PCI Card in need of Upgrade?

[robin13]

Hey,

My current pc has only a pci slot. I am currently running a VisionTek Radeon X1300, which I have been told is the fastest pci card. I also have a Pentium 4 3.0 ghz processor and 1280mb of ram. What is the best way to improve my pc and allow me to play games at higher graphical settings? I cannot really upgrade my video card anymore than it is, so should I look into getting a new motherboard? Any suggestions would be really helpful. And obviously I am hoping to take the cheapest route possible. Thanks for your time.

 

[Tmagic650]

A new full-featured motherboard with 3 PCI or PCIe slots is the way to go

 

[Cinders]

I'd put at least 1GB of dual channel memory (two new memory dimms) on your current motherboard and be happy with a screen resolution of 1024X768. Why did I recommend more memory? Because 128MB really isn't enough to run Windows XP quickly let alone games. With that amount of memory Windows is constantly writing data to cache (writing data to your hard drive) slowing your computer way down. Most dedicated game amchines have 2GB of dual channel memory or more, but I doubt that more that 1GB of memory will really be helpful in your system

 

[Mekaonija]

If your looking to get a better computer for gaming then yes your going to have to get a new motherboard, but not because it itself will increases gaming performance very much but because it can support a better graphics card. Your going to want to find a motherboard that has a PCI express 16x slot because that is what the current graphics cards are now using. You also want it to support at least 4 - 8 GB of DDR2 memory for future upgrading and you may want to think about SLi. SLi isn't entirely needed though unless your thinking of buying two of the same SLi ready cards. Depending on what type of processor you have and its socket type you might be able to salvage it by buying a motherboard which also has the same socket type. If you cant find one then you might have to get a new processor as well. AMD's Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor is probably the cheapest way to go for great gaming performance. Intel is a bit more expensive but from what I've heard it has better performance. The Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 - E6700 is probably what to be looking at in the Intel range. Another Gig of Memory wouldn't hurt either, Just make sure its the same memory as the one you have now or it might not work.