+what Should I Do??

[dandagiraffe]

im interested in upgrading my pc to make it play some of the new games that are being released, an was wondering what i need to upgrade to play them. I currently have and AMD Sempron 2600+ 1.8Ghz, 1.5 Ram and G-Force 6600. According too the back of the cases this is enough toplay the games. SO why are they running with 'slow down' unless i turn the grahic detail down??
ANy help will be much much appreticiated as i have a broken leg an im bored of all the games i have :D

[saphalline]

According too the back of the cases this is enough toplay the games.No no. That's enough to run the games. Having the power to play the games is entirely different! ;) This was the first thing I noticed when I first got into PC gaming. The minimum requirements just aren't enough! In fact, for a truly astounding gameplay experience, you need to meet or exceed the recommended requirements.

For instance, the box for Neverwinter Nights 2 lists the minimum requirements thusly (including typos :p):

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2000
Memory: 512 MB RAM
Video: 128 MB Pixel Shader 2.0 (ATI 9700 Pro or nVidia 6600)

When I bought the game, my system looked like this:

Processor: AMD Athlon64 3000+
Memory: 2GB dual-channel DDR400 RAM
Video: 2 x 128 MB GeForce 6600GT's (factory OC'ed) in SLI

Obviously, my system exceeded the minimum requirements by a good margin. 4 times the required RAM (dual-channel, no less), 3 times the graphical power, and nearly 50% more gaming CPU power. Yet at 800 x 600 with the details turned down to the minimum, NWN2 still ran slower than a bored turtle climbing a hill! My framerate peaked at 28.5 at full zoom, dropping to less than 15 at full pan. But technically, the game does run, just not nearly as fast as I am accustomed to (I like 45fps). So what did I learn? I need to upgrade! :D

Now let's take your system into account. I don't know what games you've tried to play, but I can tell you your system is not exactly roaring with power. The CPU is a bit on the low side, but it is a K8, so that's at least somewhat good. The amount of RAM you have is good, but chances are it's not dual-channel. Your video card is where the bad news is. A GeForce 6600 was low-mid-range back in late 2005. Now it's 2007 and it looks very anemic. I've got two 6600 GT's in SLI and even I'm hurting bad in the latest games. I can only imagine what you're going through.

Upgrades are going to depend a lot on what that system can handle. Are we talking AGP or PCIe? Socket 754 or 939 or AM2? What chipset? Keep in mind that if your system is too far behind, then giving it a band-aid may be your only option. Ie, if you have AGP, it's nearly time to put that old thing out of its misery. At least as far as modern gaming is concerned. And by year's end, it will absolutely without a doubt need to be replaced as a "gaming" machine.

[dandagiraffe]

thanks for the advice! and you've made me realsie i may aswel just buy a new pc! my current system is AGP and by comparing it too yours...mine sucks! the game i normally play are FPS's im currently playing STALKER:shadow of Chernobyl. it runs smoothly when ive turned the graphics down. i just think its about time i got a new one! thnas for the advice again :D