[mooncheese]

So, I have a 2-3 year old computer that a buddy of mine built for me. This was the first computer he built and he used pretty cheap parts. Anyway, recently it has been going slowly and won't play many of the new games.

Specs: Intel Celeron D 345J, 3066 MHz
Intel Tappen D945GTP motherboard
1 gig DDR2-553 RAM
RADEON X300 (256 MB)
Windows XP Ultimate

I am for sure upgrading from 1 gig to 4 gigs RAM. My question is: What should i upgrade the video card to?

[BG-0]

Considering the crappiness of the rest of the build, something around the level of Radeon 4650 or 4670 could be good. Both would need a new PSU though. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139008 Something like that.
The whole upgrade would total in about 120 $ or so. A bit more than you should waste on an age-old computer, but if you don't have 500 $ or so at hand (plus operating system), then it's a somewhat decent purchase.

[mooncheese]

I was planning on building my own comp eventually just to try it out and i guess save some money, but until then i decided to keep this old thing at least semi-usable. Do you think that i should just buy a new computer or spend the money for the card, memory, and power supply right now?

[BG-0]

Well, there's the middle-way, get a graphics card and power supply good enough for a new build already. RAM can be most propably re-used too, but should be replaced when the time comes.

A suggestion for a complete new build:
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128382
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103300 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103648
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341022 (just something that caught my eye while browsing.)
Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136298
Graphics. The real tripping point. 4670: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161252 (will game, not at very high resoilutions and settings, but will game.) or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150357
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042 (or just about any other.)
DVD.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136153

[mooncheese]

Thanks for all of your help.