New Desktop, need help

[Sobe11]

So my brother just brought home his old work desktop (custom pre-built) and i was hoping to upgrade it and use it for gaming.

I ran EVEREST on it to see what i was dealing with and i still havent discovered a couple of it's specs.

How do i figure out the max amount of RAM it can have?

How powerful is the PSU?

It said it supported AGP 4x(doesnt have any PCI-E slots), does that mean i can install and use any of the AGP 4x/8x cards with no problems?

If i have a weak PSU, how badly does that limit my selection of AGP cards?

 

[cprince]

Sorry to bring you the bad news, but you can't do a whole lot of gaming with AGP 4X. You can't even do a lot of gaming with AGP 8X. What type of motherboard do you have(manufacturer, model number)? A good graphic card needs a lot of power. 500 watts is the minimum PSU you need. I don't know about the AGP 4x/8x because I've never tried it.

 

[Sobe11]

Its a MSI motherboard, i dont know the model number, can it be found using everest? I have read that you can decently game on AGP 4x/8x, there are some solid GPU's availible on newegg such as the HD2600XT and 7900GS. But does only having 4x "supported" and not 8x a major factor?

And i checked my PSU and it said 300W, im guessing i will have to upgrade it if i plan on installing a, for example, Geforce 7600GS?

 

[Blain]

Look on the MB for any model number markings.
Record all the numbers you find.
Google those different numbers for information about your specific MB. That's where you start.

Your 300W PS is old and probably on it's last leg.
PS deteriorate with usage. Which means... fat chance that yours is pumping out anything close to 300W.

 

[cozumel]

This tool at motherboards.org should help you idenitify your mobo. Once you know the model you'll be able to get max ram (which going by what you have said already will probably be 2GB or 4GBmax)

As far as upgrading goes there isn't really any point with 4x AGP but with 8x both Nvidia and ATI do some cards that will give a respectable performance. Having at least 2GB of memory will also improve things.

Now, if the board is old and only accepts DDR and you were going to install extra memory you will find the DDR very expensive indeed as it is no longer mass-produced. It may be cheaper instead to upgrade to a P35 mobo, E2180, 2GB DDR2 and min x1950 or 7950 GFX.

Just my thoughts

Edit: Almost forgot. You will need a new PSU if you did an upgrade similar to the one in my last paragraph for the reasons stated by Blain. I would suggest 400-500W would be more than enough to keep your brother going for another 3, 4 or 5 years