Can I upgrade my PC?

Hey,

Currently I'm using an HP Pavilion a1520n. It has been having trouble running some games such as WoW, so I upgraded the ram to 3k. Shortly after I learned that the problem was not the ram, however the video card, GeForce 6150 LE.

I asked a friend of mine what I should do. He said to buy a completely new computer seeing as upgrading my video card would only cause more stress on my processor. I'm not sure of his technical background so I decided to seek more help.

Would upgrading my video card be a wise choice? Or am I really screwed enough to buy a new computer? Keep in mind I really only want to play games like WoW, and whatever MMO that may take over in the near future (age of conan etc..)

I'm not sure what specs I should list so I will put a link to the computer.
http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Hewlett-Packard-HP-Pavilion-Media-Center-A1520n-PC

Thanks in advance!

 

Can you boot up? Your card work at all? Is it possible that it is just getting to hot?

If it was me and I knew the card is just junk I would find the best card that will work in my computer. Or you can go spend $300-$500 on a new system that may meet your needs. Its up to you and your wallet.

I built my system around 2002/2003, it has an ASU A7V133 mb, with a Athlon 1GHz cpu in it, and I'm just now upgrading the cpu and video card. I used to play Dark age of Camelot with a FX5200 card.

 

Do you mean 3 Megs of Ram? And you link don't go anywhere, ad must have moved.

You should be able to upgrade your video card, Video cards relieve stress from the CPU by passing off tasks to the video cards GPU. Post some specs of your PC (RAM, CPU speed, etc) and what type of video card slot you have. Get Everest from the download section if your not sure.

 

first of all you have a fine PC there, good value for the money,

dual core athlon @2Ghz, 3GB ram, decent bus, decent cache,

the ONLY let down is the video card,
the GeForce 6150 LE is widely reported as being woefully slow

adding a new graphics card wont kill the processor, (pci express or pci)

as to a type of graphics card = not a question to ask me,

just remeber you have a decent box, all you need now is decent graphics

 

I just called up your model too. Looks like you have a PCI-E slot which is good for you since since there are many Video Cards to choose from and its an easy upgrade. Check you www.newegg.com

What does your budget look like.

 

Anywhere from 100-200 bucks I guess. It doesn't have to be amazing but enough to place the next gen "mediocre" games. Like the next WoW per say.

Also sorry, I kinda forgot about this thread. Thanks for the responses!

 

If you upgrade to a FX 8 series card or higher, you should be fine with any game out on the market today. Tiderdirect, Newegg, Zipzoomfly or another online source will be alot cheaper than your local store. Sometime free or little S&H. If you can wait 3-6 days to get it. Brand to get is a preference thing. I like ASUS, MSI, XFX, but it doesn't really matter I guess. Do however get one with the chipset fan, makes overclocking better if you ever need too.

Make sure it is a PCIexpress card. Hope this helps

 

is there an ideal card that would work well with my setup at the moment? i've read around that my power supply isn't so great, are there any cards that don't use up as much energy? (im a newb at video cards and stuff of the sort)

 

as for system specs, this guy listed everything I could think to list off the top of my head. and theres nothing wrong with the comp itself except that games crash sometimes because of some issue with my video card being garbage.

 

I think this should work Nvidia 8600 GT. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150229. Good price and rebate too. Your Power Supply should be able to handle it.