Need help in updating old computer

My son has an older Dell computer from my office (2002). I would like to upgrade the memory and especially the video card. He wants The Sims 3 and I'm clueless. The computer has windos xp prof., intel pentium R 4CPU 2.8 GHZ, hard drive is 80G, it has an integrated 82865G graphics controller. I can't afford a new computer right now so I would like to upgrade if possible. I know that it has an agp slot but don't know 4x from 8x. I think I know what to get for memory upgrade, but any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Sounds alot like mine! this is what I've done:

Upgraded Ram to 1.5G
Search online your computer make and model number for the correct type of ram your computer takes and goto newegg.com to get at least 1.5G

Upgraded Video Card:
Since I have a feeling your computer will only have the old PCI ports like mine this is the best card you can ever find for it.

You might need an additional hard drive, maybe not, but Sims3 will probably need a TON of space. I think Sims2 eats at least 20G on my drives (I have almost all the packs).

Good Luck!

 

Sorry reread that you have agp, but I still think the card I linked for you is the best --- there are no agp cards in the 8000 series

 

for memory see crucial.com
for graphice card see http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-geforce-graphics,review-31451-7.html
(sorry if this breaks rules, but good reference)

 

Thanks, I know he has an open pci slot. I printed all the specs and inside diagram from Dell according to his tag #. On there website forums, they kept mentioning agp cards. I didn't know I could use a pci card. I'll give it a shot. Thanks again!