hi, i recently upgraded my dell 4300 to 1 gig of ram and also added an ati radeon 9550 with 256 mb of ram. i thought this would be enough to run some newer games at fair quality. Most games run alright, halo, tc:e. Games like bf2 open but its pretty painful to play. My cpu is the next thing i was thinking about upgrading. I have been having trouble finding one that will fit. Then again im not even sure what factors effect it. http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4300/specs.htm#1101572 those are the official documentation of the specs. Field Value Motherboard Properties Motherboard ID <DMI> Motherboard Name Dell Dimension 4300 Front Side Bus Properties Bus Type Intel GTL+ Bus Width 64-bit Real Clock 100 MHz (QDR) Effective Clock 400 MHz Bandwidth 3200 MB/s Memory Bus Properties Bus Type SDR SDRAM Bus Width 64-bit DRAM:FSB Ratio 4:3 Real Clock 133 MHz Effective Clock 133 MHz Bandwidth [ TRIAL VERSION ] MB/s Chipset Bus Properties Bus Type Intel Hub Interface Bus Width 8-bit Real Clock 67 MHz (QDR) Effective Clock 267 MHz Bandwidth 267 MB/s Motherboard Manufacturer Company Name Dell Computer Corporation Product Information http://www.dell.com BIOS Download http://support.dell.com or maybe that could help. Could someone please guide me in the right direction , i would greatly appreciate it thanks

A new CPU may help somewhat, but your R9550 is the weak link. You could have done much better without spending a hell of a lot more.

And the power supply will be the next weak link. What is the wattage on that?

ya, it has 250 watts, but how can that effect game play. I think the video card recommended 350 but It hasn't crashed or anything...yet

You got lucky. When you put a higher end graphic card in there that requires more power the problem will become apparent.

just searched google and found this person: Dell Dimension 4300 Series Mid Tower PC Intel P4 Celeron 2.8 GHz CPU, 400 MHz System Bus, 128 KB L2 Cache 512 MB PC133 SDRAM DVD-R Drive (new) 16x Dual Layer DVD-R/RW (new) Floppy Disc Drive 2 x 40 = 80 GB Hard Disc Drive nVidia GeForce 64 MB Grfx with VGA/S-V TV-Out Sound Blaster Audigy LS 5.1 Digital Sound Card so im quesiing pentium 4 2.8ghz this is the fastest 400mhz FSB pentum 4 to but the person with that rig is also a n00b and doesnt know if he has a celeron or a pentium 4 but im quessing pentium 4 But a better option considering what your doing is to get a full motherboard and cpu upgrade you could still go t 2.8ghz here is one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-INTEL-P4-MOTHERBOARD-INTEL-P4-2-8-CPU_W0QQitemZ180012995710QQihZ008QQcategoryZ131530QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Pentium 4 3.2ghz @ 3.5ghz Nvdia4 Mx4000 OC@ 350/500

ok cool thanks