Upgrading rig for vista ultimate suggestion.

[Xellos2099]

I recently help a friend of mine format his computer and installed vista ultimate. Today he complain that the his rig seems very sluggish. I think it is mainly because of his rig is sort of outdated.Here is the info on his rig

Athlon XP64 3000+
1 gig 3200 DDR ram
Ati 9600xt
160 gig 7200 rpm hdd

I am consdiering to do a tune up in his system as he don't want a complete overhaul but want to play decent game such as C&C3 and upcoming call of duty 4. However, with his ShuttleX case, the upgrade path is very limited. Here is what I come up with:

Change 1 gig of ram to 2 gig

Change Ati 9600XT to Nvidia 7600gt or 7600GS

Would these 2 upgrade on his system add a year to its life?

 

[Jeff7181]

I'd get at least an 8600 series for CoD4. Also might consider upgrading the processor. I'm assuming that a socket 939... you can probably find an X2 for under $100 that would extend its life a bit more. RAM is the first thing I'd upgrade, video card next, then processor... as his budget permits.

 

[NewMaxx]

I agree completely with Jeff; I'd start with the RAM, too, as gaming under Vista really needs 2GB. Likewise the video card is next on my list, the 9600XT is fairly obsolete at this point, I assume he has an AGP port so the best choice is probably an X1950 Pro. Lastly, his current processor is likely socket 939 (S939), so the optimal choice would be an X2 4200+ or similar (relatively inexpensive), or an Opteron if his BIOS supports them (more expensive, but can probably find faster chips). With the X2 4200+, X1950 Pro, and needing one 1GB stick, it would be ~$300 on Newegg, and closer to $350 if you need to buy a 2x1GB kit (if he only has 2 slots, likely in a Shuttle, and has 2x512 currently).