Hi,
i've got a dell dimension 3000 computer. I wanted to upgrade the motherboard so it could fit a PCI-e graphics card. Unfortunatly, i found that the dimension 3000 doesn't take well to be fitted with another motherboard. Im running with a Geforce FX 5200 128MB graphics card, and wonder if i shouldn't just upgrade the CPU from a celeron D 2.53 Ghz to a Pentium 4 3.2Ghz HT. Is the Geforce FX not good enough for gaming, or will it be ok and i can then just upgrade my cpu?

This post has been edited by miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG: Dec 20 2005, 12:31 PM

A straight answer to your thread title is:

No, the Processor isn't everything --- and definitely not for gaming.

For gaming, you'll need to have a well balanced PC config.
There's always going to be some "bottleneck", in which your current config is the graphics.

Upgrading your CPU will improve your game playability to some extent, but not as much as it can, with a proper graphics card in combination.

It's a little tricky to tell you what to upgrade without knowing what sort of games you are willing to play, but let me put down some rough indicator for the graphics, vs your current CPU:

GeForce
5200 - okay for light games; heavy 3D ones are playable but with rooms for improvements
6600 - will work fine, but at average resolutions, not at max resolutions
6600GT or 6800 - your CPU will start to be the bottleneck than the graphics
6800GT - wonderful, but with a CPU of 3GHz +
7800GT - the top performer, use a powerful CPU together, or it will be underperforming

Note that I have only mentioned nVidia GeForce and didn't list the ATI, only to make this concise; the point is that it isn't only the CPU, nor the graphics --- it is the balance of both. You may want to ask for others to give you further advice when you decide which is going to be the first you want to upgrade.

If you do upgrade your CPU, you will get the right improvements with video encoding, for example. If you upgrade your graphics first, to 6600GT or higher, it'll improve your gaming environment immediately, with yet some more possible improvements later when you change your CPU.
This is more or less a matter of budget and priority.

Hope this helps.

I have one suggestion don't upgrade the dell, lose it. It's not worth it to upgrade a dell.

Your cpu already isn't quite the pwnage, it's slow. If you want to play games you'd at least have a decent AMD or a Pentium 4 or something. Also, you need a bit of good RAM to get a nice speedy map load (maybe something of Kingston, OCZ or GEIL).

Your motherboard probably has a AGP slot, so you maybe need to buy a new motherboard. Also, the chipset of the motherboard you have now probably isn't anything spectacular either. So get a nForce ... chipsetted motherboard.

As someone above me already said, the 5200 doesn't play new games too well, get a 6600 or preferably a 6800. If you really have too much money € 320+, you could consider a 7800GT or even 7800GTX.

ps. good 3d cards need good cpu+ram+mobo in order to get good performance out of them.

I would agree with the 'lose the dell' idea, even if you upgrade a part of it that you can now, if you plan to stay on top of things you'll be needing a serious upping of hardware over the next year or two and Dell's are evil for upgrading. I changed a mobo in an old gx200 to a more modern mobo for a "not for the public eye" media server in my apartment... lets just say it now has the new mobo in it but it is not pretty... and that is the understatament of a lifetime.

But yes, as long as you have hardware that is of equivalent power across the board for cpu/gpu/ram you'll be fine. You don't need bleeding edge to run all the games out there if you're willing to settle for less then maxed graphics, however if you hope to run all the games for the next couple years you will need to go top of the line.

Hi,
The only thing is, i dont have am AGP or PCI-e slot, so i can't get a good graphics card. I could get the Geforce FX with 256MB of RAM. Would this be ok?

If by that you mean to get the 256mb ram version of the card you already have a 128mc version of... no it won't boost performance enough to warrant getting the upgrade

if you don't have AGP or PCI-E then you can't play any good games at all. The most you can play is very basic games like < Counter Strike 1.6.

You need at least an AGP slot.

xboxrulz

most gfx cards are made on both platforms for atleast a lil while longer this is to easy the transistion from AGP - PCI-E also gigabyte has come up with a G.E.A.R slot to go along with soem of the boards this is a Gigabyte Enhanched AGP (r sumthing) but for ur case most of the half decent ( for ur cpu) gfx cards are agp also so grab a 6600gt and ull be happy and then if u wanted to u could upgrade ur cpu

If you don't even have an AGP slot, you need a whole new system if you want to do any serious gaming. One important question is how good of a gaming system do you want? Imho, there are 3 important pieces of hardware you should look at for gaming. Cpu, Vid card, and RAM. One magazine that I enjoy checking out that will help you select hardware is MaximumPC. They showcase a wide range of gaming computers. Anyware from $1000 to $10000+.

-YB