PC expert help, need advise

I have a 1.2 gig Celeron with 256 megs of ram and a GE Force FX 3. I have the choice to upgrade to either,
a) GE force FX 5 or
b) 1.6 processor with 512 megs of ram

Which one should I pick? I won't have money for a while to upgrade some more. :help:

I would get the video card if it is compatible with your celeron. Later, you can upgrade the processor/memory and still use that video card.

Next, start saving your nickels and pennies for a new processor. Those celerons just aren't made for gaming. For under $100, you could get a new processor/motherboard combo. Nothing fancy, just a regular P4 or Athlon XP would do the trick. After lumbering around with that celeron, a P4 or Athlon XP would seem like a Ferrari.

Then I'd recommend getting some extra memory, like a stick of 512MB. You can get one of those for around $80 to $100. With a new processor, video card and memory, your system would fly and RTW would run like a dream.

Assuming that "FX 5" is a 5200 I would go for the processor plus RAM upgrade. A GF3 is not a bad card and can run RTW even though it is not a true DX9 card. The 5200 is really not much of a DX9 card...IIRC it is actually only doing DX9 shaders in software anyway, not in the hardware. I doubt you would notice an "upgrade" to a 5200 from a GF3. A GF3 is about the same as an 8500 speed wise and they do better than 5200's in most benchmarks. So it might even be a downgrade. If it is a higher end FX 5 then I withdraw the comment.

A 1.2 GHz Celeron is really low end if it is a P4 based celeron, so upping it to a 1.6 GHz PIV would make sense. 256 MB of RAM is too little for XP to run decently. At 512 it should be fine and noticeably smoother.

I agree with Red Harvest on this one. Go for the 'board/RAM replacement, that will have a positive effect on all the programs you run (instead of the video card primarily just helping out in the gaming area). Plus, by the time you get around to purchasing a new video card, who knows, the price could drop dramatically due to the next latest and greatest rolling out.

If the 1.6GHz processor is an AMD or Pentium 4, then definitely go for the board upgrade. Also, I would take the memory into account. Does the new board use faster memory? In any case, you can get a decent graphcs card cheaply and at any time. When I picked up my 5600FX, it was about $100.00. And that was because the new cards had shoved the price down. Both ATI and nVidia have great mid end cards for good prices.

Speaking of graphics cards, I found a real "gem" in my dad's old computer. I'm salvaging parts to create a new computer that he won't hopefully hit and damage the HD, and I ran across his old PCI graphics card: A Number Nine SR9 8MB PCI. At least you don't have that.