I haven't used my desktop in almost a year now since my old GeForce FX5600 died.
I want to get it back up and running and be able to play some games like BF2 on it again. For reference, I was able to play BF2 on it at 1024x768 with all settings on low (Barely, 15fps or so) with this POS setup:
Asus A7N8X
1GB unknown brand unknown type ram
Athlon XP 2400+
Antec 300w power supply.
GeForce FX5600 256mb (AGP)
Nothing overclocked
OK so here's the deal. I want to get this thing back up and running, and have it run BF2 better than it did before, but do it for as little coin as possible. I KNOW I won't be setting any framerate records here (unless it's the record for the lowest framerate). What ram and vid card would you all suggest as the best compromise between price and performance. I was thinking of something like an ATI X850 or GeForce 6600 or 6800 for vid card... those are in the $100-150 range.
As for ram, I'll be frank. I don't know squat. I've never built a computer before. I've swapped components around like vid cards and ram, but I don't "know" the details of ram. What is some decent ram for a decent price that this motherboard can use? PC3200 is the fastest ram it can handle. Would I benefit from going larger than 1 GB of ram, like 1.5 or GB of ram (it has NO ram in it right now, because I gave that ram to my dad for his computer). Keep in mind I want to use this computer to play games, but I know it won't ever play oblivion on 1600x1200, just a little BF2 on 1024x768 or maybe 1200x1024 if I'm lucky. Just looking for a little bang for the buck advice.
Edit:
I should also point out that I'd like to overclock it to get a little more out of it, though like I've already stated I'm a newb to the computer thing. I've done alot of reading on how to overclock on here, just have yet to try it.
I want to get it back up and running and be able to play some games like BF2 on it again. For reference, I was able to play BF2 on it at 1024x768 with all settings on low (Barely, 15fps or so) with this POS setup:
Asus A7N8X
1GB unknown brand unknown type ram
Athlon XP 2400+
Antec 300w power supply.
GeForce FX5600 256mb (AGP)
Nothing overclocked
OK so here's the deal. I want to get this thing back up and running, and have it run BF2 better than it did before, but do it for as little coin as possible. I KNOW I won't be setting any framerate records here (unless it's the record for the lowest framerate). What ram and vid card would you all suggest as the best compromise between price and performance. I was thinking of something like an ATI X850 or GeForce 6600 or 6800 for vid card... those are in the $100-150 range.
As for ram, I'll be frank. I don't know squat. I've never built a computer before. I've swapped components around like vid cards and ram, but I don't "know" the details of ram. What is some decent ram for a decent price that this motherboard can use? PC3200 is the fastest ram it can handle. Would I benefit from going larger than 1 GB of ram, like 1.5 or GB of ram (it has NO ram in it right now, because I gave that ram to my dad for his computer). Keep in mind I want to use this computer to play games, but I know it won't ever play oblivion on 1600x1200, just a little BF2 on 1024x768 or maybe 1200x1024 if I'm lucky. Just looking for a little bang for the buck advice.
Edit:
I should also point out that I'd like to overclock it to get a little more out of it, though like I've already stated I'm a newb to the computer thing. I've done alot of reading on how to overclock on here, just have yet to try it.
