Are my specs good for gaming???

[pointgod36]

I recently began building my own computer... with a budget... and I'm wondering what i should upgrade next becuase i have $200 left over.

These are my specs:

Aspire X-Cruiser Case
450 watt Aspire Power Supply
Pentium 4 HT 3.20 GHz Prescott
1024mb GDD3R memory (2x 256 + 1x 512)
80 gig maxtor hard drive
120 gig western digital hard drive
CD-R DVD-RW 24x
CD-R DVD-RW 24x
Ibm motherboard (from A150 Think Centre)
Soundblaster Live 5.1 audio
5.1 creative surround sound
Nvidia Geforce FX5200 128mb
2 Cold Cathode Lights Blue
2 LED Cannons Blue
Sunbeam light bus
Modded Microsoft keyboard
Logitech MX 1000 Laser Mouse
Windows XP Professional

OK I have $200 and im looking to either buy a new mobo or graphics card which ones should i get...for $200. Also with my new upgrade would my specs be good enough to play new ga,e on high settings? Please help!!!

 

[pointgod36]

...O yea my mobo and processor are socket 478

 

[slayer322]

the motherboard for sure and the video card are the only problems i see, other than that it should run most if not all games.

 

[pointgod36]

what should i look for in a good motherboard i dont know anything about mobo's except for overclocking and brands...Abit...Asus....Albatron....Gigabyte....etc. I already know videocards im probably going to go with x800xl theres one for $230 but motherboards....

 

[slayer322]

for 478, i'd got with an asus board, possibly a P4P800E-DLX good board for the price.

 

[ownage]

okay how do you have 1GB of GDDR3? That is impossible since GDDR3 is only used on video cards.

 

[Dishdog]

what should i look for in a good motherboard i dont know anything about mobo's except for overclocking and brands...Abit...Asus....Albatron....Gigabyte....etc. I already know videocards im probably going to go with x800xl theres one for $230 but motherboards....

well you'll want a PCI-E x16 graphic interface and socket 775 if you want to stick with intel or socket or 939 if you want to use AMD CPU's. for $200 though if you upgrade your MOBO(motherboard) you will also need to upgrade you CPU wich alone will be over $200(or pretty close). so your pretty much left with to upgrade your graphics card. Do you know what interface your graphic card is(PCI,AGPx4 or x8, PCI-Ex16)?

 

[pointgod36]

will getting a new mobo improve my gaming, if so how???

 

[pointgod36]

agp 4x/8x is my mobo's interface

 

[Dishdog]

will getting a new mobo improve my gaming, if so how???

NO and yes, what you put on your Mobo will (CPU, Graphic card...). You need a new MOBO to support newer interfaces(PCI-E, socket 775 for intel and 939 for AMD). the actual MOBO itself does nt improve your gaming though.