The art of compromise

P4 2GHz
MSI AWRDACPI non-SATA
GeForce4 MX 420
512 SDRAM (uncertain of RAM type; no idea how to even check)
15" LCD Polyview
ATAPI CD-RW 40x12
WD 80GB PATA

This system was bought four-and-a-half years ago, maybe five. I have about $1000 American to play with, but my hardware knowledge is rude. What should I add? Or upgrade? Or supplement? An actual audio card interests me (and decent speakers), but I'm thinking it'll take a new motherboard - I know little about either products.

Also, I'm barely a gamer these days, but I *am* after something that will at least handle Oblivion.

Fire away.

If you want to be ready for Doom 4 you'll need more than that.

>>2
quake4

Disregard >>2, your system is enough to play Doom 3 and 4, here's how:

1. Get a sound player with a collection of random FX to play.
2. Turn your monitor off.
3. Pretend you're firing to something over there.

That's Doom 3.

Your type of ram, SDRAM, is pretty much off market these days. You definetly want to upgrade that, which means you'll need a new motherboard as well. Odds are your CPU won't fit on the new board, so you'll need a new CPU too =)

You will have to choose between an intel or AMD CPU, and that choice dictates what type of motherboard and ram you need. There isn't really that much of a price/performance difference between them (AMD is a tad cheaper though, and I use AMD. Interpret as you wish).

I have no idea how the prices are on computer-stuff in the US, so I have no idea how much money you'd have left after doing the above upgrade. Next on the todo-list is upgrading your graphics-card, yours sucks :P. The choice is between an ATI- or nVidia-card here. I recommend a GeForce 7xxx or 6xxx, or an ATI Radeon X700 or higher (the X is part of the name). A general rule when shopping for a nVidia card is NOT to buy ANYTHING with "MX" in the name. Those cards are invariably cheap AND slow.

If you still have money after those upgrades, I recommend getting a larger harddrive or two (if you don't need more space, don't) and a DVD-burner (these are really cheap, do everything your current drive does, and can read and write DVDs). A 15" screen is pretty small, but if you're used to it there is no problem (also, getting a new LCD screen is pretty expensive).

If you go through with all the above upgrades, and buy yourself a new computer case as well, you can even sell your old system to dampen the blow to your wallet.

Forgot to mention: You want a graphics-card with PCI-Express, and a mainboard with a PCI-Express slot.

>>6
Why? No games use nearly as much bandwidth as AGP8X provides. It's just marketing.

And SLI is worthless, as instead of just doubling your brute force with another card, in a couple of years you'll want a better video card because of new shader models and better effects. It's just a bad idea, just like the Voodoo2 SLI of old.

>>7
Second comment = correct, first comment = semicorrect but they're about to (if they haven't already) stop producing AGP cards/motherboards so you're pretty much forced into an "upgrade".

Okay, thanks. A good start. I'll have get some reading done on compatibility issues, but current priorities:

a. Motherboard (MSI again? I'm open, here)
b. CPU (Okay: 754- or 939-pin AMD 3000?  $85AU difference. Pins...?)
c. RAM (1GB DDR2)
d. Graphics card/sound card (EMU something--my music owns me; Radeon 9800 Pro)
e. Hard disk

Christ, this adds up...

Also: links, please. Not vendors. I'm after tech news sites.

Asus A8N-SLI
AMD A64
Rosewill ram, 1GB, at least
sound card, m-audio audiophile 192
video, dunno, I'm not up on SLI cards
HDD, seagate SATA

links:  fuckinggoogleit.com

er, that should be "I'm not up on PCI-Express cards"

Haven't slept in about 36 hours. sry D:

>>9
ddr2 is a waste of fucking money, seriously

>>12
Especially if you do what I did and buy it for a motherboard that doesn't support DDR2. Luckily Scam^Hn let me return it.