Gateway 832GM OVERHAUL

[AW33]

My parents are giving me $350 to overhaul and upgrade my "new" Gateway 832GM. It currently has an Intel Pentium 4 630 (3.0Ghz), 1-GB DDR400 RAM, BFG Geforce 6600GT 512MB, and is running Vista Premium. Any suggestions are welcome! I plan on doing some gaming, FS2004, Oblivion ES IV, etc.

 

[AW33]

I want Dual core Pentium D, another gig of RAM, and another HD possibly.

 

[CurseTheSky]

$350 wouldn't really be enough to upgrade to Core 2 Duo ($170ish for processor, $100-130ish for motherboard, $150-200ish for memory, plus more if your graphics card is AGP...), so I guess Pentium D and more memory is the way to go for now. However, I HIGHLY SUGGEST waiting if you think you can spare a bit more cash in the future ($500 will get you a nice Core 2 Duo setup).

Depending on what resolution you're running, the graphics card might be your biggest issue. If you're doing 1024x768, you'll be fine. 1280x1024 might get a little iffy, and 1600x1200 is pretty harsh on Oblivion for a 6600GT.

So, basically, is that PCI-E or AGP?