for not making a guy feel dumb simply because he doesn't know computers.
I currently can play F.E.A.R. online without much problem and Halo is playable but sluggish at times. I know so little about graphic cards (and computers in general), that I bought Quake Wars to go online with. However, my system doesn't have the graphic ability (or much else from what I've been reading) to play this game.
So, my question is can I simply upgrade a few things with my current system for Quake Wars and other similar games or do I need all new stuff? I realize my system is for home and light work things, but was hoping to beef it up for mild gaming.
Here are my specs as requested using cpu-z:
Power supply: ATX-300-12EB3 with 300W and 12A
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 530 with 3000MHz core speed
Motherboard:Intel Corporation with Model D915GAG and chipset is 915/915G
MemoryDR with Dual channels and 512Mbytes
Hard Drive recently replaced (crashed) to 200Gigabytes
Drives: cd-rw and dvr-rw
Sound card: I have no clue but it is what came with system
I am willing to spend what it takes to upgrade to play games like Quake Wars but not Crysis. I'd like to limit my budget on graphic card to $200 or less (easier to hide from wife) but I understand that the entire motherboard may need upgrading. Bottom line is if I can upgrade what I have to play without lagging online I would be ecstatic.
Thanks to ho_hoso and the other guys on this forum for not making a guy feel dumb simply because he doesn't know computers.