Upgrading My Comp

[Vendeen]

Ok, prepare to laugh...I have a Compaq Presario SR5030NX...it sucks dick, I run it with Vista and in ffxi run at around 11fps constantly, 20 when in my MH, and 16 if I'm starting at a wall...and 3-5 in white gate.

So I'm wondering what would be good to upgrade my comp, short of buying a new one. I just want to run ffxi at about 20+fps and not have it look like Diddy Kong Racing..

Specs are-

Processor: Intel Pentium 4
Memory: 1024 MB
HD: 160gig, 25gig free(dunno if that matters)
GFX: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950

and Vista home basic

I'm looking to spend about $100-200 on upgrading it, preferably around $100.

Thanks to anyone who helps

[liami]

Your current graphics chipset is onboard.

According to http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en...-80248998.html

You have 1 PCI-E x16 slot (available) 1 PCI-E x1 slot (available) so a new graphics card looks like an option but I have no idea what's available stateside

But definately definately get some more RAM, you'd have to replace your RAM chips since both slots are occupied, look to getting at least 2GB. Again no idea what prices are in the states, sorry

[Shuemue]

Buy something like this GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102792
And then buy this RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227124

Order the RAM fast, it's less than half price.

[Vendeen]

Will getting these things make it so I'll be able to run ffxi pretty smoothly and not have it look like shit?

[Mabubeezareel]

It will help, but you still won't be able to run the game with the highest settings and get consistently high FPS - your CPU is simply too outdated to get the absolute most from FFXI. Try tweaking your settings a bit though, both before and after upgrading. Turn shadows off, turn weather effects off, set character model displays to low, turn down draw distance (if using Windower), etc. You should still be able to use a relatively high background res (that new card + CPU should be able to handle 2048x2048).

I was running a setup similar to yours after upgrading, and would be able to maintain a framerate in the mid 20s with a decent number of character models onscreen. Dynamis, Besieged, Campaign, and WG will still deep you into the mid teens though.

[Vendeen]

Will textures and like my character look decent afterwards as well? Honestly right now it looks like I'm playing ffxi on a N64.