How much difference would it make?

[=JHF= Cpt. Schnizel]

seeing as im not quite as much of a computer guru as id like to be. my machine is getting a little behind the times. If I were to upgrade from my current RAM of like 2 GB up to 8 GB. and upgraded from my GeForce 7950 GX2 to something maybe a little bit bigger, how much difference will it make playing some of the new games, if I keep my current processor instead of upgrading it as well? It is Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 CPU 6700 @ 2.66GHz 2.66GHz

[=JHF= Smoke]

a newer video card would help more than anything else but im not exactly sure where game graphics are headed in the short term.  from what ive read bf3's graphics engine is new and homegrown so there no benchmark to compare it to.  it will probably be a bit demanding.  as far as im concerned your core2duo is more than capable.  but keep an eye out for motherboard compatibility, size, and power consumption of the new vid cards.  2gb of ram is ok. 4 would be better, and anything more is probably overkill.  is this xp or vista or win 7?  7 is a lot more efficient when handling ram and gaming.  now for heroes of stalingrad, theyre using a game engine thats already been around and you shouldnt have any problems running it.

[=JHF= Cpt. Schnizel]

Thanks Smoke for the help. Im running XP, and I think based on what you said IF I do upgrade RAM ill just do 4 GB. I do think a newer card is in order however, BFBC2 and the last COD didnt run very well, wouldnt hurt to have some sharper graphics

[=JHF= Madindian]

Smokes right 4gb is probably best but you definately need a new vid card.  I'd probably wait till HOS comes out and see what kind of deals come up so you can get a dx10 or 11 card.  With a new vid card you need to check if your PS can handle it, might be an
Extra expense. Also I heard BF3 will not support XP, so like smoke said try to upgrade
To win 7.

[=JHF= JimmyT (CDN)]

If you were to upgrade to Win7 I'd also go for the 64bit version - I did.  Suddenly my 4 gig machine which only had 3 gig recognized by xp was a 4 gig machine.  Helped thing out - especially RAM hogs like Photoshop etc.  I've had no compatibility issues with non 64 bit programs either.

-- JT

[=JHF= Smoke]

Whats the config of your ram now? just wondering, cause it's probably best to remove what you have and get 2x2gb sticks.  however, you need to see if your mobo will support that configuration.  never hurts to check.

[=JHF= OBMer]

32bit OS will only recognize 3GB of memory.  So, if you upgrade to 4GB, your OS (XP) will probably only recognize 3GB.  I would also recommend upgrading to Windows 7 and 4GB of mem.

OB

[=JHF= Cpt. Schnizel]

Sorry for the delay, been moving from Texas back to KS to take a new job, so things have been pretty hectic. Right now it has 2 sticks of RAM in it, I will probably upgrade to 64 bit Windows 7 in the near future. Not completely thrilled by the thought of it just bc im not too familiar with 7 yet. But for some of the future games I wont have much of a choice. Also going to look into a new vid card soon, wanting to find a good card for a good price and Newegg comes up with new deals everyday that has a vid card, so I might be passing along some links soon for your approval lol

[=JHF= JimmyT (CDN)]

I doubt the transition to win7 will be too difficult - I just made mine look like XP and I was all good (I wasn't super fond of the new taskbar style).     I don't miss the XP security vulnerabilities though!

-- JT

[=JHF= Cpt. Schnizel]

Shouldnt be terribly difficult, im sure I will get it eventually, its how ive had to do it through the years. I didnt want to get rid of 98 but finally did when XP came out, for the same reason you mentioned, I could make it look like Windows 98 for the most part. I have Windows 7 on my laptop so ive had a chance to mess around with it a bit. should help