For a long time I was pretty much content with my system's specs, but when TOAU came out, I quickly learned that my CPU and graphics card can't handle the outdoor areas that have excessive detail such as Wajoam Woodlands and Bhafflau Thickets, and as such, I lag like there's no tomorrow when I travel within zones such as those listed, running slow and then zooming fast, camera moves 10seconds after I move it, etc.
So, what I would like to do is upgrade only my graphics card and my CPU, at the very least the CPU should it be too expensive for me.
Unfortunately, I know pretty much nothing about replacing CPUs (which to buy, how to install them - I've only done simple things like replacing RAM and hard drives/optical drives).
My current CPU is a 4-5year old AMD Sempron 2400+ 1.6GHz with MMX and 3DNow and I have an ATI Radeon 9250 128MB card.
My motherboard is an ASUS A78NX, and according to its documentation, it has a "Socket 462 (Socket A) Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket for the AMD Duron/Athlon/Athlon XP 3000+ processors."
So I'm assuming this limits me to only Duron/Athlon/Athlon XP CPUs and nothing else. (I bought this computer when I pretty much knew nothing about them, hardware-wise)
I'm trying to spend as little as possible, and since all of these sales are beginning, I figured this would be a good time to buy anything.
All I play game-wise is FFXI and Combat Arms, so I don't need some amazingly powerful upgrade, I'm just tired of the 1.6GHz and my shitty Radeon 9250.
Please keep in mind that I'm a hardware noob when you make any suggestions or opinions