Upgrade my system

[mdocbe1]

I have a Dell Dimension 9100 that is getting old: Pentium 4 (3.2GHz), 1GB dual channel DDR2 400 MHz (2x512), 2xATI Radeon X600 SE (256MB) and 320GB serial ATA RAID 0 Stripe HDD (2x160GB).

Also still running Windows XP.

I would like to upgrade RAM and video card especially to allow playing of more up-to-date games and am considering upgrade to Windows 7. Would anyone be able to advise me on best (and compatible) RAM, graphics card and whether or not Windows 7 is a good idea.

 

Many thanks for any advice given

[Dalo Harkin]

In all honesty, you need a complete new build for W7 or Vista.

 

New MOBO, CPU, RAM etc

 

If you were looking to speed up your current system then just add more RAM and a better GPU ( I couldnt find much info on the MOBO, but I would guess it has AGP graphics which would severely limit your GPU upgrade options) not what you wanted to hear, but if you are looking to run Vista or W7 (bear in mind they are DX10 and DX11) then you really need PCI-E graphics.

[KenB]

Hi,

 

I found this that may be of some use:

Documentation

If this is your m/board then it looks as if you have PCIe on it.

[Dalo Harkin]

Right so it has a PCI-E x16 slot, so it will be down to cost, the PSU is 375 Watts so thats fine, how big the case is, and what size monitor you plan on playing games on Edited July 22, 2010 by Dalo Harkin