Computer n00b; Advice needed!

[Deacon]

I have recently inherited a 4 year old Sony Vaio.
All my life, until roughly last October, I have been a console gamer who has never played PC games, with the exclusion of The Sims (1). (now, I am both) However, I have never had my own computer. (I go to school in Reno, where my brothers friend brought his computer. We use it, He uses our internet, everyone is happy.) So I have no idea about what to do to upgrade it, or anything like that. I am wondering if you guys can help.


Seeing as how I know nothing about computers, I shall now copy the system properties.

Runs Windows XP (sp3)
Has a Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80 GHz
1.00 GB of RAM
and underneath that says Physical Address Extension, whatever that means.

Looked up info about the video card, and it says I have a;
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Integrated RAMDAC (wtfdoesthismean)
Approx. Total memory=128 MB
Edit: and it also says DirectX 9.0c (-shrug-)

Now, being home in vegas, I have not had a chance to download any game. (speed here is .37 mb DL...something is fucked up. but thats not important)
I am anticipating a slower gameplay than when i used my friends computer, because he built his for gaming. this however, was obviously not.
I have done some reading on the interwebs, and i am thinking of upgrading the RAM and the video card. Here is where I need help. Should I do that? Should I do something else? Is it worth fixing up? Will this play Gmod/orangebox/othershit in it's current state?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

--Unfamiliar with this machine,
Ryan(Deacon)

[Deathie]

Should I do that?
If you plan on keeping it, Yes.
Should I do something else? Is it worth fixing up?
Upgrade the processor as well, granted you have the cash.
Will this play Gmod/orangebox/othershit in it's current state?
Yes, but most likely only on Med settings with 20-25FPS

I highly recommend you get the name of the motherboard, so that you can see what type of ram you need to get, or how much you can upgrade it.

[Deacon]

I highly recommend you get the name of the motherboard, so that you can see what type of ram you need to get, or how much you can upgrade it.

Ok. I will attempt to declothe take the case off tomorrow and assuming i don't blow something up i'll see. i'm aiming for about 3 GB of RAM. yes or no?
and unfortunately, i don't have the cash. need job. now.

[Deathie]

Ok. I will attempt to declothe take the case off tomorrow and assuming i don't blow something up i'll see. i'm aiming for about 3 GB of RAM. yes or no?
and unfortunately, i don't have the cash. need job. now.

Oh you, and your barbaric ways.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

[Deacon]

Oh you, and your barbaric ways.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

Baby Jeezus, help me.
I am in so far over my head.

[Pryvisee]

Yeah, plus you need to find what ddr version your ram is. I would think 4 years ago, probably ddr or ddr2.

And, you need to check what slot is in your computer, either agp, pci or pci-e.

Also, you need to check your PSU wattage. You have to actually have to open up your computer for this one.

Can I get the model of your system? I think it may be the one that my dad has out in the garage.

[Deacon]

Yeah, plus you need to find what ddr version your ram is. I would think 4 years ago, probably ddr or ddr2.

And, you need to check what slot is in your computer, either agp, pci or pci-e.

Also, you need to check your PSU wattage. You have to actually have to open up your computer for this one.

Can I get the model of your system? I think it may be the one that my dad has out in the garage.

um...this is me.

How do i check all that confusing alien technology?

it is a Sony Vaio MDL: VGC-RB57G

[Pryvisee]

it is a Sony Vaio MDL: VGC-RB57G

Seems like your max ram is 2gb. Don't know what ddr version it is though. Still googling.

[Deacon]

Seems like your max ram is 2gb. Don't know what ddr version it is though. Still googling.

why can't i get more ram?
edit:

[Pryvisee]

why can't i get more ram?
edit:

Your motherboard limits it. Not sure why but all motherboards have limit on how much ram they can have in them at a time.

[Deacon]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU--

i'm about to just ragequit this thing out the fucking window.
so i need an upgraded motherboard too?

[Pryvisee]

Well you do have a PCI-E slot open. So you can have a decent video card. I've been looking at the specs sheet and it says your PSU is around 300w. I would recommend the Radeon HD 4550 or the 4350. They are both low end gamer, but if all your going to be playing is dx9 games then you should be fine.

If you want to upgrade to a heavier GPU, then you need a better PSU. Even after that, other components might be bottlenecking (Google it).

Anyways, upgrading a PC is a lot of work. More than building one yourself. There's a bunch of videos on youtube, and I built my computer for around 450-500$ and I can run ANY game on all high.

[Cake Faice]

Alright, if you want more memory and a better graphics card, here you go:

Since you are in vegas right now, I'm assuming you know where/what fry's is

The RAM module you use is DDR2 PC-4200, so be sure you specifically ask for that type. But your motherboard limits only allow you up to 2gb. So be careful there.

And if you wanted to upgrade the graphics card, you can have 1 PCI-E x16 card slot to play source games perfectly and maybe far cry 2 on medium, then get this:

Trust me, I had one of these before. It's by a different brand but I can play source games perfectly with this.

But since your motherboard is a heaping pile of shit, I highly recommend you save up money to get a new one. I'm not sure which one's are sturdy/low priced to use but try to get an AMD motherboard. You can save alot more money over intel and be in the same power range. And I think you'll have a much better experience with overclocking and memory usage and such with a AMD CPU. But take this into accountability when buying a new motherboard:

YOUR CASE NEEDS TO SUPPORT/FIT THE MOTHERBOARD INSIDE PERFECTLY
You need a CPU that supports the motherboard
You need RAM that supports the motherboard
Unless you are planning to buy a whole new one, you need a hard drive that supports the motherboard
And basically other things like that too.

Hope this helped.

[Pryvisee]

Well, the 8400GS is slighty lower than the HD 4550. But the 4550 is PCI-E 2.0. So uh, yeah do what cake said.

Also, this ones cheaper

[Orgazmo]

1. Sell computer for exuberant price
2. Count the monies
3. Buy Mac Book Pro
4. ?
5. Profit! Play all Valve and Blizzard games

In b4 Mac is teh gehy