Hello guys I need help upgrading my computer :)

[alazar14]

Hey guys.

I want to upgrade my computer but I don't want to spend to much money doing that.

The reason I want to maybe do a bit of upgrading is that I want to play this game that will come out soon called FFXIV, the game requires quite high system requirements compared to other mmorpg style games.

The game as my computer stands can only run on Medium settings if that.

I would like to know if there is something I can do to upgrade my computer and maybe make the game run better for my budget.

So here's my budget.

$250

Here's my computer

CPU AMD Athlon 64X2 6000+
Motherboard: Asus M2N SLI PCI Express DDR2 Dual channel
RAM: 4GB DDR2 Dual channel
Graphics Card Nvidia Geforce 9600GT

My main questions are.

Is there any graphic card that I can use on my motherboard that would be a major upgrade to my current card?

Is there any Processor I can use on my motherboard (that will work with it) That will be a major upgrade to the one I have now?

I guess those are my 2 questions right now. If you guys could please help me out that would be great. I don't know much about computers outside of some basic things but I do have a friend who works for a pc repair shop said if I can buy parts he can put them in for free. So I just need to figure out which parts are compatible with my pc.

If you require more information to help me out please let me know. Thanks

 

[Sporego]

What motherboard?
ASUS M2N68-AM PLUS
ASUS M2N68-AM
ASUS M2N68

 

[alazar14]

Well I tried to check but CPU-Z does not tell me that info

I restarted my computer and when It restarts all it said was Asus M2N SLI nothing more...Don't know what that means.

 

[shozzking]

You have enough RAM as is but I would go for both a GPU and CPU upgrade.

Is this your motherboard? If it is then I'd get as follows:
Asus CuCore 5770 ($144.99 after mail in rebate)
AMD Athlon II 635@2.6GHz ($92.99)

If the motherboard I posted is yours then you'll probably have to flash your BIOS to make it compatible with the processor I posted. Your total would be around $235 after rebates (probably around $160 after shipping and taxes)

 

[alazar14]

Is there any way to find out for sure if my motherboard could run that hardware? Like a way to double check or a compatibility list online? maybe a way to make sure my motherboard is that one you linked?

See reason im wondering is because the motherboard in that link picture does not look like the one in my computer...maybe If I take a picture of the one in my computer and post it? Can we do that on these forums?

My motherboard looks much larger than the one in that picture, it also has room for a dual graphics card. The Ram slots also have 2 White and 2 yellow slots.

 

[shozzking]

Is this it? http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=n82e16813131013

If it is then this site says that its compatible with the processor I posted