Upgrading

[mkmetz88]

Ok, i have been using a computer my friend built years ago it still works for World of Warcraft but after 30 minutes of play the whole computer restarts no error message or anything, the computer restarts when playing the game only. The latency for the game runs at 136, Frame Rate is usually anywhere from 30FPS to 56FPS. I am looking into either buying a new computer or upgrading this one currently this is what i have AMD Athlon XP 1800+ Processor 1.50 GHZ 2.00 GB DDR RAM
Radeon 9200 128M Graphics card KT4V MS-6712 VER:10A Motherboard and had to replace my power supply with one lying around its an ORION Model # HP485D 485WATT Max. Also operating system is Windows XP. What would i need to upgrade on this computer to make it better for this game? And with what should i upgrade? I don't want it to be expensive something cheap but good. Thanks in advance for any help

Also i am trying to keep the cost under $500

 

[Maverick6969]

....the computer restarts when playing the game only.
....
Also i am trying to keep the cost under $500

Well aside from the issue of what to upgrade or how to upgrade, I would first try to determine what is the root cause.

Things to check.

#1: You say the problem only exists when playing WoW, did you install the patch for the game?

#2: Have you checked to see if a new driver version exists for your video card? If so, does it say ANYTHING about fixing issues with WoW?

#3: Random reboots can be caused by many things. Faulty power supply, defective RAM, software conflicting with each other, software trying to write to information to certain parts of memory it does not have rights to, and other reasons. So, instead of randomly guessing, run win debugger and analyze that information before you start pulling things apart and spending your hard earned money. After you've analyzed that information, determine what parts you want to upgrade.

 

[TheStu]

What size monitor/resolution are you using?

Look at this here, and just disregard anything that you already have/don't really need like the case, optical drive and aftermarket cooler, maybe the hard drive too. So, with that money saved, you can then get a solid power supply (a good 500W Antec/Corsair/Silverstone) and still be under budget.

An almost entirely new system (also see if you can afford to upgrade to Win7 Home Premium, $100 for 64bit) instead of a piecemeal upgrade. None of the major parts of your existing system, can be kept.

 

[mkmetz88]

monitor res 1024by 768

 

[Loyudo]

If your looking to upgrade I would look at something like this
PSU $50 before $10 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139018
mobo and GPU $205 before $30 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.545722
CPU and memory $181
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.570491

with shipping it comes to $444 before the $40 MIR
This leaves room for a case and/or HDD if you need them also the mobo has both IDE and PS/2 so you should be fine using your old drives, keyboard, and mouse.

 

[Paladin3]

Is WoW the only game you play? Do you do anything else that stresses your CPU? Could it be overheating and causing the crash/reboot, and it coincidentally only happens when you play WoW because that's the biggest stress you put on your CPU? Have you ever cleaned out your heatsink/fan and the inside of your case?

 

[jackschmittusa]

The deals on parts have been great lately.

Microcenter - dual or quad AMD cpu+mb $100, built in video

multiple sources - 1gb hd $50

multiple sources - 4gb DDR3 $40

multiple sources - DVD burner less than $20

Want better than Radeon 4200 built in graphics? Video card deals are legion lately.