I'm thinking it's about time to upgrade my computer or buy a new one. Thing is, I'm an idiot when it comes to Hardware, so I decided to throw it to the fine people on this Forum.
Thus, I grabbed this stuff off the control panel... thing...

System:
Microsoft Windows XP
Media Center Edition
Version 2002
Service pack 2

Hewlett-Packard Company
Hp Pavilion
AMD Athlon(tm) 64X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
2.00 GHz, 960 MB of RAM
Physical Adress Extension

So... Any hope of upgrading, or should I just suck it up and buy a new Computer with -and I tried to avoid this for as long as possible- Vista?
My priorities are totally gaming. I have a laptop for work, so I just need this for upcoming things like The Sims 3 (Woo!) Oh, and if I should get a new Computer suggestions would be lovely.
And if you want anymore info on it, just ask and tell me where to find it.
Thanks!

If you want some help with this, I've got a thread dedicated to posts like this. It's called Aries PC Quote Thread. Search for it!

Ivoryagent:
My very unhumble opinion: Just go the simple road and upgrade to Vista, no problems with it as far as I can tell.

No.Just...No.

Vista works decent with modern games, but anything older than 2 years is GOING to take some extra effort. Nothing terrible, but it's often a hassle.

If you do decide to go down the vista road, dont buy any of the basic softwaer package, its aboslute crap.

Having just speced out what I assume is your computer, I'd say that's a stout enough base that it could be upgraded to a decent game machine. Look up video cards (just about anything saying pci-express or pci-e [same thing] will be an improvement) and memory (more is always batter). There are a great many people like myself or Aries_Split who could talk you through that.

Ivoryagent:

Aries_Split:

Ivoryagent:
My very unhumble opinion: Just go the simple road and upgrade to Vista, no problems with it as far as I can tell.

No.Just...No.

Vista works decent with modern games, but anything older than 2 years is GOING to take some extra effort. Nothing terrible, but it's often a hassle.

Um...no.
You just have to set it to a different format and it emulates fine. To Windows XP, to Windows 2000, hell even to Windows 1980 (I made that up).

Seriously, just get a Vista.

Nope. Emulate only works half the time. Trust me, stick with XP.

iamnotincompliance:
Having just speced out what I assume is your computer, I'd say that's a stout enough base that it could be upgraded to a decent game machine. Look up video cards (just about anything saying pci-express or pci-e [same thing] will be an improvement) and memory (more is always batter). There are a great many people like myself or Aries_Split who could talk you through that.

Now when you say "Decent" do you mean it's going to be a "decent" gaming computer for a long run, or just a month? I just don't want to load it down with like $300+ of hardware just to end up having to buy a totally new computer after a month or so.

Ivoryagent:

Aries_Split:

Ivoryagent:

Aries_Split:

Ivoryagent:
My very unhumble opinion: Just go the simple road and upgrade to Vista, no problems with it as far as I can tell.

No.Just...No.

Vista works decent with modern games, but anything older than 2 years is GOING to take some extra effort. Nothing terrible, but it's often a hassle.

Um...no.
You just have to set it to a different format and it emulates fine. To Windows XP, to Windows 2000, hell even to Windows 1980 (I made that up).

Seriously, just get a Vista.

Nope. Emulate only works half the time. Trust me, stick with XP.

You wanna die?

Already have.

Get more RAM. RAM can improve you're computer loading times greatly.

My very unhumble opinion: Just go the simple road and upgrade to Vista, no problems with it as far as I can tell.

I'm of the opinion that Windows Vista is the biggest mistake that Microsoft made since Windows Me, not because it has the buggy qualities of Me, but because it takes so much system resources even for the operating system. There's absolutely no reason that you should need a 3D-capable graphics card for an operating system. That's just ridiculous, as are the RAM and processor requirements to run Vista properly.

You could check out the PC Hardware message board on GameFAQs. They have a pretty good building guide and there are plenty of knowledgeable people who can help out. Just don't stray to any social boards unless you want your brain to hurt for the rest of the day.

RAKtheUndead:

I'm of the opinion that Windows Vista is the biggest mistake that Microsoft made since Windows Me, not because it has the buggy qualities of Me, but because it takes so much system resources even for the operating system. There's absolutely no reason that you should need a 3D-capable graphics card for an operating system. That's just ridiculous, as are the RAM and processor requirements to run Vista properly.

Well unless your system is quite old, this shouldn't be a problem. I mean, mine's got pentium 4 and a 7600gs, 2gb ram and it runs it fine.

Aries_Split:
Already have.

What...?!
NOOOOOOooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo!!!

MODS

Maybe a new tech forum?

Well unless your system is quite old, this shouldn't be a problem. I mean, mine's got pentium 4 and a 7600gs, 2gb ram and it runs it fine.

My system would easily be able to run it, but that still doesn't justify the necessity at all for a three-dimensional graphics card on an operating system. Windows Vista will only work on systems up to about three years old. Some of the other operating systems that I run (particularly Debian Linux) will run on anything from an early Pentium up, with my Pentium-3 era Celeron desktop system (which is the least powerful of my computers altogether) actually being useful for something with Debian on it.

I'm pretty sure you only need a 3D capable graphics card if you're using Aero.

I love how this thread slowly degraded from advice on computer upgrades to bashing the fuck outta Vista, which my the way I have had no problems with, even with some older games.