The first upgrade I would suggest for gaming would be a new video card. A few things need to be decided first. What kind of games are you looking to play? If it's something like World of Warcraft or CounterStrike, you just need a new video card. However, if you want to play Doom III or BattleField II, you will need to invest in more ram aswell as a new video card. If you are playing WoW and CounterStrike games, then a video card such as the FX5500 (backordered at this time) shall suffice. If you want to play Doom III or BF2, you will need a better video card. Unfortunately, the FX5500 is about the best you can get with PCI. You'd have to upgrade your motherboard to AGP or PCI-Express to get a decent card for gaming. You'd also be wise to get a 1GB of ram. However, the issue lies with upgrading the motherboard in a Sony. As far as I know, Sony uses some proprietary components, so some upgrade parts may not be able to work.
There are a lot of choices. You need to decide whether you want a microATX size case or a full ATX size case. If you get a microATX motherboard, make sure it has a slot for a video card (some don't). In either size, you'll need to decide whether to get one with an AGP slot for the video card or one with the newer PCI-E 16X slot for the new PCI-E video cards. Then it's just a matter of figuring out what other features you want to have (SATA port, RAID, what kind of onboard sound, firewire or not, etc.) to make the final choice. I have a custom built pIII 850mhz notebook with a Torisan DRD-U824 dvd/cd rom drive. Ashton Digital was the builder, but they seem to be out of business. The drive no longer recognizes dvd's and some cdr/rw's. I would like to replace with a dvd burner - what would be a good choice for replacement. I've found torisan (sanyo) refurb'd, but I would like to upgrade to a dvd burner if possible...or at least try a different manufacturer for the optical drive. I am also curious if I can upgra A couple years ago I built a homegrown system using the extremely useful advice from Directron. Well, I play World of Warcraft (among other games) and I'm starting to realize my system could be better. The new laptop I got at work is more responsive (for one). I've looked into various things including upgrading my memory, video card, cpu, motherboard etc. I'm really not sure what to do. I would have just upgraded my memory but then I found out that it's very hard to get and expensive (2x512 RDRAM 32bit 1066/800 232 Bit RIMM would be like $600). Any advice would be appreciated. Here is my current system
From the way I see it, you have two choices, you can spend more money and spend less later when you want to upgrade again, or you can spend less now and alot more later. If you choose to spend more now, I would recommend getting a new motherboard that is socket 939 compatible and has at least one PCI-Express slot. Seeing as applications (and games) will eventually run in 64-bit mode, I would recommend the AMD Athlon 64 series, you can get a 2800+ for 99 USD at frys, I'm not sure how much it is here. As far as a video card goes, the GeForce 6600 PCI-E card is your best bet for under $150, although for about 15 dollars more a x800GTO might be worth it. If you purchase your CPU from directron it comes with a CPU Fan, so dont worry about that. If your gonna buy a new Power Supply you might as well get a new case too (i suppose), i would recommend the XBlade Black Gaming Case, it can be purchased on directron and I've worked with it before, its great and comes with a 450W power supply for only $60.
Upgrading your video card would be my first choice. If you go with a geforce card, go with the geforce 6 series or the ATI equivelent. Make sure its at least 128MB and 128 bit. 512 MB ram is good but an extra 128 or 256 couldn't hurt. Windows XP pro uses at least 128 for itself, so if you have a lot of programs that start up with windows, ie 3 or more icons in your system tray then you may want a bit more memory for smother performance. Its also good to match the frequency of the ram to your CPU. You don't have your power supply specs written down, ie output volts to amps. the newer motherboards and video uses more power then the older ones, and newer video also needs a 4pin power conector like the ones you plug into your drives. You would need at least a 400W power supply with at least 24 amps on the 12 volt rail.
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