Beginner Please Help me on upgrading

[mvpo.geo]

I am currently using a computer that I bought from a local computer store like 2-3 years ago. I want to upgrade it and get it running alot faster and smoother.

I currently have a

Asus A7V8X-X Motherboard
512 MB Ram
Nvidia GeForce 5200 (I believe could be 5600)
An AMD Athalon XP 2200 I believe but that could be wrong.

Anyway I want to upgrade so I can run multiple monitors smoothly(I realize I already can), I want to use a TV Tuner on this and be able to easily record programs and what not without lag or any problems. Overall I just want to upgrade and take my computer into the year 2007!

Thanks, and PLeAse help me out. I have about $500 to spend on upgrades.

 

[bullzi]

well with 500 you can get some very nice upgrades for your machine, i would recommend upgrading to possibley an all-in-wonder ATI card, these can run up to 200bucks but will give you HD recording for your pc and normal DVR capabilites as well as decent gaming, and i believe dual monitors (dont quote me on that as im not too sure about it, i can look into it for you if you want) you can certainly get one of these off ebay, they go fast and usually pretty good prices, for ram i would recommend 1gig if not 2, and possibley going up to an athlon 3200, for all of this though you need to make sure your power supply is probably 400watts or more, if not ive got one i would highly recommend for you

if you think this sounds good, let me know and i can start looking for prices and links to these upgrades

 

[wol-va-rine]

I am currently using a computer that I bought from a local computer store like 2-3 years ago. I want to upgrade it and get it running alot faster and smoother.

I currently have a

Asus A7V8X-X Motherboard
512 MB Ram
Nvidia GeForce 5200 (I believe could be 5600)
An AMD Athalon XP 2200 I believe but that could be wrong.

Anyway I want to upgrade so I can run multiple monitors smoothly(I realize I already can), I want to use a TV Tuner on this and be able to easily record programs and what not without lag or any problems. Overall I just want to upgrade and take my computer into the year 2007!

Thanks, and PLeAse help me out. I have about $500 to spend on upgrades.

to get the exact specs of your system, you could download pcwizard and it will tell you what you really have instead of all the guesswork...

pcwizard

then people could suggest things based on what you have, not what you think you have...

 

[mvpo.geo]

I would gladly do that but I currently am not at my house. I am instead on my laptop. Good Site thou!!

Bullzi the upgrades your suggested sound good except for the fact that I just recently bought an external TV Tuner so is getting a 200 video card really necessary? Also will my current Motherboard support that new processor? And please if you could give me some more information about the power supply, I am truely a beginner to this but want to learn. Thanks

 

[bullzi]

I would gladly do that but I currently am not at my house. I am instead on my laptop. Good Site thou!!

Bullzi the upgrades your suggested sound good except for the fact that I just recently bought an external TV Tuner so is getting a 200 video card really necessary? Also will my current Motherboard support that new processor? And please if you could give me some more information about the power supply, I am truely a beginner to this but want to learn. Thanks

well if you have an external TV tuner then no, you dont need an all in wonder, but i would recommend getting on ebay and looking for an x800, or 6800gt, thats what im gonna get and once i get one of them ill let you know how they perform, as of now i only have an fx5200 which plays bf2 bearly, umm im not sure about that processor i will check when i get home, im at school right now, and for your powersupply, supprisingly to me computers really do eat up power, i had no idea till i came here, and power supplies have a major effect on your system performance, you could have the newest stuff and have a crappy power supply and it could run like it was five years old simply because the components arent getting enough power to run optimaly, i will help you out more once i get home around 3:20 its 12:11 now, so ttyl

 

[Daeva]

The 7600 gt is a very stable, and cool running card. It is however somewhat of a power hog. If you are going to upgrade ram, processor, and graphics, I would say you need 2 things.
1x120mm Internal Case Fan
1x550W Power Supply(minimum) If you are looking for optimal performance, I would suggest getting a power supply that is both ATX(which you need to power your motherboard), and is 80+ certified http://www.80plus.org/80what.htm
Here is an example of the graphics card I would reccommend:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130017

Edit ->
I found your board on asus' website. Things you need to watch out for when buying components.
The graphics card I recommended won't work because you need an agp, or pci graphics card.
and your processor has to be a socket A AMD processor.
You can view the full specs here:
http://usa.asus.com/products1.aspx?l1=3&l2=0&l3=0&modelmenu=0&share=txt/60 Your model is towards the bottom in the 4th column.
Instead maybe this card would suit you better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150210
there are others too if that price is too much.

 

[mvpo.geo]

I think I may end up selling my current PC and instead starting over. Im guessing I can get about 200-250 for it as a whole or should I sell individually?

That would put me at 700-750 to build a brand new PC. I am a complete begginner, so what do you suggest for me building a new computer.

 

[Daeva]

Well, here is one I built a little while ago, but it should do well, and is pretty well within price-range. Plus, you can subtract XP Home, if you already have a copy of windows.
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5747068

If your current case is an atx case, you could put all of these components in there and subtract the price of the case too.