hello.

i would like some advice if thats okay.

SPECS:

more detailed specs of my current system:

chip set: intel 865PE
max memory capacity available: 4gb (4 slots) DDR dual channel (currently have 512)

agp 8x slot for graphics card (currently have ATI Radeon 8500LE)

power: 250 W power supply (thats pretty low eh?)

hd: 500 gig and 40 gig drives

other specs you want to know ill list.

TOPIC:

First of all I use my machine mainly for software development
and as a hobby I like to play older games from original Command and Conquer
to UT2004.

However I would like the current machine I have now (with obvious changes) to
be able to play say Doom 3, Far Cry, Half Life 2 (at good to great settings), C&C 3 and possibly

other
high requirement games from 2005 and MAYBE 2006. Maybe Oblivion?

I used that test software at gamespot.com to get ideas.

Most of the time it seems for the recommended my processor is just below and well
my card is obsolete and I could use another 512 to 1 gig of ram.

Also I may need to upgrade the PSU.

So I guess my question is would this be good enough to play the games above or ones like it or
would it make more sense just to get a new cpu and mobo? Keep in mind I am NOT building for future

games just the ones from 2005 and most from 2006 to play.

Also the memory type the manual says I can only have pc2700 or pc3200 but why is it more expensive

than faster ddr ram and do you see the prices going down anytime soon?

Any good recommendations for a video card to match the system performance?

-Thanks

Is your current 512MB RAM a single stick or 2 x 256MB? You should have at least 1GB. DDR-SDRAM is becoming outdated. DDR2-SDRAM is being used on newer systems. DDR2 prices are currently quite low. Unfortunately DDR is more expensive & they are not "cross-compatible", so you will have to get PC2700 or PC3200. Just get the same thing as you have now.

To be able to upgrade the video card, you'll need a new PSU because higher end AGP cards are relatively power hungry & 250W isn't gonna cut it.

I'll assume you'll wanna keep costs to a minimum, so here's a couple of suggestions:

eVGA Geforce 7600GS - $75 after rebate

FSP (Fortron Source) 400W PSU - $40

I believe its 2 sticks of 256.

I was thinking of getting 1 gig stick.
( i would have 1.5 gigs then ) probably wouldnt make any sense to go higher on my current system?

Yes I do want to keep costs to a minimum I just want to upgrade as little as possible.

Thats a good price for a (good?) video card.

I know the RAM will be around 60 dollars or so.

Yeah I figured the PSU was not good enough.

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

That card will definitely play Doom 3, Far Cry & Half Life 2 but if you wanna get into Oblivion, I think you'd have to spend more.