ive got an HP Compaq desktop i think its a dx series 2200 or 2300, its has an intel pentium 4 processor 3.6ghz 2mb l2 cache, 1024mb ram and 512mb graphics card running on win xp sp2, i wanted to know what i could do to upgrade its performance for gaming and vista compatibility, and could i change the processor to core 2 duo, and how do i know max ram that i could have???
Upgrading your desktop?
To upgrade a computer, you'll need a faster CPU, more RAM and a better graphics card. From what I see from your setup, everything is pretty good except for your RAM. Open up your computer and see what RAM slots are occupied. Chances are for you there are two 512MB RAM cards in there. You should be able to replace those two with 1GB of RAM for a decent price or possibly buy two 2GB of RAM for those slots. It depends how many slots you have.
Upgrading your desktop?
go to HP support website and enter your product model, it will show up your computer specs and everything.
http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html?pageDisplay=support
if it has LGA 775 cpu socket, a chance that you can updrade it to core duo. But i doubt it.You can add more RAM to your system. make it at least 2GB of RAM.
wait for the service pack 1 of windows vista before you upgrade because there are still lots of bugs to fix. but if you want to upgrade to windows vista, it is better to have a 2GB physical memory to run it smoothly. i think you have 3 memory slots, you can try to upgrade DDR2 motherboard like ASUS or GEFORCE with a cheaper price.
Hmmm... Check to see if your computer has PCI Express slots for a better graphics card. One of the best on the market right now is the GeForce 8800.
As for ram I would have at least 2 gigs of high performance ram. Like the corsair series for example.
Your processor is great, don't touch it. And make sure your power supply in the computer is high enough to sufficiently handle the new stuff you are putting in. Less power=less performance.
It also depends what type of games your playing. If your playing with the newer higher requirements games then by all means go out and %26quot;pimp: your computer. But if not then your computer can handle most anything at the moment.
to find out what type of ram you have go to http://crucial.com/systemscanner/index.aspx that will tell you what type of ram you have and how much each bank can hold. i also recomend going up to 2gb of ram as it will make your computer more vista compatible, but the best way to increase your computers performance is to put the maximum amount of ram into each bank. 2gb ram will increase your gaming performance alot.
has the pentium 4 got hyper threading technology, because iff t does it makes the computer think that there is 2 cpu's in there (like a core2 duo). i wouldnt worry about upgading your cpu its perfectly fine for games and vista.
