i have a dell dimension 4600 w/512 ram,2.99 processor , that i would like to upgrade as much as possible. it currently has xp,which i would like to keep - it only gets used for games,playing cd's and dvd's,and internet access. i'd like to add enough memory to play some of the games that need more than what i have, and since my good video card died i'm using the on board card. so i wonder whether i'll need a new video card,also. i want to do this while xp is still supported,then get a 2nd computer down the road. any suggestions, and rounds figures for cost ? thank you in advance.

Here are your specs, niteowl07... Dell Dimension 4600

Your biggest limiting factor is going to be the 250 watt power supply. It would be helpful to know the types of games too. But I'm sure Inland and Jenny can come up with something for you.

drac - i play only adventure games on this one,so i hope that was what you meant? most games now want @ least 512 ram ...

That's it!

so would i have to upgrade the power supply to go for,say 2gb memory ?

and thanks for the help !

No, but you would have to upgrade the power supply for a better video card - even one with the old AGP interface which is what your motherboard has. A few years ago I upgraded the power supply in my old HP computer to 430 watts, added a 7600GT video card (already had 2 GB of RAM)and the old girl is running beautifully and doing everything my 86-year mother needs it to do. Back then I want to say it cost me somewhere around $200 to do it, but I'm sure it would be completely different today.

I can't add much to what Draclvr has already said. Except according to ***this*** the Dell 4600 will take a standard power supply, so you don't have to worry about it being proprietary. A new power supply and a video card like the Nvidia 7600 GT AGP would be great for older XP games, but those cards are getting harder to find.

2GB of RAM should be plenty for older games.

You'll do much better with the ATI line of video cards (although their Power requirements are typically higher). The last add-on 7600 GT I purchased only had a 12 GB Memory bandwidth - a really poor performer, and way below the specs for a GT). Unfortunately, it was one of the last 7600 GT's marketed.

Try something like this - (it only requires a 400 watt PSU)

HIS H467Q1GHDAP Radeon HD 4670

inland,the video card i had was 128MB DDR ati Radeon 9800.
i don't have any "old" games , everything must run in the xp w/ no tweaking - the oldest thing was amerzone, i think.

so, i can increase memory ( up to 4GB is max, from what i can figure ) and i'm ok.

but if i go back to a good radeon card, i 'll need to upgrade the power supply , also?

so, what am i talking $ for each of these things ?
approx.?

thank you ,all.

You can add up to 4 GB of system ram, but your OS will never see it (and you really don't need more than 2 GB for XP). A 1 GB stick of PC2700 (or PC3200) should run about $40.00 (sometimes less).

The power supply can be upgraded for about $70.00, and a new Video Card (the one I linked to) was $122.00 - so you're looking at nearly $300.00 to upgrade.

thanks,inland ! seems reasonable,since i probably won't buy a new one for a year or so.

And you might try out one of the Crucial website tools to get an idea of the RAM upgrades that would be possible. Crucial Memory Tools