What upgrades can I get to this computer to make it a better gaming machine?

My Computer is almost 2 years old. It is running a...





- AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3000+1809 Mhz Processor


- GeForce 6800 256MB PCI-Express Graphic Card


- 2GB Non-Parity DDR PC3200 RAM (4 x 512mb)


-150 GB Harddrive


- RealTek AC 97 Audio Soundcard (piece of crap)


- Windows XP Pro





ALL OF THIS is running through an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard. I've got 2 fans in there too... not sure if that makes a difference.





I know this its a little old, but I am having a particularily hard time with Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 - even with nothing running in the background! I can't even play it on half quality graphics settings without the game running slow. Other games (HL2, Age of Empires 3) run okay close to max graphics, but are still not all the way there.





I am looking to spend about $750 on upgrades to make the machine run smoother and faster. Is there hope for this machine? If there is, what would give me the best results? New Motherboard? Card? Processor?examples plz!

What upgrades can I get to this computer to make it a better gaming machine?
Using registry cleaner can fix your computer and then make your computer faster,Why?the reason is that there are some regsitry errors and remnant,corrupt files and temp files in your computer to cause "computer slow".


Everytime you install and uninstall software on your computer and surfing online you create junk in the computer registry.over time, the registry can grow to enormous proportions, especially if the various programs you've installed do not do a good job of deleting and/or updating it's Registry entries.You need to scan and clean your computer with registry cleaner to make it fast.Good Regisry Cleaner will improve your computer and Internet performance dramatically!It even can speed up your computer by 300% or more!


There are some comparison and review of TOP 5 registry cleaners.


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You can download and scan your computer for free.
Reply:you have a good enough system to be running high end gaming with, although it wouldnt hurt to upgrade your processor to say a 3800+
Reply:Get a dual core processor maybe? I dont know why Tycoon would lag.... you have a nice setup I think. Also your processor is 1809 mhz? Look again, cause there should probably be a decimal in there somewhere
Reply:Well, I heard about problems with the geforce 6800, so make sure you have the latest graphics drivers for one. Also, make sure you clean any old graphics drivers out; sometimes they linger. Read the detailed intructions on nvidia site.





Get a 64 bit operating system. Vista is known to slow down performance a little compared to XP, but it's like 3% according to the study I saw, so I'd say go for vista 64. Vista is very stable and secure, and if you're online gaming that's important. Also, a 64 bit OS can support more memory.





A lot of new technology is coming out for graphics cards recently to implement Direct X; wait for that.





A fancy gaming sound card will most likely just mess with your computer. A real reciever/amp and real speakers accepting a line from your current card will give very decent sound -- maybe not the digital surround experience as creative but such a card will slow things down.





Hard Drive performance is crucial. SAS technology (replacing SATA) is the way to go. I think there is a good buy of a Hitachi model with 15k RPM and 73GB for around $300. More space will mean longer seek times, so try to keep your main "installed programs" drive as small as possible with as little data on it. Store your media, etc, on 2nd drive.





These are the things I suggest in your budget...I think you have a good processor for gaming. The intel quad cores are $1200 a piece and that techology is changing too. Save up your money so you can afford a big step up when it comes out. If you are burning to spend money, consider:


A better internet connection (low ping for the win)


Second monitor


Nice gaming mouse/keyboard


A good chair


a $750 supply of mountain dew amp

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