i have:
Windows Vista Home Premium
22’’ Samsung monitor
Amd Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4Ghz Dual-Core Processor
4Gb Ram
nVidia GeForce 8500GT (either 256 or 512mb DDR2…how do i check?)
I want to know what your guys thoughts on this are, as well as what i should replace next? my processor or my Videocard, because when i play games such as Call Of Duty World at War, i cant play on full graphics, and i want to pwn some Crysis Warhead on Max Graphics.
Regards, Alex
Welcome to HWF 
First of all, you need a different graphics card. I’d recommend any of these:
When choosing a high-end graphics card from NVidia in the 8 or 9 series, then it should be an 8800 or 9800.
And then the CPU, i"d recommend an Intel E6600, Intel Q9000 series or an i7.
If you want to play Crysis Warhead on the highest settings, then I’d really suggest a Geforce 280 and an Intel i7.
And as a last note: To use 4 GB of RAM or more, you’ll need the 64-bit version of Vista (x64).
Hey, Thanks alot for the Reply, i was just wondering, is it worth it to dish out the extra $$ for a Intel over Amd processor?
also, i am pretty sure i have 32bit Vista, is it just a waste having 4gb ram in there, am i harming my machine by having 4gb or should it not work at all with 4gb and i infact have 64bit?
thanks.
From my experience I’ve noticed that the Intel Q-series and i7 is much faster than the Athlon 64 X2. So the additional price can be noticed in the performance. However, I wouldn’t suggest the Intel Q6600, as it’s very hard to get that one cooled.
also, i am pretty sure i have 32bit Vista, is it just a waste having 4gb ram in there, am i harming my machine by having 4gb or should it not work at all with 4gb and i infact have 64bit?
If you use a 32-bit Operating System, it can only use 2.5-3.5 GB of RAM. But it won’t harm your computer if you decide to use a 32-bit version. I do want to say that the license key for each version can be used on both the 32-bit and 64-bit version. I thought that there was a small piece of paper in the Retail box of Vista that explained that you could order a 64-bit version of Vista for free at Microsoft.
hey, Thanks again for the reply…
I Did not get a box with my Vista, as i bought this computer from Gateway, and it came pre installed, However i will definately look into this.
i am Concidering buying either the geforce 8800gts/gtx or 9800gtx/ gtx+
however, i am not sure exactly which spec i should be looking at the most closely… which ones are the most important?
Thanks for all the help.
The most important specs of a graphics card are the speeds of the GPU and the speed of the memory. And the amount of graphics memory would be okay in the 512-786 MB range.