Upgrading a Dell 2400

I had a Dell Dimension 2400 gave to me by family that they thought was messed up. All it needed was a new memory stick. I gave it to my son and of course he likes to play alot of games. I am having problems deciding the best route to take with upgrading it. I have spent the past week researching and talking to people about this. So many people say so many choices. I need to know the best and cheapest choice. I have been told I would come out better building one for him but not for sure. He has a game called F.E.A.R. that he has had for a year now and cant play cause the computer is to old to play it. The requirements for it are: Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz or equivalent processor, 1GB RAM, Geforce FX 6600 or equivalent supported DirectX 9.0 compliant video card with Hardware T&L and Pixel Shader 2.0 support, and Sound Blaster X-Fi series sound card. He has the Need for Speed Underground on it now and it stalls a little bit while playing. If Im going to upgrade to the requirements on that one game I want to make sure other ones will play too. Just looking for more opinions before making my decision on what to do. Here is the info I have for this computer: Motherboard Properties Manufacturer Dell Computer Corp. Product 0F5949 Version A01 Serial Number [ TRIAL VERSION ] Processor Properties Manufacturer Intel External Clock 400 MHz Maximum Clock 3600 MHz Current Clock 2400 MHz Type Central Processor Voltage 1.8 V Status Enabled Upgrade ZIF Socket Designation Microprocessor Chipset Properties Motherboard Chipset Intel Brookdale-G i845GEV Memory Timings 2.5-2-2-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) DIMM1:Samsung M3 68L3223ETM-CCC 256 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (3.0-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (2.5-3-3-7 @ 166 MHz) DIMM2: ProMos/Mosel Vitelic V826632K24SCTG-D3 [ TRIAL VERSION ] Graphics Processor Properties Description Intel 845-G PCI Accelerated SVGA Video Adapter Intel 82845G/GL/GV Graphics Controller GPU Code Name Brookdale-G (Integrated 8086 / 2562, Rev 01) GPU Clock 200 MHz Graphics Controller Type Intel Extreme Graphics Graphics Controller Status Enabled Shared Memory Size 1 MB MOTHERBOARD CPU Properties CPU Type Intel® Celeron® CPU 2.40GHz, 2400 MHz (24 x 100) CPU Alias Northwood-128 CPU Stepping D1 Instruction Set x86, MMX, SSE, SSE2 Original Clock 2392.2 MHz (original: [ TRIAL VERSION ] Min / Max CPU Multiplier 24x / 24x Engineering Sample No L1 Trace Cache 12K Instructions L1 Data Cache [ TRIAL VERSION ] L2 Cache 128 KB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed) CPUID Revision 00000F29h Memory Slots DRAM Slot #1 256 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM) DRAM Slot #2 256 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM) nVIDIA SLI SLI Certification Not Present PCI 0-0-0-0 (Direct I/O) 8086-2560 (Intel i845G/GE/GEV/GL/GLL/GV/PE) PCI 0-0-0-0 (HAL) 8086-2560 (Intel i845G/GE/GEV/GL/GLL/GV/PE) Monitor Properties Monitor Name HP VX74 Monitor ID HWP2629 Model hp vx74 Monitor Type 17" CRT Manufacture Date Week 38 / 2004 Serial Number CNN438198L Max. Visible Display Size 32 cm x 24 cm (15.7") Picture Aspect Ratio 4:3 Horizontal Frequency 30 - 70 kHz Vertical Frequency 50 - 160 Hz Maximum Pixel Clock 110 MHz Maximum Resolution 1280 x 1024 Gamma 2.88 DPMS Mode Support Standby, Suspend, Active-Off Supported Video Modes 640 x 480 135 Hz 800 x 480 135 Hz 800 x 600 110 Hz 1024 x 600 110 Hz 1024 x 768 85 Hz 1152 x 864 75 Hz 1280 x 720 90 Hz 1280 x 768 85 Hz 1280 x 800 80 Hz 1280 x 1024 65 Hz

Hello JPR1298,

From experience, I can safely say that there is only so much that you can do with old computers. Upgrading components such as graphics cards, hard drives and RAM, for example, only really work if it suits the existing system. The problem that most people have is that their motherboard doesn't support newer, better hardware standards. People also tend to find that their older CPU tends to bottleneck the rest of the system, meaning that any new components are unable to reach their full potential.

I think in your particular case, I think you need to consider buying or building a new system for your son. If you're not entirely comfortable building a system from scratch, but still want to save a bit of cash, the best option may be to buy an entry level "gaming" computer and to upgrade particular components. The easiest thing would be to just buy a mid-level "gaming" computer that doesn't need much work.

Either way, the best place to start is with a list. It comes in handy when looking at what components to buy, or comparing pre-made systems :

Basics:
1. Computer Case
2. Motherboard
3. CPU
4. RAM
5. Hard Drive
6. Graphics Card
7. PSU
8. Optical Drive - DVD/CD Drive
9. WiFi Card (optional)
10. Aftermarket CPU Cooler (optional
11. Operating System (Essential!)

Then you also need to consider :
1. Screen
2. Keyboard / Mouse
3. Speakers

The next step would be to start looking at online retailers. Try to read a few reviews first, and if you're still unsure, just post back with a link to the system you're wanting to buy, and I can have a quick look over.


I hope that helps,
Nahumi