[snoozysue]

Hi,
Half my newer games won't play on my PC and I've been told it's because it's too old to cope. The thing is in order to upgrade it sufficiently will probably take a lot of new parts (and I still want to play my older games on Windows 98) so would it be better to just get a new one? Plus I'd really prefer a laptop if I have to get a new computer but one of the games I want to play says specifically it doesn't play on laptops. Also bear in mind I'm a computer dimwit so I'd probably have to pay someone to upgrade the computer for me.

My current PC:

Operating System Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600) Processor: 600 megahertz Intel Pentium III
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Board: Micro-Star Inc. MS-6183 1.0
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 62710 05/20/99
Drives Memory Modules c,d
80.01 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
68.26 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HITACHI DVD-ROM GD-5000 [CD-ROM drive]
IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x32 [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

WDC WD800JB-00FMA0 [Hard drive] (80.03 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WMAJ96857127, rev 13.03G13, SMART Status: Healthy 384 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot '0' has 128 MB
Slot '1' has 256 MB

I've been told it's probably the graphics and the CPU that are the problem but as the graphics are integrated this seems difficult to change.

The games I want to play need at least a Pentium IV 1.5GHz processor (or Athlon equivalent - what would this be? as maybe Athlon would be better?), 256MB RAM, DirectX9 compatible sound card, 3GB free hard disk space, DVD ROM drive and graphics (either ATI Radeon 8500 or 9 series or NVIDIA GEFORCE 3Ti, 4Ti, FX or 6 series). Also although it says laptops aren't supported could a newer laptop cope?

Ideally I'd like something that won't need upgrading too soon but is compatible with slightly (2-4 years) older games.

Can anyone help? I'd be really grateful.

[Kaistar]

now the games you want to play seems to be quite old games, as these days 512 or 1GB would be the minimum requirement.

however, even though they're old, i'd recommend you assemble a new pc. since you're aiming at older games, you won't need a high end PC. so it should be quite affordable.

but if you do get a high end pc, it can probably last a few extra years as well. so not much harm in it.

all in all, get a new PC.

[snoozysue]

Hi,
Thanks for the response - can anyone recommend a good (but not too expensive around £500) PC with the spec I'll need. Is it possible to get a laptop that's able to play the games I want to play?

Many thanks

[Kaistar]

you can definitely find a laptop that can support the games you want to play. most laptops these days have 1GB ram and some form of integrated graphics card and such. pretty powerful actually.

but of course heat issues and such, in the end a laptop can never outperform a PC of the same specs.

with your budget you should be able to get a pretty decent PC. maybe you would like to check out DELL's site? from what i've heard they have quite a wide range of PCs.

[DJNafey]

Hi SnoozySue, I run a computer sales and support business for home users and small businesses. We often part-exchange old Pentium III systems like yours against new base units to work with the customer's existing monitor - that's one way to keep the cost down. We are a Dell reseller too so we know their range pretty well and can do good pricing on them. If you want to know more about us, check our web site link in my signature.

Generally, I would say yes, you can get a reasonable Dell desktop with 1GB RAM and a good graphics card for around £500. It won't be all-singing, all-dancing but it should last you another couple of years. The good thing about a new PC is that it's easier and often cheaper to upgrade it at a later date (your old PC would need a new motherboard, new processor, new RAM and new graphics card to give you the power that you want). You might want to look at the cheap Optiplex models. The Dell Optiplex range is aimed at businesses rather than home users but their low-end models are available without a monitor.

On the laptop front, you can get one for £500 but it won't be great for gaming as one with a good graphics card and plenty of power will cost you more like £800-£1000.

Something else to bear in mind is that almost all new PCs and laptops will now come with Windows Vista. That needs 1GB RAM just to run standard applications well and I'd suggest 2GB RAM to be a games PC. I'd recommend looking around for a system that has Windows XP on it instead. A friend of mine recently had £500 to spend on a laptop and he decided he was going to go down to PC World and buy one off the shelf. He got a Vista laptop with a dual core 1.66GHz processor and 1GB RAM and I have to say that it was pretty awful!

New PCs and laptops are tending to come with dual core processors now. The idea of dual core processors is that you kind of have two processors in one unit. Each one runs slower than a normal processor (e.g. 1.66GHz) but, when you're trying to do two things at once, the second processor core kicks in and your PC then does twice as much without slowing down. That's great if you're multi-tasking all the time but it's not great for playing games, when you want one processor core with as much performance in it as possible.

We are currently refurbishing a Dell Pentium 4 2.8GHz PC with 1.5GB RAM and Windows XP SP2 for sale in a couple of weeks. Something like that with a big graphics card in it would suit you down to the ground - it would certainly last you at least another couple of years and it wouldn't be as expensive as a new system.

[DJNafey]

I've just priced up a Dell Dimension E520 with Windows Vista Basic on Dell's web site for you - you can get a Pentium D 2.8GHz processor (Pentium D is like a Pentium 5), 2GB RAM, 160GB hard disk, 19" flat panel monitor, 256MB ATi graphics card, Norton Internet Security 2007, Microsoft Works 8.5 and a pair of speakers with a subwoofer (makes a difference for action games) for just £543 delivered. That's pretty impressive.

[snoozysue]

Thanks ever so much for all your help - I think I might get the PC you suggest and then if I want a laptop I'll wait a bit and get a really cheap low spec one - if I can play the games on the new PC then I'll only need the laptop for internet and word processing so it won't matter if its got a low spec.

[DJNafey]

That sounds like a perfect solution Snoozysue - laptops are great for sitting in the garden using your wireless broadband or half-heartedly writing a letter to someone in the lounge whilst watching the TV (!) and those things don't take very much power (or money) but it's best to leave games to a big chunky desktop PC !