Okay...so most of you know that I got me a new computer, an Emachines T6540. It's got one of those new(er) AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core processors in it, but it only came with 512 RAM and an integrated 128 MB video card. I didnt have any money to upgrade it (damned military paycheck!), but I just filed my taxes yesterday and am expecting a pretty big tax return. What I want to do is beef up this system so I can see the full and true potential of this processor: 2GB's of RAM and a 512 MB video card.
Now, I did some research on the RAM, and according to the site, there's only a few pieces of RAM that's compatible with this processor: http://www.4allmemory.com/index.cfm?fus ... _id=202124

Now, for the video card, the processor has a PCIe slot available in it, so that kinda makes it a bit easier for me. Now, granted, i'm going to have plenty of money, I still want to keep the price of the video card in check, so I found a cheap video card. So I wanted to ask all of you if you've heard anything about it, good or bad, before I buy it: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... 1&NoMapp=0
Any kind of input you guys have would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you guys have any recommendations of video cards instead of this one, and in the $100-150ish pricerange, I would like to hear those, too. Oh, and its my birthday in a month, so I think my parents are going to be getting me an LCD monitor too. This thing's going to be a beast by the time I'm done upgrading!

Lol you asshole.

Your computer has nice stock goodies joe, dual core, ddr2 memory. And that card that you picked really is a great bang for the buck card but I had a bad experience with that card http://n00bfest.com/modules.php?name=Fo ... ic&t=18248
but im not discouraging you on buying that card, just sharing my experience lol the one I picked was an open box item. But if i were you I would give extra more cash on buying a more powerful card with atleast 16 pixel pipelines. If you happen to check newegg.com them geforce 7900's and radeon x1950 PRO's are less than 200 now...like 165-190. I recommend a more powerful card cos your mohterboard doesn't have SLI or Crossfire. Well anyways if you'll insist that card is still good for the price. And get a new power supply, atleast 500W.

Oh and heres my beefy T6524 I bought him bout 2 yrs ago, I call him RED (RedOctane).
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/9647 ... rge1vh.jpg
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/1860 ... rge5cz.jpg
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/3317 ... rge2nv.jpg

ATI Radeon x850xt 256mb (Replaced the stock cooling with Zalman Fatality VGA cooler)
2 GB Gskill ddr ram sticks w/ heat spreaders.
Creative Soundblaster Audigy SE Sound Card
AMD 64 3700 2.4 Ghz (lol stock)
Ultra 500 Watts power supply.
Benq FP93G X 2ms 19 inch monitor (parents also bought it for my bday).
I also upgraded my speakers, keyborad and all other shit.
Hmmm...i think i spent about 650$(including the monitor and the fans). This Emachine is getting ready to retire, cos im planning on woking on a new system this coming summer.

Well thats all I had to say, Emachines are pretty easy to upgrade, durable case, its pretty clean and well organized inside and nice costumer service if you need help. GL on your upgrades JOE!!

It has decent stock items, yes...but I'm just ready to upgrade so I dont lag in the game. Ever since I started playing again on this new computer, I've kinda lagged in the heat of battle. I know its because of the memory...so I just want to completely get rid of that problem...same with the video card. It's not bad...I just want more. I still have a good month probably until the IRS decides to give us our money, so I've got time to research still. Trust me, I've been on newegg just about every day looking and researching....

I was looking at these cards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161060
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130056
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130074

Memory Card?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231081
The right one for your comp. PC2-4200 (DDR2-533)

Use this link to do your own research http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

That 7300 is at the bottom of the pile though and the 256 version is alot faster than the 512 version.If your not paying in the 400 doller range 512 mb of ram just doesnt help,it hurts.Reason being it takes time to acsess that extra ram which degrades performance on a budget gpu.512 on a sub 400-300 board is a marketing gimmick for people that think more is always better.Its like having a Lamborgihni with a yugo motor.

You have a month so take your time and wait long as you can,prices are falling everyday with the new direct x 10 releases.But right now in the 150'ish range a x1900gt 256mb is yor best bet at 159 bucks.Like i said prices are falling, dont get stuck with a bad board.

joe the graphics card is an easy 100 fps in CZ i had the same exact 1 but LE which is 2 lvls down and it got me 100 fps constant so the graphics card will meet your needs

What card cant do 100 frames in cz,i mean really cz wasnt on the cutting edge of graphics when it came out.Its based on a almost 8 year old engine.My 4 year old geforce 2 gts will do 100 frames in cz. Yellow_Flash_Colorz_PDT_07

Made a mistake,make that my 7 year old geforce gts.

yeah thats true but i just wanted to let joe know i mean hes buying a video card to get top notch fps in cz i bet, and i only said that cuz all other 7300 LE's cant do 100 fps only the evga of all the ones ive seen i got a ZOGIS on the way original nvidia!

actually, that little piece of crap is right. The only computer game I play is CZ....so that's all I really care about.

I just had to RMA a 7300GS(for color problems) and it topped at like 80-90. So I'm going to get a 7300GT and hope that can do a little better.

I would just add 30$ more for an ATI radeon x1900 xt 256.

Or he could just buy this for 30 more :)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 814150202R

Ehhh yeah but its open box. I've learned my lesson.

yea, its a gamble with open box stuff

How its been checked for any defects. It just doesent come with software and stickers and all that shit that you dont need anyways. I have bought many open box items from newegg and have never run into a bad situation with them.

lucky.

Not realy and if it doesent work then rma it. its not that uncommon to buy a new card and have to rma it ati or nvidia.

That would be my gfx card, I usually achieve around 69 FPS. I lagged hardcore whenever 1 smoke was used up until I lowered my game resolution to 1024x768. I'm still running on that good old AGP slot http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/VGA/Inno3D_FX5700_Ultra/index.htm

Fairly outdated, but I'm not getting a new motherboard and CPU anytime soon unless some kickass game is released.