Can anyone help?

[Skaboy15]

Firstly I'd like to point out that I have no clue when it comes to computers
I've had this computer for a few years now, and I've finally come to realise just how much of a waste of money it was.

It's made by Compaq and the Model Number is SG3002UK incase you wanted to look at it.

Bascally my problem is gaming; I can play certain games, whereas some others I can't. for example, I can play The Sims 1 and all of it's expansion packs, but I can't play The Sims 2.
However I even tried The Sims Life Stories and Castaway Stories, which are both laptop-friendly (and somewhere I read they work on even the worst desktop pc's).

I'm considering buying a new hard-drive and a new graphics card, plus replace everything else that is rubbish on the computer, rather than buying a whole new gaming pc (I only really use the computer for gaming and the internet).

But if I buy a new hard drive for example, will it definitely work with my computer? Or do I have to find a certain one that fits with my current computer?
Or is there simply a way I can get games like The Sims Life Stories to work?

Sorry if that didn't make sense ^, I kind of lost myself when I began talking about hard-drives

[[Chris]]

Firstly I'd like to point out that I have no clue when it comes to computers
I've had this computer for a few years now, and I've finally come to realise just how much of a waste of money it was.

It's made by Compaq and the Model Number is SG3002UK incase you wanted to look at it.

Bascally my problem is gaming; I can play certain games, whereas some others I can't. for example, I can play The Sims 1 and all of it's expansion packs, but I can't play The Sims 2.
However I even tried The Sims Life Stories and Castaway Stories, which are both laptop-friendly (and somewhere I read they work on even the worst desktop pc's).

I'm considering buying a new hard-drive and a new graphics card, plus replace everything else that is rubbish on the computer, rather than buying a whole new gaming pc (I only really use the computer for gaming and the internet).

But if I buy a new hard drive for example, will it definitely work with my computer? Or do I have to find a certain one that fits with my current computer?
Or is there simply a way I can get games like The Sims Life Stories to work?

Sorry if that didn't make sense ^, I kind of lost myself when I began talking about hard-drives

Right, well the SIMS 2 is more intensive than the sims 1, That'll be your problem

[Johno]

Pretty much what Chris said, Sims 2 is more intensive so will require more resources such as RAM and GPU power.

If you are looking to buy a new HDD, you need to make sure it is compatible in terms of connectivity, will it need to be SATA or IDE.

[Skaboy15]

It's not just the Sims 2 though. There are a few others I've tried (completely different genres), and none worked. The thing that's annoyed me is that The Sims Life Stories is laptop-friendly and supposedly works on even the most terrible computers lol.

I'll go down to PC World or something and see what they can do.

[The Professor]

Pretty much what Chris said, Sims 2 is more intensive so will require more resources such as RAM and GPU power.

If you are looking to buy a new HDD, you need to make sure it is compatible in terms of connectivity, will it need to be SATA or IDE.

in a thread that started with "I don't know anything about computers" that post was very techy

Basically in plain english, your laptop isn't good enough and you need a new one. Don't even bother going to PC world because they'll charge you £50 to tell you that you need to buy a new one, they're rip off merchants and don't deserve to be in business. It can play the sims 1 because its a pretty old game, newer games generally need better computers (or laptops) to play them. I've never heard of this "laptop friendly" sticker thing but it sounds like a load of old balls to me, if you get a laptop from 1995 you're probably not going to be able to play the sims on it

[xxMATTGxx]

It seems you have a Pentium D 925 (P) DC 3.0 GHz with about 512MB ram installed. If your model is correct and this is correct you will also have a 120GB hard drive connected via SATA. You also have integrated graphics.

So by the looks of it you can upgrade your ram to a maximum of 2GB. You will need to look at 240 pin, DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300). The motherboard in your computer should also have the following: PCIe x16, 1 x PCIex1, 2 x PCI, so it is possible to add a graphics card in there.

It's down to you.

(Sorry if any confusion has occurred due to my post. But yeah )

[[Chris]]

Well, Looking on what Matt said, if you give us a price range your willing to spend, we can find you good extra parts

[Skaboy15]

It seems you have a Pentium D 925 (P) DC 3.0 GHz with about 512MB ram installed. If your model is correct and this is correct you will also have a 120GB hard drive connected via SATA. You also have integrated graphics.

That's pretty much all correct

My uncle said he could sell me a graphics card for a tenner, I've still gotta ask him about how good it is though.

Not too fussed about the price range, but preferably something on the cheaper end. I've got about £300 saved up at the moment, what could I do with that?

Is it worth looking to buy a gaming computer? The cheapest I've is £299, which would rinse my savings ha. Would it be cheaper to simply get the graphics card, hard disc etc and simply upgrade it bit-by-bit?

[scottish]

A decent gaming PC is more than 300 quid lol

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804 - Hard drive - £59.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169557 - Gfx card - £80

would be able to run most stuff

could look at ATI equivalent gfx cards but i have no idea about ati so could get much better gfx card for extra £50 or so but if your just playing games like sims and stuff it would be kinda wasted ;P

[xxMATTGxx]

That's pretty much all correct

My uncle said he could sell me a graphics card for a tenner, I've still gotta ask him about how good it is though.

Not too fussed about the price range, but preferably something on the cheaper end. I've got about £300 saved up at the moment, what could I do with that?

Is it worth looking to buy a gaming computer? The cheapest I've is £299, which would rinse my savings ha. Would it be cheaper to simply get the graphics card, hard disc etc and simply upgrade it bit-by-bit?

A decent gaming PC is more than 300 quid lol

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804 - Hard drive - £59.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169557 - Gfx card - £80

would be able to run most stuff

could look at ATI equivalent gfx cards but i have no idea about ati so could get much better gfx card for extra £50 or so but if your just playing games like sims and stuff it would be kinda wasted ;P

There is no point buying a new computer for "Gaming". If you hardly go on any games anyway, if you only play things like Sims 3 then what Scott linked you to should be fine. Although he has forgot about the ram (memory) since you currently have 512MB and the maximum you can have is 2GB according to the motherboard.